Citizens Is Changing Its Forms Dec 1 — What Tampa Bay Policyholders Need to Check Before Renewal

By Justin Bryan · November 7, 2026 · Home Insurance

If Citizens Property Insurance covers your home, your next renewal comes with new paperwork. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has approved updates to Citizens' Personal Lines policy forms, effective for new and renewal business on December 1, 2026. Most of it is fine print — but a few changes can cost a Tampa Bay homeowner real money if they slip by, including one that can eliminate wind coverage entirely over a lapsed flood policy. Here are the four things to check, in plain English, all drawn from Citizens' own bulletin (linked in Sources).

1. The flood-insurance trap: no flood policy in force, no wind coverage

This is the big one. Florida law already requires many Citizens policyholders to carry flood insurance — our flood insurance explainer walks through the phase-in that reaches every Citizens policy by January 1, 2027. The Dec 1 forms add teeth to that requirement. A new policy condition says that if you are required to secure and maintain flood insurance, Citizens may provide no coverage for wind-related losses if two things are true: Citizens verified you had flood insurance when your policy was issued or renewed, and the required flood insurance is not in force on the date of the wind loss. Your declarations page will carry a version of that statement, and it adds a detail worth underlining: the flood coverage must be in force at the level of coverage required by Florida law — a token policy below the required level may not be enough.

Read what that means in practice for a homeowner in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or Tampa: you buy the required flood policy, let it lapse in a tight month or miss its renewal, and then a hurricane damages your roof. The flood policy was for rising water — but under this condition, the lapse can now reach across and take your wind coverage with it. The condition doesn't apply to HO-4, HO-6, HW-4, or HW-6 policies, but for the typical Citizens homeowners policy it is very much in play. Two habits protect you: never let the flood policy lapse (mark its renewal on your calender the day you buy it), and expect to sign an updated Policyholder Affirmation Regarding Flood Insurance (form CIT FW01 12 26) acknowledging you'll maintain flood coverage through the term and every renewal.

2. If Citizens sends you an authorization form, the clock is 14 days

Tied to the same flood requirement, the new forms say that if Citizens or its representative asks, you must sign and return the Authorization To Release Flood Insurance Documents and Information form within 14 days of the date it's delivered to you. Failure to return it may preclude coverage under the policy for any wind loss. A version of the same duty also appears in the policy's Duties After Loss section. The practical takeaway is simple: treat anything from Citizens that asks for a signature like it has a fuse on it — because it does. Open Citizens mail the week it arrives, and if you recieve a form you don't understand, call your agent before the two weeks run out, not after.

3. Renting your home on Airbnb more than 3 times a year? Your Citizens policy now calls that a business

The Dec 1 forms rewrite the policy's Business definition and exclusion around short-term rentals. Renting or leasing your insured home to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days (or one calendar month, whichever is less) — or holding the home out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests — now falls under the Business exclusion in the HO-3, HO-4, HO-6, and HO-8 forms. Guests of a home-sharing occupant are also expressly excluded from the policy's definitions of roomer, boarder, tenant, or guest. On the liability side, the amended forms exclude coverage for injuries relating to home-sharing host activities and rentals through a home-sharing platform, and there is no medical payments coverage for bodily injury to a home-sharing occupant.

Tampa Bay is full of exactly this exposure — beach rentals in Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach, event weekends in Tampa, snowbird-season stays in Sarasota. If you host, even occasionally, a standard Citizens homeowners policy renewed after Dec 1 is very likely not the coverage you think you have. This needs a conversation with your agent about the right policy or endorsement before the next guest books, not after one gets hurt on your steps.

4. The rest of the Dec 1 package, briefly

• Wind-Driven Rain Damage notice (WDR1 12 26). A new formal notice about wind-driven rain damage is being included in every new and renewal policy package for policies that include wind coverage. Wind-driven rain — rain forced through openings by storm winds, as opposed to rising-water flood — has long been one of the most argued-over parts of Florida storm claims. When your package arrives, actually read this one and keep it with your policy.
• Dispute path change (DOAH). If you and Citizens end up in the appraisal process and the appraisers can't agree on the amount of a loss, either side — you or Citizens — can now invoke arbitration before the Division of Administrative Hearings, and if DOAH declines, either side can ask a judge to appoint the umpire. It applies to all Personal Lines base forms. If you ever need the claims roadmap itself, our Pinellas flood claims checklist is the place to start.
• Attorney Fee Reporting endorsement (CIT 03 16 12 26). Attached to new and renewal policies; it spells out what information must be provided to Citizens when a claim settles for a single amount that bundles the claim payment together with attorney fees and costs. Mostly relevant if a claim ever ends up with a lawyer involved — good to know it's there.
• Housekeeping. Privacy notices were updated on how Social Security numbers are used, and two old home day care forms were withdrawn — Citizens notes that withdrawal has no coverage impact of its own.

Your before-renewal checklist

• Flood policy in force, at the required level, with no gap coming. Confirm the coverage amount matches what Florida law requires for your policy, and set the renewal reminder now.
• Watch for the authorization form. If it arrives, sign and return it within 14 days of delivery.
• Count your short-term rentals. More than three guest stays a year under 30 days each — or a public listing that holds the home out as regularly rented — means a call to your agent about proper coverage.
• Read the wind-driven rain notice in your renewal package and file it with the policy.
• Keep your documentation current. Your declarations pages and flood policy belong with the documents in our free home inventory worksheet & document checklist — if a claim ever turns on what was in force when, that folder is your proof.

One honest caveat, in Citizens' own framing: the bulletin is an overview of the changes, not the policy itself — the actual 12-26 edition forms govern, and the details can differ by policy type. If any of the four items above touches your household, it's worth fifteen minutes with your agent before your Dec 1-or-later renewal takes effect. And if you're with Citizens and wondering whether the falling private market (see our renewal rates post) might now beat your Citizens premium, use the form below — we'll compare it plainly.

Sources

• Citizens Property Insurance — Personal Lines: 2026 Form Changes (bulletin, October 1, 2026) — OIR-approved form updates effective for new and renewal business December 1, 2026: the Flood Insurance condition and declarations statement, the 14-day Authorization To Release Flood Insurance Documents duty, the Business definition/exclusion for short-term rentals and home-sharing (HO-3, HO-4, HO-6, HO-8), DOAH arbitration amendments, Attorney Fee Reporting endorsement CIT 03 16 12 26, Wind-Driven Rain Damage notice WDR1 12 26, and amended Policyholder Affirmation CIT FW01 12 26. Citizens notes the bulletin is an overview; the 12-26 edition forms control.

This post is general information about Florida insurance, not advice about any specific claim or policy.