Florida's 15-Year Roof Rule Is Not What Your Neighbor Told You

Florida's 15-Year Roof Rule Is Not What Your Neighbor Told You

There is no law requiring you to replace a roof at fifteen years. There is a law that protects you — if you know how to use it.

Ask around Palm Beach County and you'll hear some version of this: Florida requires a new roof at fifteen years, so if you're selling in 2027 and your roof was installed in 2011, start writing checks.

That's wrong, and it's an expensive kind of wrong. Roofs get replaced every week in this county that did not need to be replaced.

Here's what the law actually says.

The statute: Florida Statute 627.7011(5) was added during the May 2022 special session under SB 2-D, and it applies to homeowners policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2022. It creates two tiers.

If your roof is less than 15 years old, an insurer cannot refuse to issue or refuse to renew your policy solely because of roof age. Full stop.

If your roof is 15 years or older, the insurer must allow you to have the roof inspected by an authorized inspector before requiring replacement as a condition of coverage. If that inspection shows the roof has five or more years of useful life remaining, the insurer cannot refuse to issue or renew solely because of its age.

House Bill 1611, effective July 2024, expanded who counts as an authorized inspector to include licensed roofing contractors, which made these inspections considerably easier to obtain.

The three details that actually matter

First, the word "solely." The statute prevents an insurer from declining based on roof age alone. It does not prevent them from declining for other reasons — condition, prior claims, overall risk appetite. Sellers who read the headline and stop there get a surprise.

Second, how age is calculated. A roof's age is measured from the last date on which 100 percent of the surface area was built or replaced to the code in effect at that time. A full re-roof resets the clock even on a 1987 house. Partial replacements don't reset anything until the cumulative partials add up to the entire surface.

Third, an inspection is evidence. A remaining useful life certification is a document you can hand a buyer, their agent, and their insurance agent. It converts "how old is that roof?" from an anxiety into an answered question. That is worth real money in a negotiation.

What to do in 2026

Find your roof's actual age from the permit record, not from memory. People are routinely off by four or five years in both directions.

If it's approaching or past fifteen, order a remaining useful life inspection now. If it certifies five-plus years, you have your answer and your documentation. If it doesn't, you have twelve months to get competitive bids instead of accepting whatever's available three weeks before closing.

Either way, order a wind mitigation inspection. It documents roof deck attachment, roof-to-wall connections, roof shape, and secondary water resistance, and it drives insurance credits that lower what your buyer pays every month. A lower monthly payment is a higher offer.

Then put the permits, the invoices, the wind-mit report, and the RUL certification in one folder. That folder is a selling document.

The homeowners who lose money on roofs in this market aren't the ones with old roofs. They're the ones who found out in month eleven.

Florence Lewis, Realtor® — Keller Williams Wellington