Citizens - Home insurance woes
Trying to help my mil with her home insurance in FL. No prior claims and no flood zone.
She contacted an agent who gave her a cheaper quote through citizens. We find out 6 weeks later there is still no policy. We call on her behalf and get a bunch excuses about internet glitches or something. Called citizens and they didn’t even have a record of the application. In the meantime coverage has lapsed and the mortgage company I guess has already bought its own policy.
Finally last week the agent submitted a new application and just got a notice that it was denied for missing required documentation.
Obviously we are contacting a different agent referred by a friend asap. But like wth? This can’t be normal right? What else should/can we be doing? Obviously this is very stressful for her going into hurricane season without a policy.
Citizens - When does Citizens cover water damage under HO3 policy?
Hi. I have an HO3 policy with Citizens in Florida and I’m trying to understand in what situations they would actually cover water damage since the reps, my insurance agent or adjuster are not able to clarify this. I have a water damage under my flooring, but again neither the field adjuster, water mitigation company, nor the leak detection specialist have been able to find the exact source of the leak. Insurance wants to send out an inspector who I assume would work in their favor. I’m trying to prepare in case they deny my claim and I need to bring in independent specialists to help me figure it out. I have vinyl flooring installed on top of hardwood floor, and noticed a soft spot so I removed part of the vinyl and found rotten wood. I've never noticed any water on top of my flooring.
From what I understand, Citizens excludes gradual leaks and seepage, but they have a clause that covers hidden water damage if it was unknown and concealed beneath floors, behind walls, or in ceilings. I’m wondering how that actually works in practice. Since there's no known active leak it must be caused by something situational, hidden or accidental spill. I'm having a hard time determining the fine prints since it gives conflicting information. I've included a few pages from my insurance declaration related to water damage in link below:
https://imgur.com/a/sc50G9K
Would Citizens cover situations like:
- Moisture buildup under flooring due to a failed vapor or moisture barrier?
- An AC leak inside the walls over time from a pipe failure or faulty installation?
- Sporadic leaks from an air handler that was poorly installed?
- A cracked condensate line or even a sewage pipe leaking beneath the slab?
- Water spilled sometime in the past which got under the floor?
Has anyone had Citizens approve a claim for something like this, or did they deny it as a maintenance issue? If they did cover it, what kind of evidence did you need to provide?
I want to be ready in case they push back on the claim. It's been over a month already and I am not able to get the renovations started since adjuster wants me to keep it as is for now. On top of that the adjuster wanted me to keep the damaged flooring (with mold) bagged indoors. And he also advised that we live home since the mold did not seem to be a big issue from what he was able to tell from the photos (despite water mitigation company saying that it was over 10sq ft and asked that we find temporary stay since we have a small child until they send a higienist, which they did not get an approval for from adjuster)...
I would really appreciate your help. Thanks
Citizens - Lender requires full replacement cost on 1980 Manufactured home FL
Hi, I would really appreciate it if you could provide some guidance. I am in the process of buying a 5 acre property with a 1980 1100sqft permanently attached mobile home. It is so obvious that the value is in the land. I never thought when making the offer that the manufactured home would become such a problem. My plan was to buy 5 acre land build a regular house on it in 1-2 years. Because of the manufactured home I am being hit with high interest rate and higher down payment. I was OK with that. But now the lender requires me to have Full Replacement Cost for the manufactured home. The lender would not accept the only and highest dwelling coverage I could find from Citizens. Citizens provided an RCE report stating brand new full reconstruction would cost $147k, but they would subtract depreciation and allow 25% higher in vaullue. So, that would be $62k + 25% = $78k and the premium is like $2300. Citizens won't go higher on the premium. The lender wants $147k coverage. I am unable to find any other insurers that would even insure the mobile home. I ordered 4-point inspection and the home passed it without any issues. Full roof replacement was just done 1 week ago as well. To me the mobile home is worth $30-40k at most, so the insurance company is right. Why would they insure it for higher anyways. I am purchasing the property as is for $330k. Putting down 25%. So, only borrowing $249k. The land itself is worth $300k+. I do not understand why the lender would not accept my $78k insurance as I cannot insure the land either. I told the lender/broker to be my guess and find an insurance company that would do what they are asking for. Even if they could, I could not even imagine what the premium would be on that case? 5k ? Who would pay to insurance for 40k Mobile home? What should I do?
Citizens - Appraisal for homeowners and halting ordinance in law/personal items coverage.
Hi all! So I'm in the appraisal process for my homeowners- mine is a hurricane claim (wind only not flood damage). Do they halt processing stuff like ordinance in law while they are in the appraisal process? What about personal inventory items (yes, 5 months since milton and they have done nothing with that)? I want them to see the house stripped down so we still have another month until appraisal. What should I do? I have waited a very long time to replace things. I need stuff like a frige and other essentials. Atleast for the personal items i feel like i should get atleast an "estimate/supplement" thing generated before they start using it as a tool to negotiate paying me less.They said it will be resolved at the end but they have not been forthcoming to resolve anything nor do we see an end in sight. We are kinda going out on a limb and assuming that we are going to sue even after appraisal.
It's Florida and this is with citizens if that info is relevant.
Make A Complaint
Loading...