There is no single deadline on a Florida property insurance claim. There are at least four, they run from different starting points, and the one people worry about is almost never the one that expires first.

Here is each clock, what starts it, and what it kills.

Clock one: notice of the claim. One year.

Florida’s notice statute provides that a claim or reopened claim, but not a supplemental claim, under a property insurance policy is barred unless notice of the claim was given to the insurer in accordance with the terms of the policy within 1 year after the date of loss.

This is the one that ends claims. It is a bar, not a guideline, and it is far shorter than most people assume.

Clock two: supplemental claims. Eighteen months.

A supplemental claim is barred unless notice of it was given to the insurer within 18 months after the date of loss. The statute defines a supplemental claim as a claim for additional loss or damage from the same peril which the insurer has previously adjusted, or for costs incurred during repairs under an open claim. A reopened claim is a previously closed claim reopened at the insured’s request for additional costs for loss or damage previously disclosed to the insurer.

That distinction matters, because a reopened claim runs on the one-year clock while a supplemental claim gets eighteen months. Which label fits your situation is a legal question worth getting right, not a formality.

Clock three: the lawsuit. Five years.

An action for breach of a property insurance contract must be brought within five years, with the period running from the date of loss.

Before filing, Florida requires written pre-suit notice to the insurer at least 10 business days before suit is filed, and the insurer must respond in writing within 10 business days of receiving it. Serving that notice tolls the s. 95.11 limitation period for 10 business days.

Clock four: the ones in your policy

Your policy adds its own deadlines and they are usually the tightest. Under the standard homeowners form, the duties after loss include giving prompt notice, and sending a signed, sworn proof of loss within 60 days after the insurer’s request. The same form gives you 180 days after the date of loss to notify the insurer of your intent to claim additional replacement cost if you first settled on an actual cash value basis, and 20 days to name your appraiser after a written appraisal demand.

These policy clocks are the ones nobody reads until they have already expired. None of them are in a statute, all of them are enforceable, and they vary by form. Read your own duties-after-loss section.

When the clock starts for a storm

For weather events, the notice statute fixes the date of loss rather than leaving it to argument. For a hurricane it is the date the hurricane made landfall. For a tornado, windstorm, severe rain or other weather-related event it is the date the event is verified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

There is also relief for servicemembers: the statute tolls its time limits for a servicemember on active duty deployed to a combat zone or combat support posting where the deployment materially affects the ability to file the claim.

And for condominium loss assessment coverage, the deadline is the later of within 1 year after the date of loss, or within 90 days after the association votes to levy the assessment. Associations should read that one twice, because the vote date is frequently well after the storm.

The change that catches older losses

The one-year and eighteen-month windows came in with Florida’s December 2022 special session, which shortened the prior periods. Losses from before that change may fall under the earlier, longer windows.

That cuts both ways. Some people assume they are barred and are not. Others assume they have the old, longer window and no longer do. Before concluding either, check which version of the statute governs your specific date of loss, and if the answer is close, treat it as urgent.

What "notice" actually has to be

The statute requires notice given to the insurer in accordance with the terms of the policy. In practice that means:

Notice to the carrier, not to your agent’s voicemail, unless your policy says otherwise.
In a form and to an address the policy accepts.
Documented. A claim number and a dated written confirmation is what you want in hand.
Complete enough to identify the loss, the property and the date.

You do not need a finished scope, a contractor’s estimate or a settled number to give notice. Waiting for those is how the one-year clock gets missed. Give notice, then build the documentation.

If you are near a deadline

We work deadline-pressed claims across the Palm Beaches, including West Palm Beach, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, where a lot of storm damage sat unreported through a change of ownership or a management company transition.

If your date of loss is approaching a year, do not wait to find out whether the damage is worth claiming. Give notice first. Then call us and we will document it properly. Our claim form takes two minutes.

Your policy is the contract, and forms vary by carrier. The provisions described here come from the standard Homeowners 3 Special Form that most Florida homeowners policies are built on. Read your own declarations page and policy form, or send them to us and we will read them with you.

Sources

Related Deadline Resources

Hurricane Claims Homeowners Claims Condo & Association Claims

How Long Do You Have to File in Florida?