Florida Insurance Claim Deadlines: What Your Insurer Owes You on a Brevard Roof Claim

Most roofing articles about insurance claims tell you what you have to do. File on time. Document everything. Do not miss your window.

That is half the picture. Florida law also puts hard deadlines on the other side of the table. Section 627.70131 of the Florida Statutes tells your insurance company how fast it has to acknowledge you, how fast it has to start investigating, how fast an adjuster has to physically show up if the carrier inspects at all, and how long it has before it must pay or deny. Miss those deadlines and the statute attaches consequences, including statutory interest on late payments.

This side of the clock gets far less attention than the homeowner's deadlines. Here it is.

The clock starts on notice, not on paperwork

This is the detail most write-ups get wrong, and it matters more than any other line in the statute.

The 60-day pay-or-deny deadline in subsection (7)(a) runs from the date the insurer receives notice of the claim. Not from the date you submit a complete proof of loss. Not from the date you hand over the last requested document. Notice.

You will find roofing blogs and law firm pages saying the insurer has 60 days "after receiving all required documentation." That is not what the statute says, and the difference matters. If the clock only started when the carrier decided your file was complete, the carrier would control the clock.

So write down the date you gave notice. Email is better than a phone call for exactly this reason.

Seven days to acknowledge

Under subsection (1)(a), once an insurer receives a communication about a claim, it has 7 calendar days to review and acknowledge it, unless payment is made within that window or the failure to acknowledge is caused by factors beyond the insurer's control. If the acknowledgment is not in writing, the insurer has to log and date it in the claim file.

The acknowledgment also has to be useful. Subsection (2) requires that it be responsive to what you sent, and if it is your notice of claim, it must include the necessary claim forms, instructions, and an appropriate telephone number, unless the acknowledgment reasonably advises you that the claim appears not to be covered.

One exception: if you are represented by counsel, the insurer's acknowledgment duty is limited to providing forms and instructions.

A communication to or from anyone the insurer has authorized to send or receive claim communications on its behalf counts as communication to or from the insurer. If your carrier routed you to an independent adjusting firm, that firm's communications generally count.

Seven days to start, 30 days to inspect if they inspect

Subsection (3)(a) gives the insurer 7 days after receiving your proof-of-loss statements to begin a reasonably necessary investigation, unless your policy or another law provides otherwise.

Subsection (3)(b) adds the part homeowners in Rockledge, Cocoa, and Titusville actually feel: if the investigation involves a physical inspection of the property, the insurer must conduct that inspection within 30 days after receiving the proof-of-loss statements. The assigned licensed adjuster also has to give you a printed or electronic document with their name and state adjuster license number. Under subsection (3)(c), every later communication about the claim has to carry the adjuster's name and license number too.

Nothing in this statute forces a carrier to inspect at all. Subsection (3)(d) expressly permits electronic investigation using photographs, video, video conferencing, and drone or driverless-vehicle imagery, and using those methods does not stop the insurer from also assigning an adjuster to walk the roof.

The estimate has to come to you

Subsection (3)(e) requires the insurer to send you a copy of any detailed estimate of the loss within 7 days after the adjuster generates it. The statute does not require the insurer to create a detailed estimate if one is not reasonably necessary. But if one exists, you are entitled to see it.

Two more disclosure rules from subsection (6). A preliminary or partial estimate has to carry a statement in at least 12-point bold uppercase type saying the evaluation may be revised. A payment that is not the full and final payment has to carry a similar statement saying more payments may follow. If you receive a check carrying that language, the carrier is stating in writing that it may issue additional payments.

Sixty days to pay or deny, plus interest

Subsection (7)(a) is the core deadline. Within 60 days after receiving notice of an initial, reopened, or supplemental claim, the insurer must pay or deny the claim, or a portion of it. It must also give you a reasonable written explanation of the basis in the policy, tied to the facts or the law. If the payment comes in below the insurer's own detailed estimate, the insurer has to explain the difference in writing.

