Insurers Just Moved the Roof Age Cutoff From 20 Years to 15

Florida insurers have quietly redrawn a line that matters more to your premium than any statewide announcement. For years, the informal cutoff for asphalt and composition shingle roofs was 20 years before a carrier started asking hard questions. That cutoff has slid down to 15.

Robert Norberg of Arden Insurance in Lantana put it plainly in a recent interview. Most companies now want asphalt or composition shingles at 15 years or newer to offer their best rate. Tile and metal roofs get more room. Metal can be viewed favorably by an insurer for up to 40 years, while asphalt is treated as vulnerable to Florida sun and wind well before that.

Melissa Burt DeVriese, president of Security First Insurance, has said roof age is now the single biggest factor behind a homeowner's rate. Get a new roof, and you can save thousands a year. Keep an aging one, and the number does not move in your favor no matter what else is happening in the market.

I have seen this collide with real numbers. One Florida homeowner recently described a nearly nine thousand dollar annual premium she cannot shop down, because her roof turns 15 this month and every company she has called has passed. That is not a rare story anymore. It is becoming the normal one for anyone in a home built or re-roofed in the early 2010s.

In 23 years of doing this in west Broward, I have watched insurers redraw lines like this before, usually quietly, usually without a press release. Nobody sends a homeowner a letter that says your roof just aged out of our best pricing tier. You find out at renewal, or worse, during a sale.

Three things I would do with this information today.

If you are planning to sell in the next year, find out your roof's exact age and material now, not when a buyer's inspector tells you. A roof at 14 years reads very differently to an underwriter than one at 16, and that gap can shape your buyer's financing timeline.

If you are buying, ask for the roof's age and permit history before you get emotionally attached to a house. A seller who can produce documentation of a newer roof, or a recent inspection showing life left in an older one, is doing you a favor. One who cannot may be handing you a financing headache.

If you already own and have not shopped your policy recently, do it now, before you assume your current carrier's pricing still reflects the roof you actually have. A few phone calls beat a surprise at renewal.

None of this is insurance advice, and I am not licensed to give it. Talk to a licensed Florida insurance agent about your specific policy and options. What I can tell you, after two decades of watching Broward property cycles, is that the roof question now belongs earlier in almost every transaction I touch, not later.

If you want a second set of eyes on a listing or a home you are considering, I am always glad to talk it through.

Roger Averbuj, Broker | Prestige Heritage Realty | (954) 663-8461

Source: WFLX, "Florida homeowners now on 15-year clock for roof replacements," Aug 10, 2026