Does a new roof lower insurance in Florida? How wind mitigation credits work

What Florida law requires insurers to offer

Section 627.0629 of the Florida Statutes says a rate filing for residential property insurance must include actuarially reasonable discounts, credits, or other rate differentials, or appropriate reductions in deductibles, for properties with fixtures or construction techniques demonstrated to reduce windstorm losses. Those techniques must include ones that enhance wind uplift prevention, roof strength, roof covering performance, roof-to-wall strength, wall-to-floor-to-foundation strength, opening protection, and window, door, and skylight strength.

The same section says credits for fixtures and construction techniques that meet the minimum requirements of the Florida Building Code must be included in the rate filing. Since October 1, 2023, each insurer subject to it must also describe the hurricane mitigation discounts available to policyholders on its website, reachable from the home page or the main page for property insurance customers.

Section 627.711 adds a notice: at the time the policy is issued and at each renewal, the insurer must tell you, on a form prescribed by the Office of Insurance Regulation, which windstorm discounts are available and the range of each one. How much any discount is worth depends on your insurer's approved ranges, so ScopeCheck does not quote a figure.

How the discount gets verified

Discounts are applied from a uniform mitigation verification inspection form. Under section 627.711, an insurer must accept as valid a form signed by a licensed home inspector who has completed at least 3 hours of approved hurricane mitigation training and a proficiency exam, a certified building code inspector, a licensed general, building, or residential contractor, a licensed professional engineer, a licensed architect, or another individual or entity the insurer recognizes as qualified.

That list names general, building, and residential contractors; unlike the roof-age inspection rule in section 627.7011, it does not name roofing contractors. An insurer may accept a form from anyone it considers qualified, so if your roofer offers to complete the form, ask your insurer first whether it will accept it. The person who signs must personally inspect the home, with a limited exception for engineers and licensed contractors who use a direct employee.

The form itself changed this year. According to the Florida Department of Financial Services, a revised form approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation must be used for all inspections as of April 1, 2026, and a completed form is valid for up to five years as long as no material changes have been made to the structure and no inaccuracies are found. A new roof is a change to the house, so ask your insurer whether it wants a new inspection once the replacement is finished.

Make the new roof easy to verify

Citizens Property Insurance, the state-created insurer, tells policyholders that the inspection covers roof shape, materials, and connections, that attic access is required to verify certain mitigation features, and to give the inspector copies of mitigation documents such as notice-of-acceptance letters for products. Citizens also says FORTIFIED Home Roof, Silver, and Gold certificates are eligible for specific mitigation features on the revised form.

That is where the roofing estimate matters. The paperwork that shows what was installed comes from the job itself: the permit and final inspection, the product approval numbers for the roof covering, and a written scope that describes the secondary water barrier and roof-deck attachment work Florida requires in a roof replacement. Ask for those documents in writing before the final payment, so they are in hand when the inspector arrives.

Questions for your insurer, not your roofer

Whether a particular roof will change your premium, and by how much, is a question for your insurer or agent. Under section 489.147, a contractor may not interpret policy provisions or advise you about your coverage unless it holds a public adjuster license, so treat any promised savings in a sales pitch as a question to confirm with your insurer.

What you can compare yourself is the written scope. If two roofing estimates differ on underlayment, deck attachment, or product approvals, those differences can matter both for the roof and for what an inspector is able to document afterward.