New SB360 Bill May Fix Florida Home Insurance Rates

A bill that is heading to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office for a signature may make it harder for homeowners to sue over construction defects they find in their Florida homes. 

Senate Bill 360 is being touted by insurance companies and builders as necessary while personal injury lawyers and some in the legal community fear it will cost homeowners in the long run. 

“This is another way of helping to mitigate some of these lawsuits because the attorneys are always looking for the big pockets, they want the insurance to pay,” said Phillip Wardell, the President of Access Insurance in a recent 12 News article.

Wardell, is hopeful that SB360 will lower housing costs in Florida’s pricey market. One portion of the legislation will reduce the time homeowners have to sue over construction defects from 10 years down to seven years.

“It does put a little more on the county and the governments that do their inspections to make sure they do a good job,” said Wardell in the 12 News article.

“There’s going to be a lot of unintended consequences and serious harm to condominium associations,” said attorney Patrick Howell in the recent 12 News article.

According to Howell under Florida law, condominium associations are managed by the property developer for 7 years and are then get turned over to the owners so the seven-year limit will cause issues for homeowners. 

“With this new change, which lowers the statute of repose, the deadline of filing a lawsuit to 7 years, there’s no time for a condominium association to bring a cause of action or initiate a claim,” Howell pointed out in the 12 News article.

Wardell, on the other hand feels common sense laws like this will lower Florida home insurance costs for everyone in the state in the long run. “Overall, we got to start somewhere I think this is a good start,” said Wardell in the 12 News article. 

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