Florida law doesn’t impose a rule that an insurer must settle a roof claim at actual cash value (ACV) merely because the roof is old. The claim’s settlement basis depends on the policy’s loss-settlement terms, any roof-specific endorsement, and the facts of the loss — not a one-size-fits-all age cutoff.
The Replacement-Cost Payment Sequence
When a dwelling is insured on a replacement-cost basis, § 627.7011(3)(a), Florida Statutes, generally requires the insurer to initially pay at least the ACV of the covered loss, less any applicable deductible. The insurer pays remaining covered amounts as repair work is performed and expenses are incurred. That initial ACV payment is not necessarily the final payment under replacement-cost coverage.
A Separate Roof-Deductible Exception
A separate rule applies when the policy has a statutory roof deductible under § 627.701(10), Florida Statutes: the insurer may limit payment for the roof to ACV until it receives reasonable proof that the policyholder has paid the deductible.
Roof-Specific Settlement Endorsements
Some policies also carry a roof-specific settlement endorsement — for example, one that settles certain roof-surfacing losses at ACV or under a payment schedule rather than full replacement cost. Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation records include an insurer-filed form along these lines, titled “Actual Cash Value Loss Settlement Windstorm or Hail Losses to Roof Surfacing.” That’s an example of a form an insurer may use, not a statewide requirement — whether one applies to your roof, and how, depends on the actual endorsement attached to your policy.
Roof Age Is an Underwriting Issue — Not a Valuation Rule
The roof-age provision in § 627.7011(5) concerns homeowners-policy underwriting, not how a claim is valued. An insurer may not refuse to issue or renew a homeowners policy solely because the roof is less than 15 years old. For a roof at least 15 years old, the insurer must allow an inspection by an authorized inspector, at the homeowner’s expense, before requiring roof replacement as a condition of issuing or renewing the policy. If the inspection indicates at least five years of useful life remain, the insurer may not refuse to issue or renew the policy solely because of the roof’s age. The statute doesn’t prevent an insurer from declining or nonrenewing for other lawful underwriting reasons, and these protections are specific to homeowners policies — § 627.7011(6) excludes policies not commonly considered homeowners policies, along with mobile-home policies.
Recent Changes to the Law
The Legislature added the roof-age protections in 2022, and a 2024 amendment added roofing contractors to the list of professionals an insurer may approve as authorized inspectors. Neither change creates a claim-valuation rule requiring ACV — or replacement cost — based solely on roof age.
The Bottom Line
Florida law doesn’t set a roof age at which a claim must automatically be paid at actual cash value instead of replacement cost — the underwriting rules and the claim-payment rules are separate, and neither makes age alone the valuation standard. But some policies carry their own roof-specific endorsement that settles things differently, so the only way to know for certain is to check your actual policy and any endorsements attached to it.
If your insurer has limited your roof claim to actual cash value, the real answer may turn on an endorsement you didn’t know was there as much as on your roof’s age. We can help you work out what your specific policy actually requires, as part of our Roof & Hail Damage Claims practice.
This article describes statewide statutory requirements. A particular claim still depends on your policy language, the cause and extent of damage, and the facts of your situation.