Written and reviewed by Cory Cannon, Esq.
Published Updated
If Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. denied, underpaid, or delayed your property claim, Florida law gives you specific tools on specific deadlines. The company had 60 days after receiving your claim to pay it or deny it under Fla. Stat. 627.70131. A denial is not the final word: you generally have 5 years from the date of loss to file suit on the policy under Fla. Stat. 95.11(2)(e), and before suing you must serve a pre-suit notice of intent to litigate through the Florida Department of Financial Services under Fla. Stat. 627.70152. If the problem is an underpayment rather than a denial, you can usually press the difference as a supplemental claim (an additional request for money on a claim you already reported) within 18 months of the date of loss under Fla. Stat. 627.70132.
Cory Cannon represents Tampa Bay policyholders in insurance disputes. Some matters may be accepted on contingency. Under a contingency agreement, no recovery means no attorney’s fee, case costs, or expenses are owed. I read the carrier’s estimate line by line and check its numbers against repair evidence, and we retain independent licensed engineers when a disputed technical issue requires one. This page uses public records to explain Homeowners Choice, claim deadlines, the dispute process, and the cost of legal help.
Findings Summary
- Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. is a Tampa-based Florida insurer writing homeowners policies since 2007. It is the founding insurance subsidiary of publicly traded HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE: HCI).
- The company is active as of July 2026. Demotech affirmed its Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional) in June 2026.
- Per HCI Group announcements, Homeowners Choice assumed roughly 53,750 Florida policies (about $196 million of in-force premium) effective November 21, 2023, and roughly 22,000 more effective October 22, 2024.
- New claims: (888) 210-5235 (24 hours) or the online first-notice-of-loss portal at hcpci.com (per the carrier’s claims page, reviewed July 2026).
- Fla. Stat. 627.70131 requires the company to acknowledge a claim within 7 days, begin its investigation within 7 days of receiving proof of loss, inspect within 30 days, and pay or deny within 60 days.
- Fla. Stat. 627.70132 sets 1 year from the date of loss to report a new claim and 18 months for a supplemental claim; Fla. Stat. 95.11(2)(e) allows 5 years from the date of loss to file suit.
- Every pre-suit notice of intent to litigate filed against the company is a public record, searchable in the DFS PIITIL database at piitil.myfloridacfo.gov.
Who Is Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty?
Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. is a Florida-domiciled homeowners insurer headquartered in Tampa. It began writing policies in 2007 and is the founding insurance subsidiary of HCI Group, Inc., a Tampa-based holding company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HCI. Because the parent is publicly traded, its financial statements, policy counts, and premium figures are disclosed in SEC filings and investor releases, a level of public visibility most Florida carriers do not have.
The company has grown in part by assuming policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-created insurer: HCI Group announced that Homeowners Choice assumed approximately 53,750 policies representing about $196 million of in-force premium effective November 21, 2023, and approximately 22,000 additional policies effective October 22, 2024. If your policy arrived by assumption, your coverage terms are now Homeowners Choice’s, and your claim is handled by its adjusters under the statutes discussed below. One point of frequent confusion: HCI Group also owns TypTap Insurance Company, a separate Florida carrier. If your declarations page names TypTap rather than Homeowners Choice, your claim is with that company, and the contact information below does not apply.
As of July 2026 the company is active and writing. Demotech, a rating agency the Florida market relies on, affirmed its Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional) in June 2026. For market-wide context, OIR publishes residential market share reports and the January 1, 2026 Property Insurance Stability Report, which tracks litigation frequency and claim outcomes across Florida carriers.
How to Look Up Homeowners Choice’s Public Claim-Dispute Records
We do not characterize any carrier’s claim conduct. We point you to the state’s own records so you can read them yourself. Three databases matter, and all three are free:
- DFS PIITIL database (piitil.myfloridacfo.gov). Since 2021, every policyholder who intends to sue a property insurer must first file a notice of intent to initiate litigation under Fla. Stat. 627.70152. Each notice is a public record. Use the Search Notice function, enter “Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty” as the insurer, and filter by county or date range to see how many pre-suit disputes have been filed, where, and over what kinds of claims.
