Latest Homeowners Headlines
All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Department of Insurance Issues Revised Plan of Operation for FAIR Plan
Dec 19 2019 // Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments from a FAIR Plan official. The battle between the California Department of Insurance and the FAIR Plan will continue to rage on in the wake of two severe...
FAIR Plan Asks Court to Stop California Insurance Commissioner’s Order
Dec 13 2019 // Note: This is been updated with a statement from Lara’s office. The FAIR Plan today filed a petition for a writ of mandate seeking to have a court annul, vacate, or withdraw an order issued last month by the...
Sage Insurance Increases Capacity, Coverage for Secondary Homes in California
Dec 12 2019 // Sage Insurance Holdings LLC (Sage), a California wildfire-focused homeowners insurance provider, has increased its capacity and will now write exposures up to $4 million TIV. For a primary home, that translates to an...
Industry Representative Puts Fire Insurance Availability at Feet of Commissioner
Dec 6 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will have to choose whether he wants insurers to charge higher rates or to stop writing homeowners insurance in fire-prone areas, an industry representative said following new...
California Commissioner Calls for Statewide Non-Renewal Moratorium, More Measures to Protect Wildfire Victims
Dec 5 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday issued a mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance companies non-renewing policyholders, a move he says will help at least 800,000 homes in wildfire disaster...
FedNat Completes Acquisition of 1347 Property Insurance Homeowners Operations
Dec 4 2019 // FedNat Holding Company (FNHC), an insurance holding company, has completed its acquisition of the homeowners insurance operations of 1347 Property Insurance Holdings, Inc. (PIH), consisting of Maison Insurance Co., Maison...
Some Changes to California’s FAIR Plan Could Go into Effect Early Next Year
Dec 2 2019 // Note: This has been updated with FAIR Plan comments below. Changes to the insurance plan offered by California’s property insurer of last resort could possibly go into effect as early as the next few months – that...
Up-Market Home Insurtech Openly Opens for Business in 2 States After Raising $7.6M
Dec 2 2019 // The tech-enabled high-end home insurance provider Openly has begun selling in Illinois and Arizona at the same time it announced a $7.65M seed round of funding led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture...
Wildfire Crisis is Roiling California’s Insurance Market
Nov 27 2019 // Lauris Bye, a homebuilding industry veteran who moved to Southern California’s wildfire-prone hills decades ago, felt confident about the newly built house he was buying about 30 miles north of downtown Los...
Up-Market Home Insurtech Openly Opens for Business in 2 States After Raising $7.6M
Nov 26 2019 // The tech-enabled high-end home insurance provider Openly announced it has begun selling in Illinois and Arizona at the same time it announced a $7.65M seed round of funding led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s...
Home Insurance Insurtech Hippo Buys Home Services Startup Sheltr
Nov 25 2019 // Digital home insurance managing general agency Hippo Insurance has acquired an early-stage startup in a bid to beef up its digital home insurance services for clients, Carrier Management reported. The insurtech said it...
Wildfires Likely to Boost California Surplus Lines Homeowners Share; FAIR Plan Expansion Questioned
Nov 22 2019 // Premium volume from homeowners polices written by California’s surplus lines industry, although still small, has doubled over the past four years, seemingly pushed by an increase in wildfires in the state. Some...
PG&E Cuts Power to 50K California Homes And Businesses During Wildfire Risk
Nov 21 2019 // About 50,000 homes and businesses across Northern California were without power on Wednesday during the latest planned outage instituted by utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to guard against risk of wildfire during...
California Commissioner Issues Emergency Notice to Expedite Wildfire Claims
Nov 20 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday issued an emergency notice to all property/casualty insurers doing business in California requesting they expedite claims handling for wildfire survivors to help...
California’s Fair Plan Balks at State’s ‘Misguided’ Order to Expand Coverage
Nov 18 2019 // The insurers behind California’s Fair Plan, the insurance market of last resort for homeowners, think it’s a bad idea to broaden the coverages available from the Fair Plan beyond basic dwelling fire insurance,...
‘Water Line’ Insurance Offer Not Affiliated with City, Madison, Wisconsin Says
Nov 18 2019 // The City of Madison, Wisconsin, has issued a warning to water utility customers regarding letters that are being sent to homeowners by a company claiming to offer insurance coverage for water lines to the home. Madison...
Conn. Supreme Court Finds Insurers Not Liable for Crumbling Foundations
Nov 15 2019 // Insurers are not liable for crumbling foundations caused by defective concrete unless the home is on the verge of collapse, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled. The decision will likely amplify public pressure for a...
California Commissioner Orders FAIR Plan to Increase Homeowners Coverage Options
Nov 14 2019 // California’s property insurer of last resort will soon be offering more homeowners coverage options as directed by the state’s insurance commissioner in response to the pressure put on the property insurance...
Australia Wildfires Continue to Rage, Destroying Homes, Forcing Evacuations
Nov 14 2019 // Scores of wildfires continued to rage across vast tracts of Australia’s drought-stricken east coast on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes, some for the second time in a week. The most...
Kentucky Man Accused of Burglarizing 17 Homes for Scrap Metal
Nov 14 2019 // Police in Kentucky say they’ve arrested a prolific thief, a man who they say broke into 17 homes within a few miles (kilometers) of each other. They say he wasn’t going for high-end appliances, cash or jewelry:...
