Property Policy Forms: the HO Series, the DP Forms, and Florida's Coverage Splits

The skeleton every homeowners form shares

Every ISO homeowners form is built on the same frame. Learn the frame once and the six forms stop being six policies to memorize and become a short list of differences.

Section I is property, and it holds four coverages.

• Coverage A, Dwelling. The dwelling on the residence premises including structures attached to it, plus materials and supplies located on or next to the premises used to construct, alter or repair the dwelling or other structures. Land is never covered.
• Coverage B, Other Structures. Structures on the residence premises set apart from the dwelling by clear space, including a structure connected to the dwelling only by a fence, utility line or similar connection. The limit is not more than 10 percent of the Coverage A limit, it is one aggregate amount for all such structures rather than a limit per building, and using it does not reduce the Coverage A limit.
• Coverage C, Personal Property. Property owned or used by an insured, anywhere in the world. The declarations set the limit; the customary starting point in the ISO program is 50 percent of Coverage A.
• Coverage D, Loss of Use. A single limit funding three separate grants: Additional Living Expense, Fair Rental Value, and Civil Authority Prohibits Use.

Section II is liability, and it holds two coverages.

• Coverage E, Personal Liability.
• Coverage F, Medical Payments to Others.

Two of those letters move depending on the form, and that is where most exam items live. The HO-4 tenant form has no Coverage A and no Coverage B at all, because a tenant has no insurable interest in the building. The HO-6 unit owners form does have a Coverage A, but it insures something that is not a house. And the entire dwelling program stops after the property coverages: there is no Coverage E and no Coverage F anywhere in the DP-1, the DP-2 or the DP-3.

One structural detail decides a surprising number of questions: attached means Coverage A. A deck, a carport, a screen enclosure or a garage physically attached to the dwelling is insured under Coverage A no matter how much it looks like a separate building. Clear space is the entire test for Coverage B, and Coverage B then carries its own exclusions, including other structures rented or held for rental to a person who is not a tenant of the dwelling, unless the structure is used solely as a private garage.

The perils grid: HO-2, HO-3, HO-5 and HO-8

Four homeowners forms insure an owner-occupied house. They differ on exactly two axes: how the perils are triggered, and how the loss is valued. Nothing else about them is worth memorizing until those two axes are automatic.

Open perils, sometimes called special form or all risk, means the form covers direct physical loss unless something is excluded. The burden sits on the insurer to point at an exclusion. Named perils means the form covers only causes of loss written into the list, and the burden sits on the insured to place the loss inside the list. On a named-perils form, an event can be perfectly sudden, perfectly accidental and completely uninsured simply because nobody put it on the list.

The broad named-perils list that Coverage C uses in the HO-2, HO-3, HO-4 and HO-6 has sixteen entries: fire or lightning; windstorm or hail; explosion; riot or civil commotion; aircraft; vehicles; smoke; vandalism or malicious mischief; theft; falling objects; weight of ice, snow or sleet; accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam; sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning or bulging; freezing; sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated electrical current; and volcanic eruption.

Now the grid.

• HO-2 Broad Form. Named perils on Coverage A, Coverage B and Coverage C. Replacement cost on the dwelling.
• HO-3 Special Form. Open perils on Coverage A and Coverage B, named perils on Coverage C. Replacement cost on the dwelling. This asymmetry is the single most tested fact in the domain.
• HO-5 Comprehensive Form. Open perils on Coverage A, Coverage B and Coverage C. The only standard ISO form that puts unscheduled personal property on an open-perils basis.
• HO-8 Modified Coverage Form. Named perils, narrower than the HO-2, with theft coverage restricted. Losses to the dwelling are settled on a functional replacement cost basis rather than full replacement cost.

The HO-8 exists for a valuation problem, not a perils problem. It is written for older dwellings whose replacement cost badly exceeds market value, where duplicating the original ornamental construction would cost far more than the house is worth. Functional replacement cost lets the insurer repair with common modern materials and methods that serve the same function. If an exam item describes an insured who cannot meet insurance to value on a historic home, the answer is the HO-8, and answers proposing an HO-3 or HO-5 fail on underwriting rather than on coverage.

Two refinements the bank likes. First, an HO-3 with a scheduled personal property endorsement broadens only the scheduled items; everything else in Coverage C stays on named perils, so it does not equal an HO-5. Second, the HO-5 does not delete the Coverage C special dollar sublimits and does not delete the policy exclusions, so a client with serious jewelry still needs a floater.

