Can an insurer drop me over roof stains?

Florida Statutes 627.7011(5)(b) reads, “An insurer may not refuse to issue or refuse to renew a homeowner's policy insuring a residential structure with a roof that is less than 15 years old solely because of the age of the roof.” Every limit in that sentence is about age. Roof stains, algae and mold do not appear in it, and they do not appear anywhere else in the section either.

The age rule is narrow, and three details in the section fix its edges.

• Age is a date calculation. Under 627.7011(5)(d), it runs from the last date on which the whole roof surface was built or replaced under the building code then in effect, or from the first date of partial replacements that together reached the whole surface. The subsection names no other input.
• Timing. Under 627.7011(5)(e), subsection (5) applies to homeowners' insurance policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2022.
• Policy type. Under 627.7011(6)(a) and (b), the section does not apply to mobile home policies, or to policies not considered homeowners' policies as the insurance industry commonly understands that term. Whether a given policy falls on either side is a question for the insurer and an attorney.

The word solely matters most. The rule forbids age as the only reason; it says nothing about any other reason. For a roof 15 years or older, the section adds a separate right, covered under the right to an inspection before an insurer requires a new roof.

The section closes with a list of things it does not do, and one entry answers the stains question as far as the statute can.

Section 627.7011(6)(c) says the section does not “Limit the ability of an insurer to reject or nonrenew any insured or applicant on the grounds that the structure does not meet underwriting criteria applicable to replacement cost or law and ordinance policies or for other lawful reasons.”

Read together with subsection (5), it means the statute neither forbids nor authorizes a decision based on roof stains. It names no stains, and what it leaves untouched is in the words quoted above. What a particular carrier does with a stained roof is a question for that carrier or its agent, the policy documents, the Florida Department of Financial Services or an attorney. This page states no rule about it because the statute states none.

A different section governs the letter itself, and it applies to condominium association and unit owner policies as well as homeowner policies.

Florida Statutes 627.4133(2)(b) requires an insurer on a personal lines residential property policy to give the first named policyholder written notice of nonrenewal, cancellation or termination at least 120 days before it takes effect, and says, “The notice must include the reason for the nonrenewal, cancellation, or termination.” Seven numbered exceptions follow in the same paragraph and set other terms for particular cases, among them cancellation for nonpayment of premium, cancellation or termination in a policy's first 60 days, certain Citizens nonrenewals and combined home and auto policies. Whether one applies to a given letter is the insurer's and an attorney's question.

The Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services, publishes insurance consumer information and runs an insurance assistance line at (850) 413-3089, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST.

A cleaning is about how a roof looks, and the statute measures neither appearance nor cleaning.

No cleaning date enters the age calculation in 627.7011(5)(d), and no cleaner can say how a carrier will read a roof. A cleaner is not an inspector and does not assess condition, which is set out under what an exterior cleaner is not. Whether a clean roof satisfies a particular insurer's letter is addressed in the Florida rules on roofs and insurance.

Two narrower questions have their own answers: what a cleaning changes in how a roof looks in insurance photos, and whether cleaning a roof before an inspection changes the result.