New Citizens discounts kicking in for condos [Florida]
Local condominiums will see significant savings on their insurance premiums starting Monday.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which insures many of the condominium buildings in the state, is doubling the hurricane mitigation discounts for condo buildings with a replacement cost of $10 million or less, as policies renew on Sept. 1. The move is to comply with an order mandating the additional discounts for low- and mid-rise condo buildings that have roofs meeting the 2002 building code.
While the new discounts from state-sponsored Citizens will mean substantial savings for some area condo buildings, they also come with some controversy.
The discounts are being implemented nearly two years after Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet ordered property insurers to increase mitigation discounts. But more importantly, Citizens will take on additional risk as it doubles the premium discounts it now hands out annually to condos rising to $340 million. Citizens’ rates are frozen through 2009, even though state lawmakers admit that those rates are inadequate to cover potential hurricane risk.