HO-4 and HO-6, and the Florida condominium split

Two homeowners forms insure someone who lives in a building they do not wholly own. Both are built around Coverage C, and both replace the dwelling coverage with something narrower.

The HO-4 Contents Broad Form is the tenant form. There is no Coverage A and no Coverage B, because the tenant has no insurable interest in the building. What the tenant gets is Coverage C on the broad named-perils basis, Coverage D loss of use, Coverage E personal liability and Coverage F medical payments. Because tenants routinely install shelving, flooring, cabinetry or fixtures at their own cost, the form adds a Building Additions and Alterations additional coverage, expressed as a percentage of the Coverage C limit and commonly 10 percent. That percentage is a form and edition detail, not a Florida statutory requirement, so read the declarations before you answer a client.

The HO-6 Unit Owners Form is the condominium and cooperative form. It does have a Coverage A, but Coverage A on an HO-6 does not insure a house. It insures the alterations, appliances, fixtures and improvements which are part of the building contained within the residence premises, items of real property which pertain exclusively to the residence premises, property which is the insured's insurance responsibility under a corporation or association of property owners agreement, and structures owned solely by the insured at that location. Coverage A and Coverage C on the unexpanded HO-6 are both written on the broad named-perils basis; open perils on Coverage A requires the Unit-Owners Coverage A Special Coverage endorsement. The Coverage A limit is whatever the declarations show, and the ISO program's base amount is nominal, so in Florida it almost always has to be bought up.

Now the Florida part, because the state does not leave the boundary to the association's bylaws. Section 718.111(11), F.S. draws the line by statute. The association's property insurance policy must provide primary coverage for all portions of the condominium property as originally installed or replacement of like kind and quality in accordance with the original plans and specifications, and for alterations or additions made to the condominium property or association property. That same paragraph then requires the association policy to exclude a specific list: all personal property within the unit or limited common elements, and floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments including curtains, drapes, blinds, hardware and similar window treatment components, or replacements of any of the foregoing, which are located within the boundaries of the unit and serve only that unit. The statute states plainly that such property and any insurance on it is the responsibility of the unit owner. That excluded list is exactly what HO-6 Coverage A is designed to fund.

The second Florida requirement is loss assessment. The unexpanded ISO homeowners Loss Assessment additional coverage pays $1,000. Section 627.714, F.S. overrides that floor for a Florida residential condominium unit owner's policy: the policy must include at least $2,000 in property loss assessment coverage for all assessments made as a result of the same direct loss, subject to a deductible of no more than $250 per direct property loss. If a deductible was or will be applied to other property loss the same unit owner sustained from that same direct loss, no deductible at all applies to the loss assessment coverage. The maximum payable is the unit owner's loss assessment limit in effect one day before the date of the occurrence, so buying up the limit after a storm has formed does not help. The statute also requires the policy to state that this coverage is excess over any other insurance covering the same property. Treat the $2,000 as a statutory floor, not a target: a unit owner facing a large hurricane assessment should buy far more.

Inside Section I: sublimits, additional coverages, and the edition trap

The homeowners form does not simply pay the Coverage C limit for everything. Buried in Section I are a set of special limits of liability and a set of additional coverages, and the exam mines both of them relentlessly. The figures below are from the ISO HO 00 03 05 11 edition, which is the edition Florida prelicensing manuals almost universally reproduce.

The Special Limits Of Liability are written peril by peril, and that is the whole trick. Read the words in front of the dollar sign before you read the dollar sign.

• $200 on money, bank notes, bullion, coins, medals, scrip, stored value cards and smart cards. Applies to any covered peril.
• $1,500 on securities, accounts, deeds, evidences of debt, letters of credit, manuscripts, personal records, passports, tickets and stamps. Any covered peril.
• $1,500 on watercraft of all types including their trailers, furnishings, equipment and outboard motors. Any covered peril.
• $1,500 on trailers or semitrailers not used with watercraft. Any covered peril.
• $1,500 for loss by theft of jewelry, watches, furs, precious and semiprecious stones. Theft only.
• $2,500 for loss by theft of firearms and related equipment. Theft only.
• $2,500 for loss by theft of silverware, goldware, platinumware and pewterware, including flatware, hollowware, tea sets, trays and trophies. Theft only.
• $2,500 on property on the residence premises used primarily for business, and $1,500 on business property away from the premises.
• $1,500 on portable electronic equipment in or upon a motor vehicle, and $250 on media used with it.