- DFS Civil Remedy Notice database (apps.fldfs.com/civilremedy). A civil remedy notice is a formal filing under Fla. Stat. 624.155 alleging that an insurer failed to settle a claim in good faith. These filings are searchable by company name and are allegations, not adjudications, but they show what policyholders and their lawyers have formally asserted, in their own words, with dates.
- OIR reports (floir.gov). The residential market share reports show each carrier’s policy counts and premium by county. The semiannual Stability Report aggregates claim-litigation data reported by the carriers themselves.
The same lookups work for any Florida carrier. Our carrier records index explains the method step by step and links our profiles of other major Tampa Bay insurers.
How Do I File a Claim With Homeowners Choice?
Report the loss promptly and in a form that creates a record. Per the carrier’s claims page (reviewed July 2026), Homeowners Choice accepts new claims at (888) 210-5235, staffed 24 hours, through its online first-notice-of-loss portal at hcpci.com, and by email to FNOL@hcpci.com. Questions on an existing claim go to (888) 475-0222. Whichever channel you use, note the date, keep the claim number, and follow up in writing.
Three duties fall on you at the start, and missing them gives the carrier arguments later:
- Report on time. Fla. Stat. 627.70132 gives you 1 year from the date of loss to give initial notice of a new claim and 18 months for a supplemental claim. Late notice can bar recovery entirely.
- Mitigate. Your policy requires reasonable emergency measures: tarping an opened roof, extracting standing water, shutting off a failed supply line. Keep every receipt; reasonable mitigation costs are part of the claim.
- Document before you repair. Photograph and video the damage from multiple angles before anything is moved or repaired. Keep damaged materials where practical.
The company may also demand a sworn proof of loss (a notarized statement of the amount you claim) and its receipt starts statutory clocks discussed below. Many Homeowners Choice policies cover older Florida homes, where plumbing losses are a recurring claim type; if your loss involves a failed drain or supply line, our water damage claim and cast iron pipe claim pages cover the coverage issues specific to those losses.
What Deadlines Apply to a Homeowners Choice Claim?
Two sets of deadlines run at once: the carrier’s statutory duties and yours.
| Step | Deadline | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier acknowledges your claim | 7 days after notice | 627.70131 |
| Carrier begins investigation | 7 days after receiving proof of loss | 627.70131 |
| Carrier conducts any physical inspection | 30 days after receiving proof of loss | 627.70131 |
| Carrier pays or denies the claim | 60 days after receiving notice of the claim | 627.70131 |
| You report a new claim | 1 year from date of loss | 627.70132 |
| You make a supplemental claim | 18 months from date of loss | 627.70132 |
| You serve pre-suit notice, then file suit | Notice at least 10 business days before suit; suit within 5 years of date of loss | 627.70152; 95.11(2)(e) |
A worked example. Hurricane Milton made landfall on October 9, 2024. A homeowner whose roof was damaged that day had until October 9, 2025 to report the claim and until April 9, 2026 to submit a supplemental claim (both now passed), but if the claim was reported on time, suit on the policy remains available until October 9, 2029. Run your own dates through our insurance claim deadline calculator, and use the insurer response timeline checker to see whether the carrier has blown any of its own statutory deadlines.
Why Do Homeowners Choice Claims Get Denied or Underpaid?
The dispute patterns on Florida homeowners claims are consistent across carriers, and they are the issues we examine first in any Homeowners Choice file:
- Causation. The carrier attributes roof or water damage to wear, tear, deterioration, or pre-existing conditions (excluded causes) rather than to the storm or sudden failure that triggered coverage. These disputes often turn on an engineer’s report the carrier commissioned.
- Scope and pricing. The estimate covers fewer squares, fewer rooms, or cheaper materials than the actual repair requires, or uses unit prices no licensed local contractor will honor.
