Citizens is updating our eligibility rules in anticipation of flood coverage law requirements that will soon become law. Flood coverage will no longer be required for contents (Coverage C) as a condition of eligibility with Citizens.

Flood coverage is still required for dwellings (Coverage A) on policies with wind coverage that insure property in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) and dwellings with a replacement cost of $600,000 or more.

This change does not impact any rules as they relate to the requirement to obtain flood coverage on a dwelling based on the location of the property and/or the replacement cost.

As a reminder, the law mandates all personal residential policies (excluding condominium unit-owner and contents only policy types) with wind coverage located in or out of an SFHA must maintain flood coverage on the insured dwelling as outlined below.

• Effective January 1, 2024 - Structures that have a dwelling replacement cost of $600,000 or more
• Effective January 1, 2025 - Structures that have a dwelling replacement cost of $500,000 or more
• Effective January 1, 2026 - Structures that have a dwelling replacement cost of $400,000 or more
• Effective January 1, 2027 - All structures regardless of value

Notifications for Existing Policies

To assist agents with identifying policies that require action to be eligible for a renewal offer:

• Upon the flood coverage changes becoming law, Citizens will send a separate Alert Bulletin to the agent of record with a list of their agency’s affected policies whose dwellings have a replacement cost coverage of $600,000 or more who are not located in a SFHA.
• The pre-renewal activity Policy XXXX has been Scheduled for Nonrenewal-Underwriting will be created on the agent of record’s desktop identifying policies that will require action to meet the eligibility requirements to receive a renewal offer. The risk must meet all underwriting requirements, including required flood coverage, to be eligible for a renewal offer.

Note: If the policy has been assumed and is not renewing with Citizens, the insured will not need to obtain and provide flood coverage to Citizens.

Additionally, policyholder communications have been condensed and updated to comply with dwelling flood coverage law requirements and, upon these new requirements becoming law, will be sent to policyholders whose policies include wind coverage for:

• Dwellings having a replacement cost of $600,000 or more
• Dwellings located in an SFHA

Once the flood coverage changes become law, Citizens will also notify policyholders who were previously notified they needed flood insurance for Coverage A and C, that the law now requires that they need flood insurance only for Coverage A:

• Flood Insurance Requirements Changes email sent to policyholders who excluded contents from their policies
• Flood Insurance Requirements Changes email sent to policyholders whose policies have contents coverage only

Required Documentation

To demonstrate compliance with the flood requirement, all new-business applicants and existing policies meeting the conditions above are required to submit the following documents:

• A completed Policyholder Affirmation Regarding Flood Insurance (CIT FW01)
• Proof of flood coverage, which can be any of the following:
  • A copy of the submitted application and proof of payment as initial proof of compliance, if an application for flood coverage is pending
  • A copy of the flood policy declarations
  • Citizens’ Wind Only Policies: Proof that the customer has a flood endorsement that meets the minimum standard on their underlying multiperil policy

Resources

Agents and consumers can visit Floodsmart.gov or the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) for information about flood insurance and on finding a flood insurance provider. Plan ahead as there is typically a waiting period for a flood policy to go into effect. Flood resources will be updated once the flood coverage changes have become law.

Log in to the Agents website and:

• Select Personal > Flood for more details about Citizens’ flood insurance requirements.
• Select Personal > PR-M or PR-W, and then select the appropriate policy type in the Spotlight section on the right side of the page for the various Product Guides and Required Document Guides.
• Select Training > Personal Job Aids to access Citizens’ learning resources:
  • Apply Changes at Renewal
  • Uploading and Linking Documents
• Select FAQs on the center menu at the top of each page. Enter +flood +coverage in the Search field.