These special limits do not increase the Coverage C limit. And because the jewelry, firearm and silverware entries are theft sublimits rather than category sublimits, a fire that destroys $40,000 of jewelry is an ordinary Coverage C loss payable up to the full Coverage C limit.

Now the additional coverages that carry their own numbers in the 2011 edition.

• Debris Removal. Debris of covered property is included in the limit for the damaged property. Separately, up to $1,000 for removing the insured's trees felled by windstorm, hail or the weight of ice, snow or sleet, or a neighbor's trees felled by a Coverage C peril, with no more than $500 for any one tree, and only if the trees damage a covered structure or block a driveway or a ramp designed to assist a handicapped person.
• Trees, Shrubs And Other Plants. Up to 5 percent of the Coverage A limit in the aggregate, no more than $500 for any one tree, shrub or plant. The perils are fire or lightning, explosion, riot or civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles not owned or operated by a resident of the residence premises, vandalism or malicious mischief, and theft. Windstorm is deliberately absent, which matters enormously in Florida.
• Fire Department Service Charge. Up to $500, no deductible, for a liability assumed by contract, and not payable if the property is inside the limits of the district furnishing the response.
• Property Removed. Covered property is insured against direct loss from any cause while being removed from a premises endangered by a Peril Insured Against, and for no more than 30 days while removed.
• Credit Card, Electronic Fund Transfer Card Or Access Device, Forgery And Counterfeit Money. Up to $500, no deductible.
• Loss Assessment. Up to $1,000, one deductible per unit regardless of the number of assessments, and it does not cover assessments charged by a governmental body.
• Landlord's Furnishings. Up to $2,500 for appliances, carpeting and other household furnishings in each apartment on the residence premises rented or held for rental, for Coverage C perils other than theft.
• Ordinance Or Law. Up to 10 percent of the Coverage A limit. Hold that number: Florida law overrides it, and the override is the next section.
• Grave Markers. Up to $5,000.
• Collapse. Applies only to an abrupt collapse, and a building that is standing is not in collapse even if it shows cracking, bulging, sagging, bending, leaning, settling, shrinkage or expansion.

Coverage D has its own trap. Additional Living Expense and Fair Rental Value both require that a Section I loss make the residence premises unfit to live in. The third grant, Civil Authority Prohibits Use, does not. If a civil authority prohibits use of the residence premises as a result of direct damage to neighboring premises by a Peril Insured Against, the form pays as provided under Additional Living Expense and Fair Rental Value for no more than two weeks. No damage to the insured's own home is required, and two weeks is a hard outer limit even if the closure runs for a month.

Finally, the edition warning. ISO filed a revised homeowners program in 2022, and it moved several of the dollar figures without moving the structure. The theft sublimit on jewelry, watches, furs and precious stones went to $2,000, firearms and related equipment went to $3,000, silverware and the related wares went to $3,000, and money went to $300. The theft-only architecture did not change. When an exam item or a client's declarations page pins an edition date, use that edition's numbers; when nothing is pinned, use the 2011 figures, because that is what the Florida prelicensing curriculum and the item bank are built on.

The dwelling program: DP-1, DP-2 and DP-3

The ISO dwelling program covers what the homeowners program will not: rental houses, seasonal dwellings, dwellings whose market value falls far below replacement cost, risks with unacceptable occupancy, and owners who simply do not want a package. It is eligible for one to four family dwellings, and the forms tolerate a limited number of roomers or boarders and certain incidental occupancies.

It is a property-only program. This is the single most exploited fact about it. There is no Coverage E personal liability and no Coverage F medical payments in the DP-1, the DP-2 or the DP-3. Liability for a landlord has to be added by attaching a personal liability supplement or endorsement, or by writing a separate liability policy on the rental operation. The phrase special form describes only the causes of loss applying to the property coverages. It says nothing whatsoever about liability, and an item that offers you a DP-3 as proof of liability protection is offering you the wrong answer.

The coverage letters run differently from the homeowners program.