- Matching. Florida requires carriers to pay for replacing undamaged tile, siding, or flooring when repaired sections would not reasonably match (Fla. Stat. 626.9744). Estimates that patch a slope or a floor section often ignore it.
- Depreciation. Holding back the difference between replacement cost value (the cost to repair with new materials) and actual cash value (that cost minus depreciation) in ways the policy and Fla. Stat. 627.7011 do not support.
- Water damage limitations. Sublimits and constant-seepage exclusions applied to sudden pipe failures, a frequent issue in the older homes that make up much of this carrier’s book.
If your denial letter cites any of these grounds, our guide to what to do after a homeowners insurance claim denial explains how to test whether the stated reason actually holds up against your policy language.
What Can You Do After a Denial or Underpayment?
The sequence below is the statutory route from dispute to resolution. Most claims resolve before the last step.
- Free policy and estimate review. We read the full policy (not the declarations page summary) against the denial letter or the carrier’s estimate, line by line.
- Independent damage assessment. We check the carrier’s figures against real bids from licensed local contractors. Where causation is disputed, we retain independent licensed engineers to inspect and report.
- Supplemental claim. If the 18-month window under 627.70132 is open, we present the documented shortfall to the carrier directly. Under 627.70131, it has 60 days to pay or deny a supplemental claim.
- Pre-suit notice of intent to litigate. Fla. Stat. 627.70152 requires this notice, filed through the DFS portal, at least 10 business days before suit. It states the amount in dispute and demands a response; the carrier must respond in writing within 10 business days.
- Appraisal, where suitable. Many Homeowners Choice policies contain an appraisal clause: a contractual process where each side’s appraiser and a neutral umpire set the amount of loss. It resolves pricing disputes faster than court but cannot decide coverage. Our insurance appraisal page explains when we invoke it and when we advise against it.
- Suit on the policy. Filed within the 5-year period of 95.11(2)(e). If the carrier’s conduct meets the statutory standard, a separate bad-faith remedy exists under 624.155, but Fla. Stat. 624.1551 requires an adverse adjudication against the insurer first, so bad faith is a second act, never the opening move.
Where you enter this sequence depends on your posture: a flat denial runs through our denied claim process, while a payment that will not cover the repair runs through the underpaid claim process.
What Does It Cost to Dispute a Homeowners Choice Claim?
Fee arrangements depend on the matter. Some Homeowners Choice disputes may be accepted on a contingency basis. Under a contingency agreement, no recovery means no attorney’s fee, case costs, or expenses are owed. The written agreement states the terms before any work begins.
Florida also gives policyholders a fee-shifting tool: a proposal for settlement under Fla. Stat. 768.79. If we serve a reasonable offer, the carrier rejects it, and the judgment beats the offer by the statutory margin, the carrier can become responsible for attorney’s fees from the date of the offer. That exposure changes settlement math, and we build it into case strategy from the start.
Why Cory Cannon for a Homeowners Choice Dispute?
Homeowners Choice is headquartered in Tampa. So are we, and its adjusters are pricing roofs, lanais, and slab homes we can drive to. I am a Florida attorney with a family history in construction for generations, and I read claims the way I read buildings: I check the carrier’s scope of repair against how the structure actually goes together, and its unit prices against what licensed Tampa Bay contractors actually bid. When the dispute is technical (causation, code compliance, structural scope), we retain independent licensed engineers rather than argue past the carrier’s engineering reports. The full statutory framework we work within is laid out on our property insurance claims hub.
If Your Problem Is Construction, Not Coverage
Some losses that look like insurance disputes are really construction disputes. If your roof leaked because a contractor installed it wrong, if a repair after a prior claim failed, or if a builder’s defect caused the water intrusion, your claim may run against the contractor or builder rather than (or alongside) the insurer. Our construction defects practice handles that seam, and we evaluate both angles in the same review.
If Homeowners Choice has denied, underpaid, or stalled your claim, send us the denial letter and the estimate. The policy review is free, the deadlines in this article are running, and the earlier we see the file, the more of the statutory sequence is still available.