Can My Insurer Deny My Whole Claim Because I Hired My Own Adjuster?

No. Florida law caps what a public adjuster can charge you. It doesn’t say hiring one voids your claim.

What Is Florida’s Attorney General Actually Looking Into?

On October 20, Florida’s Attorney General subpoenaed Velocity Risk Underwriters, a company that writes thousands of Florida policies, often on homes with older roofs or sitting on the beach. The office is looking at “anti-public adjuster” clauses, language that lets an insurer throw out a whole claim if the homeowner brings in their own adjuster, and whether Velocity and other insurers agreed among themselves to use them.

Attorney General James Uthmeier put it this way: “Insurance companies use their own adjusters. Homeowners should be allowed to hire an advocate on their side too.” His office says homeowners working with a public adjuster have recovered up to 30 percent more on a claim, a figure that comes from the AG’s own release announcing its own investigation, not from an outside study.

An investigation isn’t a finding. Nobody has been accused of breaking any law yet. But the question behind it, whether hiring your own adjuster can cost you your claim, has an answer sitting in Florida statute right now, and it has nothing to do with how this investigation turns out.

What Can a Public Adjuster Actually Charge You?

Florida Statute 626.854 sets the ceiling, and it moves depending on timing. The ordinary cap is 20 percent of whatever the claim pays out. During the year after the Governor declares a state of emergency for the event that damaged your home, the cap drops to 10 percent. If the insurer already paid or committed in writing to pay within 14 days of the loss, or 10 days after you signed the adjuster’s contract, whichever is later, the cap falls further, to 1 percent. And if the insurer had already paid or committed to a part of your claim before you ever signed with the adjuster, the fee on that part is zero. None of it can be charged against your deductible.

Can I Cancel After I’ve Signed With One?

Yes, and the window depends on the kind of claim. For most claims, you have 10 days after signing to cancel without penalty. For a claim tied to a declared emergency, the window is 30 days from the date of loss or 10 days from signing, whichever gives you more time. The cancellation language has to sit in bold type at least 18 points, directly above where you sign. It’s not buried in fine print by design.

Does the Adjuster Get to Be in the Room?

The statute says the insurer can’t exclude your public adjuster from meetings with you. It also puts a leash on the insurer’s own side: their adjuster or inspector has to give you at least 48 hours’ notice before a meeting or an onsite inspection, and you can turn them away if they show up without it.

Why Does This Matter If You’re Already Behind on Payments?

An underpaid or denied storm claim is one of the shortest roads into a short sale in this state. A roof that never gets fixed turns into an insurance non-renewal. The non-renewal turns into a forced-placed policy at a much higher premium. That premium lands in your escrow account, and the payment that was already tight gets tighter. Nowhere in the statute does hiring a public adjuster forfeit any of that. That’s the part worth knowing before you decide whether to bring one in.

Also of note today, a new national report says fewer buyers are signing contracts right now than a year ago.

Are Houses Still Selling, or Has the Market Stalled Out?

Yes, houses are still selling. But fewer people are signing contracts to buy one than they were a year ago, in every region of the country.

What Did the New Numbers Actually Show?

The National Association of Realtors released its pending home sales index for September on October 20. Contracts signed fell 7.3 percent from August and 11.3 percent from a year ago, and every region fell on both counts. The South, which is where Florida sits, fell 8.2 percent on the month and 12.0 percent over the year, the second-hardest hit region behind the West.

NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, pointed to the obvious reason: “Market conditions weakened in September due to fast-rising mortgage rates.” But the line from that same release that matters most here is this one: “Despite the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage, the limited number of distressed properties is ensuring steady home prices.” NAR’s own economist, naming thin distressed supply as the thing holding prices up.

How Is This Different From Last Week’s Sales Numbers?

Pending home sales count contracts signed, not closings. It’s a leading indicator, built from roughly 40 percent of MLS data each month, so it tells you what’s coming before it shows up in a closed sale. I wrote last week about the 2 percent of September’s completed sales that were foreclosures or short sales. This is a different measure of the same market: fewer people signing up to buy at all, regardless of what kind of sale it turns out to be.

Why Would Fewer Signed Contracts Matter to a Short Sale?

A short sale needs a buyer willing to sign a contract and then wait, sometimes for months, while the lender decides whether to approve the deal at that price. Fewer people signing contracts means a smaller pool of buyers with that kind of patience, and in the South that pool just shrank 8.2 percent in a single month. A short sale is still achievable in this market. It just depends more on who’s willing to wait on the buyer side than it does on where you set the price. NAR’s own release names the three things that most often break a signed contract before it closes: financing trouble, a failed inspection, and an appraisal that comes in short. Those are the same three things that can break a short sale contract specifically, long after the buyer has already signed.

I work out of Jacksonville, Florida, and distressed property is most of what lands on my desk. If either one of these touches your own situation, I’m easy to reach.

JimArmstrong904@gmail.com, or (904) 671-4161 if a call’s easier.

Jim Armstrong, REALTOR® · Momentum Realty · SFR® (Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource) certified. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.

Momentum Realty is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender.