Florida rules, explained for Marion County
Sinkhole coverage in Marion County: collapse cover pays only after an abrupt collapse and a condemnation order; sinkhole loss is broader and optional.
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Which coverage you hold decides whether a cracked foundation is a claim or a conversation. Find out before you need it.
If your Florida homeowners policy is from an authorized insurer, you have one of these coverages. You may believe you have the other.
Catastrophic ground cover collapse is coverage every authorized property insurer in Florida must provide, and it is narrow. Four specific things must all be true before it responds.
Sinkhole loss is optional, broader, and costs extra. Under s. 627.706, Florida Statutes, the insurer must make it available for an appropriate additional premium, but you have to choose it.
All four must be met:
Read them together and the picture is clear. This coverage is written for the dramatic event: the ground opens, the house is badly damaged, and a government agency orders it vacated. It is not written for the slower scenario of a house developing cracks over a period of years.
Sinkhole loss is defined as structural damage to the covered building, including the foundation, caused by sinkhole activity. Contents and additional living expense coverage apply only if there is structural damage to the building.
The definition carries no condemnation requirement, no abrupt collapse requirement and no visible depression requirement. Structural damage caused by sinkhole activity is the test.
That is the coverage you may be picturing when you say "I have sinkhole coverage," and it is the one that is optional.
The statute sets the sinkhole deductible options at 1, 2, 5 or 10 percent of the dwelling limit. The county median owner-occupied home value is $243,100, per the U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, but your deductible is based on your own dwelling limit. Work out what each percentage would mean on your policy before choosing a deductible. The hurricane deductible calculator does the same kind of percentage math on any dwelling limit.
According to the Florida Geological Survey, sinkholes are a common feature of Florida's landscape. They form where limestone and dolomite bedrock dissolve, a type of terrain called karst. That is reason enough to settle the coverage question for any Marion County home rather than assume it away. Water rising across the yard after heavy rain is a different peril again, and flood cover sits on its own policy.
One honest qualification belongs here. That is a statewide statement, and it says nothing specific about your own lot.
Look at your declarations page. If sinkhole loss coverage is in force, it typically appears as its own line with its own deductible, usually expressed as a percentage.
If you cannot find it, it is probably not there. Send the declarations page and you will get a straight answer rather than a sales pitch.
An important sequencing point: coverage generally responds to damage that occurs during the policy period. Buying sinkhole coverage after noticing cracks generally does not cover those cracks. If you are seeing damage now, the conversation is with your current carrier about your current policy, not with a new one.
Catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage must be provided by every authorized property insurer. Sinkhole loss coverage is optional, and the insurer must make it available for an appropriate additional premium.
An insurer may non-renew sinkhole coverage and offer catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage only, with an actuarially reasonable premium credit or discount. Read renewal paperwork rather than assuming nothing changed, including any roof age question the carrier raises. If the renewal arrives as a non-renewal instead, read what the letter's reason means.
Possibly, and possibly ordinary settlement, tree roots or expansive soil. A determination is an engineering question, not an insurance one, and the carrier's investigation process is the route to answering it. The 4-point report a carrier asks for does not look at the foundation either.
Sinkhole loss centers on structural damage to the covered building, including the foundation. Other structures may be treated differently, and the policy language governs.
That depends on your parcel, your budget and the deductible you would actually face. What should not happen is finding out which coverage you hold after the damage appears.
Send the declarations page and a licensed Florida insurance agent will read it back to you in plain terms, including where it fits with the rest of your Ocala home policy.
Not sure yet?
Walk through your policy with a licensed Florida agent by phone, at no charge.
(352) 662-9995Or send the short formCompare well ahead of your renewal date
Share your details one time. A licensed Florida agent shops them for Ocala, Marion County and the surrounding communities, and you make the call.
