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The Miami-Dade County Commission on Mar. 2 approved a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Joe Martinez opposing Senate Bill (SB) 76 and House Bill (HB) 305, or similar legislation that would allow homeowners insurance companies to no longer provide full replacement coverage for roofs of a certain age.
Commissioner Martinez’s legislation opposes these bills as they would negatively impact all of the residents of Miami-Dade County and Florida. The elderly population, which is a large segment of Miami-Dade, may not be able to obtain insurance to replace roofs that are over 10 years old and would be left with the burden of the replacement cost if damaged.
Commissioner Martinez explained that replacement cost can be much more costly than the original cost of the roof at the time it was built and felt that opposing this is the right thing to do for the people he serves. Currently, Florida law requires insurers writing homeowners property insurance policies to offer an adjustment to the dwelling, including the roof, on the basis of replacement cost, and while the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation can approve policy forms that adjust roof losses on the basis of actual cash value — such as the depreciated value of the roof — the insurer must still offer a replacement cost adjustment on the roof before issuing the policy.
The proposed bills, Senate Bill (SB) 76 and House Bill (HB) 305, have been filed for consideration during the Florida Legislature’s 2021 session by Sen. Jim Boyd (R, Bradenton) and Rep. Bob Rommel (R, Naples) would, among other things, remove the requirement to offer replacement cost reimbursement for roofs that are at least 10 years old, even though the typical lifespan of a roof in Florida is 25 to 30 years.
If a homeowner’s roof is at least 10 years old and gets destroyed during a hurricane, for instance, the homeowner’s insurance company could only pay what the roof is worth at the time as opposed to the full replacement cost of the roof, and these bills, if enacted, may disenfranchise homeowners who have for years been paying their premium by allowing insurance companies to only pay a fraction of the cost to replace the roof, resulting in a substantial decrease in coverage for many homeowners throughout the state.
“In a county where we have experienced severe roof damage, including the ‘Blue Roof’ calamities of the 2005 hurricane season and most recently from the effects of Hurricane Irma, I felt that these bills are designed to help the insurance companies and not the people,” Commissioner Martinez said. “I needed to protect everyone from the adverse effects of these bills, especially those that are older, seniors, and without the economic resources to replace their older roofs.”