• Coverage A, Dwelling.
• Coverage B, Other Structures. You may use up to 10 percent of the Coverage A limit. Under the DP-1 this use reduces the Coverage A limit available for the same loss. Under the DP-2 and DP-3 it does not.
• Coverage C, Personal Property. A separate limit, with a worldwide extension of up to 10 percent of the Coverage C limit that does reduce the Coverage C limit.
• Coverage D, Fair Rental Value. Rent lost on the part of the described location rented or held for rental.
• Coverage E, Additional Living Expense. The increase in living costs when the insured's own residence becomes unfit for its normal use.

That last pair is where the forms split. The DP-1 includes Fair Rental Value but does not include Additional Living Expense; ALE has to be endorsed on. The DP-2 and DP-3 include both. In the current editions the loss-of-use amount is 20 percent of the Coverage A limit, and under the DP-1 that use reduces the Coverage A limit while under the DP-2 and DP-3 it does not. The 1988 edition set the figure at 10 percent, which is why some older manuals disagree.

Perils and valuation are the other axis.

• DP-1 Basic Form. The base perils are fire, lightning and internal explosion. The Extended Coverage group adds windstorm or hail, explosion, riot or civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles, smoke and volcanic eruption for additional premium, and vandalism or malicious mischief can be added on top of that. Loss settlement is actual cash value, which is replacement cost less depreciation. That valuation basis is the most important single difference between the DP-1 and the other two.
• DP-2 Broad Form. A broad named-perils list on the dwelling and personal property, with replacement cost loss settlement on buildings.
• DP-3 Special Form. Open perils on Coverage A and Coverage B, named perils on Coverage C, with replacement cost loss settlement on buildings. Same asymmetry as the HO-3.

Theft is not in the dwelling program at all. It is added by a broad or limited theft coverage endorsement. And note that the dwelling program's Trees, Shrubs And Other Plants coverage runs 5 percent of Coverage A with a $500 per-item cap just as in the homeowners form, but its peril list expressly includes vandalism or malicious mischief including damage during a burglary while expressly excluding theft of the property itself, so the two lists are not identical.

One Florida point belongs here rather than in the next section, because candidates carry it across by mistake. Section 627.7011, F.S. is captioned homeowners' policies. Its deemed 25 percent law and ordinance coverage, its replacement cost offer requirements and its roof-age underwriting restrictions are written for a homeowner's insurance policy. Do not import them onto an ISO dwelling form. A DP-3 on an investor rental in Florida gets the form's own Ordinance Or Law grant and whatever the insurer files, not a statutory 25 percent.

Florida's hurricane and windstorm overlay

Once a residential property sits in Florida, the statute reaches into the form and rewrites how wind losses are deductible and whether wind can be excluded at all. Three sections do most of the work.

Section 627.4025(2), F.S. defines the hurricane occurrence, and getting the window right decides whether a loss takes the hurricane deductible or the all-other-perils deductible. Hurricane coverage means coverage for loss or damage caused by the peril of windstorm during a hurricane, and it includes ensuing damage to the interior of a building, or to property inside a building, caused by rain, snow, sleet, hail, sand or dust if the direct force of the windstorm first damages the building and creates an opening through which those elements enter. Windstorm for this purpose means wind, wind gusts, hail, rain, tornadoes or cyclones caused by or resulting from a hurricane. A hurricane is a storm system declared to be a hurricane by the National Hurricane Center. The occurrence period begins when a hurricane warning is issued for any part of Florida by the National Hurricane Center, and it ends 72 hours following the termination of the last hurricane watch or hurricane warning issued for any part of Florida. Two words carry the trap: any part. The trigger is statewide, not keyed to the insured's own county, and the tail runs 72 hours past the last watch or warning anywhere in the state.

Section 627.701, F.S. governs the deductible itself. Before issuing a personal lines residential property policy, the insurer must offer alternative hurricane deductibles of $500, 2 percent, 5 percent and 10 percent of the policy dwelling limits, unless the percentage deductible would be less than $500. Three thresholds modify that list. Where the dwelling limit is $250,000 or more, the insurer need not offer the $500 option. Where the dwelling limit is $1 million or more but less than $3 million, the insurer may offer a 3 percent option instead of the 2 percent option. Where the dwelling limit is $3 million or more, the 2 percent option need not be offered. The written notice of the offer must specify the hurricane deductible that will apply if the applicant does not affirmatively choose one, and the insurer must notify the policyholder of the available deductible amounts at each renewal. Notice requirements in subsection (4) are their own exam target: a policy with a separate hurricane deductible must carry a statement in 18-point boldfaced type warning of high out-of-pocket expenses, the actual dollar value of the deductible must be computed and displayed on the declarations page, and a roof deductible requires its own separate page in 18-point boldfaced type.

