Finance
Residential property insurance: cancellations and nonrenewals
AB 2038 extends wildfire-related residential insurance renewal protections from one to two years and disaster total-loss renewal protections to at least three years.
Homeowners rebuilding after a wildfire or other qualifying disaster receive more time before insurers may decline to renew coverage under the law’s specified protections.
What the law does
- Requires insurers to offer renewal for at least three annual renewal periods, and no fewer than 36 months after a qualifying disaster-related total loss, if statutory conditions are met.
- Bars insurers from canceling or nonrenewing residential property policies solely because a property is in a wildfire area for two years after a state-of-emergency declaration.
- Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide fire-perimeter data to the Insurance Commissioner, who must identify covered ZIP Codes for insurers.
Who it affects
- Homeowners with residential property insurance who suffer a qualifying total loss in a disaster.
- Residential property insurers and policyholders in ZIP Codes within or adjacent to a wildfire perimeter.