Between 2021 and 2023, the Florida Legislature rebuilt the law of first-party property insurance from the studs. Senate Bill 76 (2021) imposed a mandatory presuit notice regime. Senate Bill 2-A, passed in a December 2022 special session, eliminated the one-way attorney's fee for property suits, banned post-loss assignments of benefits, and shortened the time to report a claim. House Bill 837 (2023) finished the job by repealing section 627.428, Florida Statutes, outright. See ch. 2022-271, Laws of Fla.; ch. 2023-15, Laws of Fla. Three years on, the center of gravity has shifted from Tallahassee to the appellate courts, which are now deciding what those statutes actually mean — and to whom they apply. Increasingly, the answers turn on two dates: when the policy was issued and when notice was given. For policyholders facing a dispute over property damage coverage, a Fort Lauderdale, FL property damage lawyer can help explain how the applicable laws may affect the claim and available legal options.
A six-district split over presuit notice — with the Supreme Court poised to resolve it
Section 627.70152, Florida Statutes, requires a claimant to serve a presuit notice of intent to litigate, through the Department of Financial Services, at least ten business days before filing suit,and directs courts to dismiss noncompliant suits without prejudice. § 627.70152(3), (5), Fla. Stat. The unresolved question is whether that requirement reaches policies issued before the statute's July 1, 2021 effective date.
Four district courts of appeal — the First, Second, Fifth, and Sixth — hold that it does not, reasoning that the statute is substantive and carries no clear statement of retroactive intent. See Hughes v. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 374 So. 3d 900 (Fla. 6th DCA 2023); Priest v. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co., No. 1D2024-1577 (Fla. 1st DCA May 20, 2026). The Third and Fourth Districts disagree, treating the notice as procedural and applicable to any suit filed after enactment. See Cantens v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London, 388 So. 3d 242 (Fla. 3d DCA 2024); Cole v. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 363 So. 3d 1089 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023). The Florida Supreme Court accepted review of Hughes (No. SC2024-0025) and heard argument on February 5, 2025; as of this writing the decision remains pending, and the Second District certified conflict yet again just this month. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Bell, No. 2D2025-1483 (Fla. 2d DCA Aug. 14, 2026).
The statute's scope is expanding even as its reach is contested. In Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Nekouee, No. 2D2025-2866 (Fla. 2d DCA Aug. 14, 2026), the Second District held that presuit notice is required even for pure declaratory judgment actions seeking no money damages: "all suits means all suits."
Attorney's fees: the vintage of the policy controls
The fee-shift repeal was the reform era's biggest structural change, but it did not erase fee claims overnight. In Blumberg v. Security First Insurance Co., No. 5D2024-1214 (Fla. 5th DCA Aug. 28, 2025), the Fifth District held that the elimination of statutory fee entitlements is substantive and cannot be applied retroactively: the right to fees was "incorporated into the policy" when it issued. A policyholder whose policy issued in early 2022 may therefore still recover fees under the former sections 627.428 and 627.70152, even in litigation concluding years after the repeal. For newer policies, the declaratory-fee statute offers no refuge — section 86.121 expressly does not apply to property insurance — so proposals for settlement under section 768.79, Florida Statutes, have become the principal fee lever, and they cut in both directions.
Appraisal: new guardrails from the courts
Appraisal — a claim-valuation tool wielded more often by adjusters and insurers than by lawyers — has nonetheless produced some of the reform era's most consequential rulings. In American Coastal Insurance Co. v. San Marco Villas Condominium Ass'n, No. SC2021-0883 (Fla. Feb. 1, 2024), the Florida Supreme Court held that trial courts have discretion to compel appraisal before coverage defenses are resolved; an insurer cannot defeat appraisal merely by contesting coverage. Courts are enforcing the remedy vigorously in both directions: the Fifth District recently held an insurer did not waive appraisal by engaging in early litigation conduct, People's Trust Insurance Co. v. Fernandez, No. 5D2025-3174 (Fla. 5th DCA Aug. 7, 2026), and the Third District reversed a policyholder verdict where the insureds, after appraisal, refused to sign the work authorization their repair-option policy required — a material breach. People's Trust Insurance Co. v. Hernandez, No. 3D23-0972 (Fla. 3d DCA Oct. 16, 2024).
The storm docket: deadlines doing real work
Section 627.70132 now gives policyholders one year from the date of loss to notice a new or reopened claim and eighteen months for a supplemental claim. Those windows have already closed for 2024's hurricanes: Helene generated 155,182 Florida claims (about $2.6 billion in estimated insured losses) and Milton 385,146 claims (about $5.6 billion), with roughly a third of closed claims paid nothing — most often, per the Office of Insurance Regulation, because losses fell below deductibles or were flood-excluded. Late notice is a common defense — often a fatal one — but at The People's Law Team, PA, we know how to defend against it. We have defeated motions for summary judgment on claims allegedly reported two years after the insurer's assigned "date of loss." We can do that because we appreciate all of the facts — not just the facts the insurance company sees and highlights. The homeowner's facts are also important, and they command respect. Statutory bad-faith claims are gated as well: section 624.1551 requires an adverse adjudication of breach before suit, although the First District has held that requirement is substantive and does not reach previously accrued claims. Vo v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., No. 1D2023-2228 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb. 26, 2025).
Tallahassee held the line; the market turned
The 2026 regular session ended with the reforms intact. Fee-restoration proposals again failed, and a bill barring insurers from using artificial intelligence as the sole basis to deny claims passed the House 108–0 only to die in the Senate (HB 527). What did pass was modest: a commercial clearinghouse for Citizens (ch. 2026-150) and a requirement that public adjusters respond to policyholder information requests within fourteen days (ch. 2026-174). Meanwhile the market data moved sharply: Citizens has shrunk from roughly 1.4 million policies in late 2023 to about 274,000 in June 2026; regulators report more than twenty new residential insurers since the reforms; OIR ordered Citizens' rates down 8.7 percent statewide effective June 1, 2026 (over 14 percent in Broward); and Florida's share of the nation's homeowners insurance lawsuits fell from roughly three-quarters to about 41 percent in 2025.
The takeaway for policyholders
In 2026, property insurance rights are defined by vintage and calendar: the policy's issue date determines the fee regime, the date of loss starts the statutory notice clocks, and presuit procedure and settlement strategy — not fee statutes — now decide leverage. And more change is coming, with the Florida Supreme Court's presuit-notice decision still ahead. Through it all, The People's Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers is here to help policyholders navigate all of the changing laws — and to make sure the homeowner's side of the story is heard.
About the Author
David Edwards, Esq., is a Florida litigation attorney with more than a decade of experience representing policyholders and injured people in first-party property insurance, personal injury, and insurance disputes throughout South Florida. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article is for general informational purposes only. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Legal developments change quickly; consult a licensed Florida attorney about your specific situation.
