As property owners with insurance claims resulting from Hurricane Irma start to receive settlement offers from their insurance company, our public insurance adjusters continue to field calls and questions from people still struggling through the insurance claims process. One question that frequently comes up involves how much roof damage there must be for the entire roof to be replaced.

Florida building code basically says (and we are paraphrasing here) that if you have 25% or more of your roof damaged within a 12 month period, then the entire roof must be replaced. Most residential policies have what is called “Law and Ordinance ” coverage to pay for the increased cost of code upgrades. If your roof incurred enough storm damage and you also have Law and Ordinance coverage, you should be able to collect for the total replacement of your roof under this coverage as long as you actually do the work. Law and Ordinance coverage requires you to incur the cost of the repair and then submit the costs with documentation to your insurance company for reimbursement.

Another roof related issue that we see is when damaged roof tiles and shingles are not able to be matched where only a section of the roof was damaged. Matching coverage disputes with insurance companies and their adjusters tend to be very controversial as most adjusters will likely insist that they do not have an obligation to replace the undamaged property. This is not always the case and most “replacement cost” provisions within a policy should provide for full replacement of the undamaged property. Anyone dealing with an insurance adjuster, who is arguing they will not pay, may want to hire a licensed public adjuster or an attorney to fight on their behalf.

As always, the professional public insurance adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates are here to help with any property insurance related questions you may have. Please call 800.321.4488 or contact a public adjuster to submit a question to one of our insurance claim experts.