The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) approved updates to Citizens’ Commercial Lines policy forms and endorsements for new and renewal business for policies with an effective date on or after October 1, 2024. The major updates are outlined below and summarized in the Notice of Change in Policy Terms.

Commercial Declarations (CDEC1)

• The Declarations pages will now notify policyholders of a new policy provision, Reasonable Measures to Protect the Property.
  • This policy contains limits on certain covered losses, all subject to the terms and conditions of your policy. These limits include, for example, a limit of up to the greater of $15,000 or 3% of the separate building limit of insurance for emergency measures, including but not limited to temporary repairs, tarping, shrink-wrap, water mitigation, board-up, and similar measures of that building.

Amendments and Additions

• Under Reasonable Measures to Protect the Property, policyholders must take reasonable measures to protect covered property from further damage.
• Citizens may now request, and must be provided with, an unedited copy of all recordings and photographs taken by insured(s) or their representatives of inspections initiated by Citizens.
• The Newly Acquired or Constructed Property section now expressly states that coverage is limited to property located in Florida.
• Both parties are required to agree, in writing, to appraise a loss before the appraisal process can begin. A new stipulation is added to the appraisal award. See Appraisal under the section titled Alternative Dispute Resolution for more details.
• The Adjustment to Limits And Amounts section clarifies that the policy’s coverage limit is not guaranteed to be adequate to repair or replace the property.
• Under the Neglect exclusion, it is clarified that all reasonable means must be used to save and preserve property at the time of loss.
• Outdoor furniture is not covered if loss or damage occurs during a hurricane unless the loss or damage to the furniture occurs while the furniture is in an enclosed building.

Exclusions

• Payments for professional services – including but not limited to engineering reports, expert opinions, or estimates to establish and/or determine the cause and/or amount of loss – ordered by an insured or their representative are specifically excluded unless the aforementioned services were requested by Citizens. See the new exclusion titled Professional Services for more details.
• Florida changes – residential condominium associations
  • The endorsement clarifies the difference between property that is the unit owner’s insurance responsibility and property that is the condominium association's insurance responsibility.
• Cause of loss – windstorm or hail
  • The following provisions are amended using the Florida Changes – Cause of Loss form CIT CR 01 25 10 24. See the form for details.
    • Wind-driven rain, snow, sleet, sand, or dust
    • Neglect exclusion
    • Exterior paint exclusion
    • Professional services
    • Newly acquired or constructed property

Notice of Change in Policy Terms

Citizens will send policyholders a Notice of Change in Policy Terms with renewal offers. The content of each notice varies by policy form. These notices are available under Policyholder Notices for each policy form on the Commercial section of the Agents site.

Resources

Log in to the Agents site and go to the:

• Training page and select Commercial Job Aids:
  • Select New Business to access the Commercial Lines New-Business Submission Guide and Uploading and Linking Documents.
  • Access the Commercial Lines Resources Guide under Resources.
• Go to the Commercial section and select one of the four policy types for more information.