Florida has seen more carrier exits and insolvencies since 2020 than any other state in the country. Dozens of insurers have either voluntarily pulled out of Florida, been placed into receivership by state regulators, or restricted new business to the point of functional absence. For property managers, a carrier exit is not an abstract market event — it creates an immediate, time-sensitive coverage problem across every property with that carrier.
This guide walks through how to detect a carrier exit early, what your timeline looks like, the steps to take immediately, Citizens as a fallback option, FIGA coverage if insolvency occurs, and the mortgage exposure that results from a coverage gap.
How to Find Out Your Carrier Is Leaving
Florida law requires insurers to notify policyholders before non-renewal, but the mechanisms vary and the notice can arrive in ways that get missed:
- Non-renewal notice: A formal letter stating that your policy will not be renewed at its expiration date. This is the standard mechanism for an orderly exit and must include the reason for non-renewal.
- Assumption agreement: Some carriers exit by transferring policies to another insurer under a bulk assumption agreement. You may receive a letter stating your policy is being assumed by a different carrier. Review the new policy carefully — coverage terms often change.
- DFS market bulletins: The Florida Department of Financial Services posts bulletins when insurers announce Florida exits or face regulatory action. If you manage a large portfolio, monitoring DFS bulletins proactively is worthwhile.
- Your agent: A good independent agent who tracks market conditions will contact you ahead of formal notice if they know a carrier is planning to exit. This is one of the real advantages of working with an agent who specializes in Florida property.
A non-renewal notice means your current policy remains in force until its expiration date. A mid-term cancellation — which has different notice rules and is harder for carriers to execute — terminates coverage before the expiration date. Read any notice carefully to understand whether coverage ends at expiration or earlier. For most carrier exits, coverage continues until the policy's normal expiration date.
Timeline: What to Expect
Florida law mandates minimum notice periods that vary by situation:
The practical implication: 45 days sounds like a lot of time until you factor in underwriting timelines, inspection requirements, and the fact that every other policyholder with the same carrier is shopping simultaneously in the same market. In a mass exit scenario, independent agents and insurers get overwhelmed. Start immediately.
Immediate Steps After Receiving a Non-Renewal Notice
Receipt of a non-renewal or exit notice triggers a specific sequence of actions:
- Confirm the coverage end date. The notice will state the date your coverage terminates. Mark this date prominently — it is an absolute deadline.
- Contact your independent agent immediately. If you don't have an independent agent, get one. Captive agents can't access alternative markets and can't help you in a carrier exit scenario.
- Pull your current declarations page and loss run. New carriers will ask for both. Your current carrier is required to provide a loss run on request — get it now, before the exit is complete and access becomes more difficult.
- Gather property data for underwriting. Roof age, square footage, construction type, year built, prior claims history. Having this ready accelerates the quoting process.
- Get quotes from multiple carriers. At minimum three quotes from different markets. Don't rely on a single alternative quote under time pressure.
- Notify your lender. If you have a mortgage, your lender needs to be aware of the policy change. They'll need to be listed on the new policy's mortgage clause. Give them the new policy information as soon as you bind coverage.
Citizens as a Fallback
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is Florida's insurer of last resort and an important safety net when private market coverage isn't available. But Citizens isn't automatically available to every property, and it isn't always the right choice even when it is available.
Citizens Eligibility Requirements
- The property must be insurable — Citizens has its own underwriting standards including roof age requirements (generally 25-year maximum for flat roofs, higher for sloped)
- You must not have declined a comparable offer from a private market carrier within 20% of Citizens' premium (Citizens is the last resort, not the first choice)
- Coverage limits are capped by statute — high-value properties may not be fully covered
- Properties with recent major losses may face additional scrutiny
Citizens Limitations to Understand
- Claims handling after major storms has historically been slower than private market carriers
- Citizens has a depopulation program that can transfer your policy to a private carrier — the private carrier offer must be within 15% of Citizens' premium for the transfer to proceed
- Citizens wind-only policies must be paired with a separate all-other-perils policy, creating a dual-policy management burden
Citizens eligibility is property-by-property. In a portfolio of 10 properties with the same exiting carrier, some properties may qualify for Citizens while others may need surplus lines coverage. Run each property through the process independently rather than assuming all will be treated the same way.
FIGA Coverage: When Your Carrier Becomes Insolvent
There is an important distinction between a carrier voluntarily exiting the market and a carrier becoming insolvent. FIGA — the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association — only activates in insolvency, not in a voluntary exit.
If your carrier is placed into receivership by a Florida court and declared insolvent, FIGA steps in to handle outstanding claims. Key FIGA facts:
- FIGA coverage caps at $300,000 for most residential claims (as of 2026 statutory limits)
- Claims already in process at the time of insolvency are covered up to the cap
- FIGA coverage does not replace the underlying policy for future events — you need replacement coverage immediately
- FIGA claim processing is slower than normal insurer claims — budget for extended timelines
- FIGA does not cover claims that exceed the statutory cap, so high-value properties with large pending claims may experience a shortfall
The Mortgage Risk: Lender-Placed Insurance
Every mortgage agreement contains a requirement that the borrower maintain adequate property insurance at all times. A coverage gap — even a single day between the expiring carrier policy and the new policy — violates this requirement and triggers lender-placed (also called force-placed) insurance.
Lender-placed insurance is purchased by the lender, billed to the borrower, and is structurally disadvantageous in every way:
- Cost: Typically 2–4x market rate for equivalent coverage
- Coverage scope: Protects only the lender's collateral interest in the structure — no contents, no liability, no loss of rents
- Claims friction: The policyholder (you) is not the named insured — disputes about claim proceeds can become complicated
- Retroactive billing: Lenders often backdate lender-placed coverage to the day the gap began and bill you retroactively
If you cannot secure replacement coverage before your non-renewal date, contact Citizens directly for an emergency binding. Do not let the policy expire unmatched. A single day without coverage creates lender-placed insurance exposure and leaves your property uninsured for any loss that occurs during that period.
Documenting Prior Coverage
When you replace a policy after a carrier exit, maintain documentation of your prior coverage. This matters in several scenarios:
- Claims in process: If you had an open claim with the exiting carrier, documentation of coverage dates and claim status is critical for FIGA processing or the assumption carrier's claims department
- Prior acts coverage: Some coverage types (particularly liability-adjacent) have prior acts provisions — documentation of prior carrier and effective dates matters for future claims related to past events
- Underwriting for future renewals: New carriers will ask about loss history and prior coverage. Having clean documentation avoids disputes about what was in force when
- Legal disputes: If a claim arises after a carrier exit that relates to a pre-exit event, documentation of which carrier was on risk at the time is essential
At minimum, retain: declarations pages for every policy year for the past five years, loss run reports from each carrier, and any non-renewal or assumption notices you receive.
Track policy status and carrier health across your portfolio
LossHQ lets you log carrier names, policy periods, renewal dates, and coverage details for every property — so a carrier exit notice triggers an organized response rather than a scramble through email attachments.
Start Free — No Card Required →The Bottom Line
Florida's insurance market has made carrier exits a recurring reality for property managers, not an exceptional event. The property managers who handle them well treat every non-renewal notice as a five-day action item: contact the agent, pull documents, begin shopping immediately, and never let coverage lapse. The ones who handle them poorly wait, assume Citizens will be available, and end up in lender-placed insurance or with a coverage gap when a storm hits. Build the response process now so you can execute it without panic when the notice arrives.