Those in the Pensacola, Destin, Gulf Breeze and Ft. Walton Beach area who experienced any type of water intrusion from the severe flooding that hit the Panhandle, Florida areas may experience mold infiltration. It can grow unseen for months and create a serious health hazard. In the past, mold damage claims were covered under most property insurance when it resulted from a covered peril, such as a sudden plumbing leak, fire control, storm or other cause covered by your property insurance policy. Insurance carriers have been removing such coverage from their policy forms regardless if it results from a covered peril. In some instances, the insurance companies offer a limited coverage for mold/fungus for an additional premium.

Here are a few key tips to make sure your property damage claim doesn’t make a bad situation worse.

1.     Make sure your insurance company pays you first, not a roofing company or contractor. Never sign over your insurance payment to a 3rd party contractor.  See more insurance claim tips.

Several significant milestones recently passed, so I thought I would share a few of them with you. Most importantly is the adjournment of the 2014 Florida Legislative Session. As the old saying goes, no one is safe when the legislature is in session! While it was predicted, not much earthshaking legislation passed, given the upcoming fall election cycle. That proved to be mostly true with at least insurance issues.

If you live in the Pensacola, Destin, Gulf Breeze and Ft. Walton Beach area and your home was severely damaged by flood to the extent that it is uninhabitable, your insurance policy may provide a coverage called “Additional Living Expense” or “A.L.E.” Under the Additional Living Expense coverage, you and your family may be entitled to rent another home of the same size, like kind and quality as well as be reimbursed for any extra expenses you may incur such as food and temporary lodging.

Watching some of the video clips posted on the Pensacola News Journal website that shows the extensive flood damage in Pensacola, Destin, Ft. Walton Beach and surrounding areas, I was reminded of the thousands of homes flooded in Super Storm Sandy and the insurance claims that ensued. The one common denominator both events share is the large amount of debris piled up in the front yards of neighborhoods. Those piles of personal property, drywall and other interior building components are the tell-tale signs of flood damage.  Looking at the homes and buildings from the street or from the air in a lot of cases would not reveal the extent of damage as roofs, windows, and exterior building cladding were still intact.

For those who have National Flood Insurance, we encourage you to review and pay close attention to your flood policy’s terms and conditions. The policies issued by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) are unique because they fall under a Federal Government program with its own rules and regulations. As an example, the NFIP policy requires you to file a proof-of-loss within 60 days of the flood event. In layman terms, you must have figured out your loss and arrived at a sum certain amount to put on a document called a “proof of loss” and have it submitted to the appropriate person handling your claim. Unless this time period (60 Days) is waived by an authorized official of FEMA/NFIP the claim may be denied in total for failure to comply with the policy terms and conditions.

Since October of 2013 our office has been cranking out claim packages for all of our clients so they fully comply with the terms and conditions of their flood policies.  One of those tasks is the filing of the Proof of Loss, which to the layman can be as complex as building a house with no construction experience.  

For a third time, FEMA has extended the deadline for filing Superstorm Sandy NFIP flood policy claims, 6 months to October 29, 2014. This is allowing policyholders who have supplemental claims or who have had repairs delayed due to code issues or other situations to gather the proper documentation.