Subsection (5)(a) then changes how the deductible behaves across a season. The hurricane deductible on a personal lines residential policy applies on an annual basis to all covered hurricane losses that occur during the calendar year under one or more policies issued by the same insurer or an insurer in the same insurer group. If there was a hurricane loss for a prior hurricane during the calendar year, the insurer may apply to a subsequent hurricane a deductible that is the greater of the remaining amount of the hurricane deductible or the deductible that applies to perils other than a hurricane. So a homeowner who exhausts a $8,000 hurricane deductible on the season's first storm faces the all-other-perils deductible, not another $8,000, on the second, and not zero either.

Section 627.712, F.S. handles exclusion. An insurer issuing a residential property insurance policy must provide windstorm coverage, and must also make available, at the policyholder's option, an exclusion of it. The exclusion is not something an agent can effect. Where the policyholder is a natural person, windstorm coverage may be excluded only if the policyholder personally writes or types and provides to the insurer the statement the statute prescribes, saying in substance that the insured does not want the insurance on the home, mobile home or condominium unit to pay for damage from windstorms and will pay those costs personally, and signs it, with every other named insured also signing and dating it. If the structure is subject to a mortgage or lien, the policyholder must additionally provide the insurer a written statement from the mortgageholder or lienholder approving the exclusion. The same section requires insurers, except on condominium unit owner and tenant policies, to make available an exclusion of coverage for contents. And except for the mortgagee-notice paragraph, the section does not apply to risks eligible for wind-only coverage from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.

Currency check. Section 627.701 was last amended by chapters 2022-268, 2023-172 and 2023-217, Laws of Florida; 627.4025 by chapter 2023-130; and 627.712 by chapter 2023-217. The offer amounts, the calendar-year rule and the 72-hour tail as stated above are the versions in force.

The roof deductible and deemed law and ordinance: the 2021 to 2024 rewrite

This is the part of the syllabus where a manual printed even three years ago will cost a candidate points, because Florida legislated on it in 2021, twice in 2022, twice in 2023 and again in 2024.

Start with the separate roof deductible in s. 627.701(10), F.S. It did not exist before chapter 2021-77, Laws of Florida, took effect. Any study material that says a Florida personal lines residential policy carries only a hurricane deductible and an all-other-perils deductible is describing the pre-2021 world. Today an insurer may offer a separate roof deductible on personal lines residential property insurance, but the statute fences it in. The roof deductible may not exceed the lesser of 2 percent of the Coverage A limit of the policy or 50 percent of the cost to replace the roof. The insurer must comply with the general deductible offer requirements, must build an actuarially sound premium credit into the rate, and may apply the deductible only to claims adjusted on a replacement cost basis. At issuance the policyholder may reject the roof deductible on a form approved by the Office; at renewal the insurer may add one only with the same opt-out and a notice of change in policy terms.

Four situations bar the roof deductible outright. It may not be applied to a total loss to a primary structure caused by a covered peril and adjusted under the valued policy law; to a roof loss resulting from a hurricane; to a roof loss resulting from a tree fall or other hazard that damages the roof and punctures the roof deck; or to a roof loss requiring the repair of less than 50 percent of the roof. And when a roof deductible is applied, no other deductible under the policy may be applied to that loss or to any other loss to the property caused by the same covered peril. In a state where most roof claims are hurricane claims, the second exception does a great deal of work.

Now section 627.7011, F.S., captioned homeowners' policies. Before issuing a homeowner's policy the insurer must offer replacement cost on the dwelling that excludes the costs necessary to meet applicable laws and ordinances, and replacement cost that includes those costs, with the law and ordinance amount capped at 25 percent or 50 percent of the dwelling limit as selected by the policyholder. Then comes the provision that decides exam items: unless the insurer obtains the policyholder's written refusal of the coverage on a form approved by the Office, any policy covering the dwelling is deemed to include law and ordinance coverage limited to 25 percent of the dwelling limit. A single named insured's signature on the approved rejection binds all insureds, and the insurer must notify policyholders of the availability of the coverage at least once every three years.