Payment of an initial or supplemental claim made after that deadline bears interest at the rate set in section 55.03, and interest accrues from the date the insurer received notice of the claim, not from the date the deadline passed. Note that the interest sentence names initial and supplemental claims, not reopened ones. If you also have a right to prejudgment interest, you must choose one or the other.

The Florida Chief Financial Officer sets the section 55.03 rate quarterly. For the quarter beginning July 1, 2026, it is 8.06% per year.

Two limits worth knowing. The Office of Insurance Regulation can extend the payment deadline by no more than 30 additional days, and only by an order finding that a declared state of emergency under s. 252.36, a security breach reportable under s. 501.171(3), or an information technology issue leaves insurers reasonably unable to comply in specified locations. Separately, subsection (5)(a)2 treats policyholder fraud, lack of cooperation, or intentional misrepresentation as factors beyond the insurer's control, which can also excuse a missed deadline.

And while failure to comply with subsection (7) is a violation of the insurance code, the statute says that failure does not form the sole basis for a private cause of action.

What legally pauses the clock

Subsection (8) is short and worth reading closely, because it is where delays get justified.

The deadlines toll during a mediation under section 627.7015 or any alternative dispute resolution proceeding provided for in your policy, ending when that proceeding ends.

They also toll if you fail to provide material claims information the insurer requested within 10 days of receiving the request. That tolling ends when the insurer receives the information. Critically, this only applies if the insurer sent the request at least 15 days before its pay-or-deny deadline. A document request that lands on day 55 does not buy the carrier more time.

Subsection (4)(a) is the piece you can act on directly: the insurer must provide a list of the adjusters who communicated with you upon request. Ask for it.

The numbers circulating online are outdated

Search this topic and you will find pages citing 14 days to acknowledge and 90 days to pay or deny. Those were the real numbers under the 2021 version of the statute.

The December 2022 special session (SB 2-A, ch. 2022-271) replaced them with 7 and 60, shortened the physical inspection deadline to 30 days, replaced the old estimate rule with automatic 7-day delivery, and added the tolling provisions above. Those changes took effect March 1, 2023. An earlier May 2022 special session (SB 2-D, ch. 2022-268) had already added an inspection deadline and the written-explanation requirement.

The 2026 regular session did not change any of it. Senate Bill 1240 would have revised the pay-or-deny timeframe. It died in the Banking and Insurance committee on March 13, 2026.

When a deadline passes

If your carrier blows one of these deadlines, the first step is documentation, not argument. Pull your notice date, your proof-of-loss date, the adjuster's name and license number, every request for information with its date, and the dates you responded.

Then contact the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services. The Insurance Consumer Helpline is 1-877-693-5236, or (850) 413-3089 for out-of-state callers, Monday through Friday. DFS lists insurance assistance hours as 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET on its Consumer Services contact page, though the site footer lists narrower hours, so call early. The division can open a Request for Assistance and take the matter up with the insurer. DFS also administers the property insurance mediation program the statute references.

Where a roofing contractor fits

Most of these deadlines run off dates you create: your notice of claim and your proof-of-loss statements. That is leverage, if you document them.

An independent roof inspection and written scope, dated before or alongside your notice of claim, gives you a fixed reference point when the carrier's inspection and estimate come in. It also gives you something concrete in hand when a payment arrives below the carrier's own numbers and subsection (7)(a) requires the insurer to explain in writing any difference between its payment and its own detailed estimate.

We inspect roofs across Brevard County and produce written documentation homeowners use in exactly this situation. We are not public adjusters and we do not negotiate your claim. We tell you what is on your roof, in writing, with photographs and dates.

This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and it is not a prediction about how any particular claim will be handled. For advice on your claim, consult a licensed Florida attorney or a licensed public adjuster.

If a claim is sitting and you need a professional assessment of the actual roof condition, call Local Roofing Experts at (321) 487-5424. We serve Rockledge, Cocoa, Merritt Island, Titusville, Melbourne, and all of Brevard County. Florida license #CCC1335645.