Citizens Is Shedding Commercial Policies Next: What SB 1028 Means for Brevard Condo Boards and Building Owners

In July we covered the takeout letters landing in Brevard mailboxes as Citizens sheds residential policies. The commercial side is next, and the mechanics are different enough that condo boards and building owners should not assume the residential playbook applies.

In mid-June 2026, Governor DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1028. It requires Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to build two new clearinghouses for commercial policies by January 1, 2027, and it opens the door for surplus lines insurers to take those policies. If your association or your building is insured through Citizens, this law decides what happens at your next renewal. And as usual in Florida property insurance, the roof does a lot of the deciding.

What SB 1028 actually does

The bill creates a new section of the Florida Statutes, 627.3518, which sets up a two-stage routing system for commercial coverage:

Stage one: the authorized-insurer clearinghouse.Before Citizens binds or renews any commercial policy, the application must first be submitted to a clearinghouse where authorized insurers (carriers licensed and regulated by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation) can make offers.

Stage two: the surplus lines clearinghouse.If no authorized insurer makes a disqualifying offer within five business days, the risk moves to a second clearinghouse where approved surplus lines insurers can bid.

Both clearinghouses must be established by January 1, 2027 (the bill lets Citizens delay a clearinghouse that lacks sufficient commercial support until that support exists), and every new application and every renewal will route through this process. The bill passed the Senate 33-1 and the House 88-19, and took effect on signing.

The eligibility math, and why the thresholds decide everything

Here is where commercial owners need to pay attention, because the thresholds are specific and the clock is short.

For acondo association or other commercial residential risk: one comparable offer from an authorized insurer priced no more than 20 percent above your Citizens cost, and you are no longer eligible for Citizens.

For acommercial nonresidential building(office, retail, warehouse, industrial): any offer from an authorized insurer, at any price, ends your Citizens eligibility.

If the risk falls through to the surplus lines clearinghouse, either type becomes ineligible for Citizens when a comparable surplus lines offer comes in at no more than 15 percent above Citizens' total cost of coverage. Total cost means the full annual bill: premium plus all fees, taxes, assessments, and surcharges.

One more mechanic worth knowing: the standard nonrenewal notice requirements in section 627.4133 do not apply here. If a comparable surplus lines offer comes in, the clearinghouse administrator has five days after the offer to give the first-named insured written notice of nonrenewal stating the reason. If that notice does not arrive on time, the building remains eligible for Citizens. Either way, this process moves fast, and it is not designed to wait for a board meeting.

What surplus lines coverage means for your building

Surplus lines insurers are not junk carriers. Under SB 1028, an approved surplus lines clearinghouse insurer must carry an A.M. Best financial strength rating of A- or higher and a financial size category of A-VII or higher, and OIR must verify that each one meets the program standards. OIR also reviews and approves the whole clearinghouse program annually.

But there is one difference every policyholder should understand before an offer arrives. Florida law (section 626.922) requires surplus lines placements to carry a signed disclosure stating that the policyholder is not protected by the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association. FIGA is the safety net that pays claims when an admitted Florida insurer goes insolvent. Surplus lines policyholders stand outside that net. If your building takes hurricane damage and your surplus lines carrier fails, there is no state guaranty fund behind the claim.

That is not a prediction. It is a structural difference between the two markets, and it is the reason the offer routing matters.

Your roof decides which market you land in

When an insurer in either clearinghouse decides whether to make an offer on your building, it underwrites the risk. For Brevard's coastal commercial stock (the condo towers from Cape Canaveral to Melbourne Beach, the flat-roofed retail and office corridors along US 1 through Titusville, Cocoa, and Rockledge), the roof is the first thing underwriting looks at and the easiest reason to decline.

Under SB 1028's mechanics, that produces a three-way fork:

• A building with a documented, sound, recently permitted roof is the kind of risk authorized insurers compete for. That building likely exits Citizens into the admitted market, with FIGA protection and OIR-regulated rates behind it.

• A building with an aging or undocumented roof may draw no authorized offers and fall through to the surplus lines clearinghouse, where an offer within 15 percent of Citizens' cost still ends Citizens eligibility.

• A building no one will bid on stays in Citizens, for now, at Citizens' rates.

Same building, three very different insurance outcomes, and the variable that moves a property between them is mostly the condition and paperwork of its roof.

What Brevard boards and owners should do before January

The clearinghouses must exist by January 1, 2027, and Citizens has been directed to select administrators and OIR to review the program on a clock. Once the clearinghouses are live, every renewal will route through this system. Between now and then:

1. Build the roof file.Pull the permit history, the installation date, the membrane or covering spec, and every inspection and maintenance record you have. When an underwriter can verify roof age and condition in one PDF, you get offers instead of declines.

2. Get a current inspection.A documented commercial roof assessment dated this year is worth more to underwriting than a decade of undocumented maintenance.

3. Fix what is fixable now.Ponding, open seams, degraded flashing, and unrepaired storm damage are exactly what turns an authorized-market offer into a surplus-lines-only outcome.

4. If the roof is near end of life, run the numbers before renewal.A replacement decision made on your schedule beats one forced by a nonrenewal notice that can land within days of a surplus lines offer.

Where we fit in

Local Roofing Experts installs and repairs commercial roofing across Brevard County, including membrane and metal systems, and we document the work the way underwriters want to see it: permits, specs, photos, and dated reports. If your association or building is heading into a renewal under the new rules, start with an inspection and get the file in order first.

Call (321) 487-5424. We serve Rockledge, Cocoa, Merritt Island, Titusville, Melbourne, and all of Brevard County. Florida license #CCC1335645.

Sources: Florida Senate bill summary CS/CS/SB 1028; Insurance Journal, June 19, 2026; Florida Statutes 626.922, 627.3518, 627.4133.