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Can FEMA Cancel My Flood Insurance?

August 15th, 2019 | 2 min read

By Chris Greene

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Today we are discussing if FEMA or the NFIP can non-renew a property owners flood insurance policy.  If they can non renew it what are some reasons that would cause this to happen.

First of let's briefly discuss the National Flood Insurance Program or the NFIP. This the federally regulated flood insurance program. Rates and underwriting are set by FEMA or the government. Now let's discuss what is a non renewal? NFIP does their flood insurance policies in 12 month increments. So what a non-renewal would be is them not continuing coverage after the initial 12 months. So can the NFIP non-renew a flood insurance policy?

 

NFIP Non-Renewal Reasons

NFIP can non-renew a flood insurance policy if certain guidelines are not followed. All these guidelines would fall under what is called a provisional rate. A provisional rate is a flood insurance rate that is given based on the information that is known, but more information is needed to guarantee the rate. A provisional rate is only guaranteed during the first term of the flood policy. The provisional rate could be good for maybe 90 days or even 12 months. Generally NFIP gives a set time period to get items in for this provisional rate.

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So what things might be needed to take a provisional rate to a set rate? In many situations there are generally two things that cause a provisional rate. That is the lack of photos and an elevation certificate. So why would these things be needed to secure the correct rate? Well generally NFIP wants a picture of each side of the structure. The reason for these is to be able to verify the foundation type of the property. It also verifies if there is a garage attached or not attached to the structure.

So why would an elevation certificate be needed? Well let's say that a property is entered is an above grade crawlspace an elevation certificate can verify this with the building diagram number to make sure it is correct. The elevation certificate will also show if things like servicing equipment are above or below the base flood elevation. This helps to give a more accurate rate for the risk.

Non-Renewal Notice

So if you have received a non-renewal notice from the NFIP what can you do? Well if you have received a letter about this it should state the reason why and the documentation that is needed in order for coverage to continue. If you can not obtain these things within that timeframe then you may want to look at other options like private flood insurance. Generally private flood insurance does not require photos or an elevation certificate because they have different underwriting guidelines.

 

So if you have questions about a non renewal notice you have received you can always visit our website Flood Insurance Guru to learn more. You can also visit our YouTube Channel or Facebook page The Flood Insurance Guru where we do daily flood education videos. You can also join our open Facebook group Flood Education and Flood Insurance Awareness. You can also contact us by clicking the link below.

 

 

Chris Greene