Due North · the insurer you didn't choose

Due North ▲ The Florida Landlord Brief — a weekly read on Florida rentals, from True North Managed · Orlando & Tampa.

Hi again — something happened to Florida's insurer of last resort that almost nobody told policyholders about.

Citizens is now about a fifth the size it was three years ago. It peaked around 1.4 million policies in the fall of 2023. By its own count it was down to 278,246 at the end of June, after another nine carriers were approved to assume policies earlier this year. Four out of five of those policies are gone from Citizens' book.

Most of them didn't choose that. The handoff happens by mail during a renewal, and nothing about the experience feels like switching companies.

Which matters this month, because Citizens cut its personal-lines rates on July 1 — homeowners multiperil down an average 8.8%, wind-only down 5.5% — and a state-level rate cut only reaches you if you're still with the state insurer. If a private takeout carrier assumed your policy somewhere in the last two years, your renewal is priced by that company's filings, not by the number in the press release. The cut is real. It just may not be yours.

Pull your declarations page and read the carrier name at the top. Not the agency, not the name on the invoice — the carrier actually on the risk. If you can't put your hands on it, your agent can email the current one the same day — ask for the current one, not last year's.

Before you draw conclusions: the Citizens cut lands at renewal, not on July 1. If you renewed in May you're still with Citizens and you'll see nothing until next spring. A flat premium doesn't mean you were moved. And if the name at the top is one you don't recognize, three follow-ups: ask that carrier's agent what they've filed for 2026, ask whether you're still eligible to return to Citizens, and look up the carrier's financial strength rating. That last one only matters once, in a claim year, and by then it's too late to check.

There's a timing trap sitting on top of all of this, and this week is a live example of it. When the National Hurricane Center puts a tropical storm or hurricane watch on any part of Florida, Citizens stops binding — no new policies and no coverage changes, statewide — until the watch lifts. Private carriers run their own versions of the same rule. A system in the Gulf closed that window Sunday morning, and as I write this it's still shut and still strengthening. Whether it's open again when this reaches you depends entirely on where the watch stands that hour — Citizens posts the live state on its binding alerts page, and that's the page to check before you plan anything around coverage this week.

That's the part worth keeping. The shopping, the coverage increase, the switch you've been meaning to get to — none of it was available Sunday, in exactly the week people finally feel motivated to do it. It's available in the quiet weeks, which is the only real argument for doing this in July instead of September.

The other side of this catches people, so be precise about which line you're on. If your rental sits on a commercial-residential policy rather than a personal one, Citizens' approved 2026 changes there go up, not down: multiperil up an average 7.2% for non-condo and 7.7% for condo, and wind-only up 14.4% — the biggest increase on that side of the house, and the one most likely to land on a coastal rental. Same insurer, same year, opposite direction.

Same page, one more line to check: the roof date. There's a protection in Florida law here, and a catch you need to know about it. Statute 627.7011 stops an insurer from refusing to renew over roof age alone before fifteen years — but subsection (6) carves out policies that aren't homeowners' policies, and most rentals sit on a dwelling-fire form instead. So don't assume it reaches you. Ask your agent, in writing, whether your policy is one the statute covers. Some carriers also won't write shingle past ten, especially near the coast. Either way the replacement year is one of the few big expenses you can actually schedule, and even if it's years out, knowing the date tells you when to start setting the money aside. A roof replaced in the year you choose is a capital decision; a roof replaced the year you become uninsurable is an emergency with a contractor's schedule attached. Our guide to landlord insurance in Florida covers the coverage side, and if a carrier has already walked away from you, we wrote about what comes next.

Two more when you have a minute: how a Tampa landlord cut a rental's tax bill with one appeal, and our breakdown of what the November amendment's 10%-to-5% cap actually does for rental property.

That amendment lost ground this month, and it changes how I'd underwrite anything for 2027. The governor who pushed for it is now declining to campaign for it — he'll vote for it, he says, but "what the Legislature did wasn't my proposal." An organized opposition committee has formed since, arguing the measure shifts the tax burden onto renters. It needs 60% to pass. This isn't a voting recommendation — but if you're modeling a Florida purchase for 2027 and you've penciled in the lower assessment cap, you've built a supermajority vote into your returns, and the man who proposed it isn't out campaigning for it. The 30-year fixed, for what it's worth against that: 6.55% on July 16.

One last thing before you close this. If you pull the declarations page and can't tell who's actually on the risk — that happens more than you'd think — forward it to me and I'll read it for you.

— The True North Team

General info for Florida rental owners — not legal, tax, or insurance advice.