Because of all the wildfires during the past couple of years, insurance companies have been non-renewing policies, not providing insurance in certain areas, and requiring major effort to
clea
r brush and trees from properties they already insure. This is creating a crisis of availability with costs rising at a rapid rate.
in order to provide stability and improvement to this crisis, the California Department of insurance has issued a one-year moratorium for canceling policies in fire areas. The Insurance Commissioner’s moratorium statement has not been very clear because we are getting conflicting reports about policy cancellations from the different insurance companies that we work with. Some of the insurance companies believe that the moratorium applies to certain ZIP Codes and specifically the 98 ZIP Codes that are listed on a letter issued by the insurance commissioner’s office. On the other hand, other insurance companies are retracting all cancellations and non-renewals in the state.
We believe the department of insurance will be forced to issue another statement clarifying their intent so that all the insurance companies will be operating within regulations and on the same page. Once we have clarification and updated information, we will be able to provide better service to our clients who may have received a non-renewal and or cancellation letter.
If you have received a letter from your insurance company and have questions about whether it’s a non-renewal notice, or you need advice about clearing trees and brush from your property as noted in a letter 
you receive, please call us immediately. Sometimes the letters are confusing at best, and other times no matter how much clearing and pruning that you do to keep your property safe, the insurance company doesn’t renew the policy anyway. We will let you know what our experience has been with each carrier. They all operate a little differently from each other.