Compare that with the form. The unendorsed ISO homeowners Ordinance Or Law additional coverage is 10 percent of Coverage A. That is a true statement about the form and a wrong answer about a Florida dwelling, because the statute overrides the form's default. Hold on to the limitation in paragraph (1)(b) as well: the law and ordinance coverage applies only to repairs of the damaged portion of the structure unless the total damage to the structure exceeds 50 percent of its replacement cost. Below that threshold, code upgrades forced on the undamaged portion go unfunded even though the policy carries the deemed 25 percent.

Subsection (3) controls how replacement cost is actually paid. The insurer must initially pay at least the actual cash value of the insured loss less any applicable deductible, and pay the remaining amounts as the work is performed and the expense is incurred. On a total loss to the dwelling the insurer must pay the replacement cost coverage without reservation or holdback of any depreciation in value. For personal property the insurer must not require the policyholder to advance payment for replaced property. Chapter 2024-182 added one more rule to this subsection: where a roof deductible under s. 627.701(10) applies to the loss, the insurer may limit the claim payment as to the roof to actual cash value until it receives reasonable proof that the policyholder paid the roof deductible, and reasonable proof includes a canceled check, a money order receipt, a credit card statement, or a copy of an executed installment plan contract or other financing arrangement requiring full payment of the deductible over time.

Subsection (5) is the roof-age rule, and it did not exist before the May 2022 special session. An insurer may not refuse to issue or refuse to renew a homeowner's policy insuring a residential structure with a roof less than 15 years of age solely because of the age of the roof. Where the roof is at least 15 years of age, the insurer must allow the homeowner to have a roof inspection performed by an authorized inspector before requiring replacement of the roof as a condition of issuing or renewing, and may not refuse to issue or renew solely because of roof age if the inspection indicates the roof has 5 years or more of useful life remaining. Chapter 2024-182 then specified how roof age is calculated: the last date on which 100 percent of the roof's surface area was built or replaced in accordance with the building code in effect at that time, or the initial date of a partial roof replacement where subsequent partial replacements resulted in 100 percent of the surface area being built or replaced.

One more moving number belongs in a candidate's head even though it is a claims rule rather than a form rule, because pre-2021 manuals get it badly wrong. Under s. 627.70132, F.S. a claim or reopened claim under a property insurance policy must be given to the insurer within 1 year after the date of loss, and a supplemental claim within 18 months after the date of loss. Chapter 2021-77 had set those at 2 years and 3 years; chapter 2022-271 cut them to the current 1 year and 18 months, and chapter 2024-139 amended the section again. The statute is older than those numbers suggest, though: s. 627.70132 was created by chapter 2011-39, and until 2021 it reached only windstorm and hurricane claims, barring them unless notice was given within 3 years after the hurricane first made landfall or the windstorm caused the damage. Chapter 2021-77 is what widened it to every property claim.

Flood: the NFIP policy and Florida's private flood categories

Flood is excluded by every HO and DP form, so it is bought separately. Under the National Flood Insurance Program's Standard Flood Insurance Policy, Dwelling Form, the maximum building coverage for a one-to-four-family residential structure is $250,000 and the maximum contents coverage is $100,000. The $500,000 and $500,000 pair is the non-residential maximum and is the standard distractor. Building and contents are separate purchases with separate deductibles, so a client who buys building coverage alone has no personal property protection at all.

Replacement cost on the building is available only where the building is a single-family dwelling, is the policyholder's principal residence, and is insured to at least 80 percent of its full replacement cost at the time of loss or for the maximum amount of insurance available under the NFIP; the principal residence test looks at whether the insured or the insured's spouse lived there at least 80 percent of the 365 days before the loss, or 80 percent of the ownership period if owned less than a year. Contents are always adjusted at actual cash value, and passing the 80 percent test does not change that.

The policy defines flood as a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land or of two or more properties, at least one of which is the policyholder's, caused by overflow of inland or tidal waters, unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters, or mudflow, and it also reaches shoreline collapse or subsidence from erosion or an unusually high water level. A broken water main flooding one house satisfies neither the acreage nor the two-property test. A new policy generally carries a 30-day waiting period from application and presentment of premium, with recognized exceptions for coverage bought in connection with making, increasing, extending or renewing a loan, for an initial purchase during the 13 months following a map revision that newly places the building in a Special Flood Hazard Area, and for certain post-wildfire flooding on federal land. Increased Cost of Compliance is Coverage D and pays up to $30,000 toward elevation, relocation, demolition or floodproofing after the community declares the building substantially or repetitively damaged, and the combined building and ICC payment cannot exceed the maximum building limit.

