Short answer: According to Fla. Stat. 627.70131, a Florida property insurer must acknowledge your claim within 7 days, begin investigating within 7 business days of proof-of-loss, inspect within 30 days, and pay or deny within 60 days (post-SB 2A, 2022). Miss the 60-day deadline and statutory interest accrues on the overdue amount from the date you gave notice.
What are the 627.70131 claim deadlines?
Fla. Stat. 627.70131 gives a Florida property insurer four hard deadlines: acknowledge the claim in 7 days, begin investigating in 7 business days, inspect in 30 days, and pay or deny in 60 days. These are subject only to limited exceptions for factors genuinely beyond the carrier's control.
| Deadline | Time limit | Clock starts when |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge the claim | 7 calendar days | Carrier receives any claim communication |
| Begin investigation | 7 business days | Carrier receives your proof-of-loss |
| Conduct physical inspection | 30 days | Carrier receives your proof-of-loss |
| Pay or deny the claim | 60 days | You give notice of the claim |
Key takeaway: two of the four clocks (investigation and inspection) start at proof-of-loss, so submit it in writing and confirm receipt to lock in the trigger date.
How does each deadline actually work?
The four deadlines run off two different trigger events, and carriers exploit the difference. The 7-day acknowledgment clock starts when the carrier receives any communication that reasonably appears to be a notice of claim, including a phone call, email, or letter. The investigation and inspection clocks start when the carrier receives your proof-of-loss statements, not when you first report the loss. The 60-day pay-or-deny clock runs from your notice of claim.
Because two of the four deadlines key off proof-of-loss, what counts as a complete proof-of-loss matters. Carriers frequently treat a submission as incomplete to argue the clock never started. Submit your proof-of-loss in writing, keep a dated copy, and confirm receipt, so the trigger date is not in dispute later.
What changed under the 2022 reform (SB 2A)?
The reform shortened every window: acknowledgment dropped from 14 days to 7, and pay-or-deny dropped from 90 days to 60. Before the December 2022 property-insurance reform (Senate Bill 2A), this statute gave carriers those longer windows, and the current schedule is the 7 / 7 / 30 / 60-day structure above.
| Requirement | Before SB 2A | After SB 2A (2022) |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge claim | 14 days | 7 days |
| Pay or deny claim | 90 days | 60 days |
Key takeaway: if a carrier says it has 90 days to decide your claim, it is citing a deadline that no longer applies to losses governed by the current statute. Many Florida homeowners, and some adjusters, still operate on the old numbers.
How do carriers try to stop the clock?
The deadlines have teeth only if the clock is actually running. Common tactics that pause or reset it:
- Repeated documentation requests. Drip-feeding requests for the same or marginally different documents to argue your proof-of-loss is still incomplete.
- "Factors beyond our control." The 60-day deadline allows an extension for circumstances genuinely outside the carrier's control. Carriers sometimes invoke this language for ordinary workload or staffing issues, which do not qualify.
- Examinations under oath and inspections scheduled late. Booking the required inspection near or past the 30-day limit, then treating the inspection date as the new starting point.
- Disputing the notice date. Claiming your first communication was not a proper notice of claim to push back the acknowledgment and pay-or-deny clocks.
Documenting the real trigger dates, in writing, is how you keep the carrier on the statutory schedule.
How does late-payment interest work?
When the carrier misses the 60-day pay-or-deny deadline, statutory interest accrues from the date of claim notice under Fla. Stat. 55.03. The Florida CFO sets that rate each quarter, so the exact figure changes, but the principle does not: a carrier that pays late owes interest on the overdue amount on top of the claim itself. That is a real dollar cost, and it is one reason documented delay strengthens your position rather than just delaying your recovery.
How does this statute affect your claim?
You have the right to documented response timing at every stage, and a missed deadline becomes leverage rather than just a delay. Those outcomes are common: FLOIR catastrophe data shows a large share of recent Florida hurricane claims closed without any payment (roughly 35% of closed Hurricane Helene claims and 38% of closed Hurricane Milton claims), most often on below-deductible or flood-coverage findings (floir.gov). A file that documents the trigger dates and holds the carrier to this statute's schedule is how you contest a denial instead of absorbing it.
- Carrier violations are grounds for a Civil Remedy Notice under Fla. Stat. 624.155.
- Patterns of delay are admissible in bad-faith proceedings.
- You can file a DFS complaint at MyFloridaCFO when deadlines are missed.
What should you do when deadlines are missed?
Document the missed deadline in writing the day it passes, then escalate in order:
- Document the missed deadline in writing to the carrier.
- Demand explanation under the statute.
- Consider filing a DFS complaint.
- Consider filing a Civil Remedy Notice.
- Consult a public adjuster or attorney.
Common questions about 627.70131
Does the 60-day clock restart if I send more documents? No. Sending additional documentation does not reset the pay-or-deny deadline. The carrier can request what it reasonably needs, but it cannot use ordinary follow-up requests to extend the statutory window indefinitely.
Do these deadlines apply to supplemental and reopened claims? Yes. The 60-day pay-or-deny deadline applies to initial, reopened, and supplemental claims. Note that the separate notice deadlines for filing those claims live in Fla. Stat. 627.70132.
What if my claim is denied right at day 60? A timely denial still has to be a proper one. A denial that is unsupported, contradicted by your documentation, or issued without the required investigation can be challenged, and the timing of how the carrier handled the file is part of that record.
Who this is for, and should you hire a public adjuster?
If your carrier has already met the 7 / 7 / 30 / 60 deadlines and paid your claim in full, you likely do not need help here: keep your dated records and move on. Handle it yourself when the delay is minor and a single written reminder of the statutory clock gets the file moving.
Consider a public adjuster or attorney when the carrier has blown the 60-day deadline, is drip-feeding document requests to argue proof-of-loss is incomplete, or has invoked "factors beyond our control" for an ordinary backlog. A licensed Florida public adjuster can document the real trigger dates, hold the carrier to the schedule, and pursue the full value your policy supports. Public adjuster fees in Florida are capped by law (Fla. Stat. 626.854).
Bottom line: track every trigger date in writing from day one; that record is what makes the deadlines enforceable whether you handle the claim yourself or bring in representation.