Property Insurance Bill Would Raise Rates, Critics Warn

An insurance bill in the Florida Legislature that would force Citizens Property Insurance to raise rates on new homeowners was criticized Monday as potentially "devastating for real estate markets."

According to the Bradenton Herald, the 96-page bill forces Citizens Property Insurance to increase rates for new policyholders to  "actuarially sound" levels.

Jay Neal, president of Florida Association for Insurance Reform, warned that the bill would lead to large rate hikes and hurt a residential real estate market that is only just beginning to recover.

According to the Bradenton Herald:

“In some areas, people buying a home now would have up to 90 percent higher property insurance rate than the person that’s in the house now,” said Neal, whose group represents a wide swath of stakeholders. “We know that that would be extremely devastating to the real estate markets."

SB 1770 is expected to be voted on in the Senate on Tuesday. A House version of the bill is still in committee.

According to the Citizens Property Insurance website:

Citizens is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt government corporation whose public purpose is to provide insurance protection to Florida property owners throughout the state. The corporation insures hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and condominiums whose owners otherwise might not be able to find coverage.

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