Florida also authorizes private flood. Section 627.715, F.S. sorts it into five defined categories: standard flood insurance, which mirrors the NFIP policy including its deductibles and loss adjustment; preferred flood insurance, a stand-alone policy that must include everything standard includes, must extend flood to water intrusion originating from outside the structure, must provide additional living expenses, and must adjust repaired or replaced personal property on a replacement cost basis up to policy limits; customized flood insurance, which must be broader than standard; flexible flood insurance, which may be narrower in the specific ways the statute lists; and supplemental flood insurance, which is written to supplement an NFIP policy or an insurer's policy and may cover jewelry, art, deductibles and additional living expenses. The section was most recently amended by chapter 2025-145, Laws of Florida.

Sinkhole, mobile homes and Citizens

Sinkhole is two coverages, not one, and the split is the most commonly missed item in this group. Under s. 627.706, F.S. every insurer authorized to transact property insurance in Florida must provide coverage for catastrophic ground cover collapse, and that coverage is not optional. But the definition demands all four elements: an abrupt collapse of the ground cover; a depression in the ground cover clearly visible to the naked eye; structural damage to the covered building including the foundation; and the insured structure being condemned and ordered to be vacated by the governmental agency authorized by law to issue such an order. Sinkhole loss, meaning structural damage to the covered building including the foundation caused by sinkhole activity, is the broader coverage, and the statute requires only that the insurer make it available for an appropriate additional premium. The insurer may require an inspection of the property before issuing sinkhole coverage. Where personal lines residential sinkhole coverage is bought, the statute provides that the policy may include a sinkhole deductible equal to 1, 2, 5 or 10 percent of the dwelling limits, so that menu is permissive rather than a required offer. Note that 1 percent is on the sinkhole list and is not on the hurricane list. Note too that this optional-versus-mandatory structure dates to chapter 2007-1, Laws of Florida, which created catastrophic ground cover collapse as the mandatory grant and moved sinkhole loss into make-available status; material printed before 2007 describes sinkhole coverage itself as mandatory and is wrong. Chapter 2011-39 tightened the section further, but it is not what created the split.

Mobile homes are written in the ISO program by attaching the Mobilehome Endorsement to a homeowners policy. The endorsement redefines residence premises to fit a mobile home, commonly changes the loss settlement condition on the home itself to actual cash value unless replacement cost is bought back, and adds a removal coverage paying up to $500 with no deductible for the reasonable cost of moving the mobile home to a safe place when it is endangered by a Peril Insured Against. That $500 is not a permanent ceiling; it can be increased for additional premium by a property removed increased limit endorsement. No Florida statute makes it open-ended. And because a mobile home owner's policy is residential coverage under the insurance code, the personal lines residential rules, including the hurricane deductible requirements of s. 627.701, F.S. and the windstorm exclusion mechanics of s. 627.712, F.S., apply to it exactly as they do to a homeowners policy.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the residual market, created and governed by s. 627.351(6), F.S., and eligibility turns on the absence of a reasonable private alternative. A structure with a dwelling replacement cost of $700,000 or more is not eligible for personal lines residential coverage, with the threshold raised to $1 million in areas the Office of Insurance Regulation determines lack a reasonable degree of competition. On renewal, a personal lines residential policyholder becomes ineligible upon receiving an offer of comparable coverage from an authorized insurer at a premium not more than 20 percent greater than the Citizens renewal premium, inclusive of Citizens surcharges and assessments. That 20 percent renewal trigger came in with chapter 2022-271, Laws of Florida, in the December 2022 special session; before it, the renewal side had no percentage band and manuals written earlier do not mention one. The same legislation phased in a flood insurance requirement for Citizens personal lines residential policies that include wind coverage: structures with a dwelling replacement cost of $600,000 or more from January 1, 2024, $500,000 or more from January 1, 2025, $400,000 or more from January 1, 2026, and all such structures including tenant policies from January 1, 2027. That schedule is not the whole rule: a Citizens personal lines residential risk located in a FEMA special flood hazard area had to carry flood coverage at issuance for new policies written on or after April 1, 2023, and by renewal for policies renewing on or after July 1, 2023, regardless of value. Policyholders whose Citizens policies do not provide wind coverage are not required to buy flood as a condition of the policy.