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Florida insurance regulator sets 2022 rates for
Citizens Property Insurance |
Article Courtesy of Insurance Business America
By Lyle Adriano
Published
July 8, 2022
Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has
established the personal property and commercial property insurance
rates of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation – the state-backed
insurer of last resort – for 2022.
The OIR held a virtual public rate hearing to hear public feedback on
Citizens’ rate filings on March 31, 2022. Comments on the rate filings
continued to be accepted for consideration until April 14, 2022.
And following a review of the complete record and feedback, the OIR has
finally established rates for Citizens’ Coastal Account (CA), Commercial
Lines Account (CLA), and Personal Lines Account (PLA). A release said
that the effective date for new and renewal rates is September 01, 2022.
The rates are as follows:
Overall Estimated Statewide Average Rates Changes – PLA & CA
|
Account |
Original Rate Requested |
Established Rate |
|
Commercial Residential Property Multi-Peril Condominium
Associations (CLA & CA) #22-003394 |
+8.7% |
+8.7% |
|
Commercial Residential Property Multi-Peril Excluding
Condominium Associations (CLA & CA) #22-003395 |
+10.2% |
+10.2% |
|
Commercial Non-Residential Property Multi-Peril (CLA & CA)
#22-003509 |
+0.7% |
0.0% |
|
Commercial Residential Property Wind Only Condominium
Associations (CA) #22-003648 |
+9.9% |
+9.9% |
|
Commercial Residential Property Wind Only Excluding Condominium
Associations (CA) #22-003649 |
+10.6% |
+10.6% |
|
Commercial Non-Residential Property Wind Only (CA) #22-003765 |
+11.0% |
+11.0% |
The OIR-approved rates come as a
new report by the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I)
investigated the problematic homeowners’ insurance market in Florida,
which the institute believes is due to rampant fraudulent roof repair
schemes and excessive insurance litigation. Those issues have forced
insurance companies to either charge significantly higher rates or drop
renewal for policies in the state, forcing many homeowners to switch to
Citizens, it was observed.
The number of policyholders with Citizens is beginning to dangerously
swell, the report found. Triple-I noted that the insurer’s policy count
in Florida rose to nearly 900,000 this month.
Citizens’ growing policyholder count is also beginning to take its toll
on the state-backed insurer. In a report for the claims committee of its
board of governors, the company said that for the first four months of
2022, it was served 3,881 lawsuits. Citizens averaged 970 lawsuits a
month for the first four months of 2022 – 11.5% more than the average of
870 lawsuits a month for the same period in 2021.
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