By Jeff Harrington and Dan DeWitt of the Tampa Bay Times
In the heyday of the Great Florida Sinkhole Lottery, Iris and Harry Irizarry would have had all the ingredients for a big cash payout: A sinkhole policy from state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp.; visible cracking in the walls and floors of the Spring Hill home they bought new in 2003; and a sinkhole confirmed by both an engineer and the Hernando County Property Appraiser's Office.
But the era of easy sinkhole claims is over, slammed shut by a 2011 overhaul of the state insurance law. Based on the new law, the same engineering firm that found the Irizarrys' sinkhole — and recommended that it be filled with grout — deemed that it wouldn't qualify for an insurance claim.
"We pay our insurance but (Citizens) doesn't want to pay to fix the house, and I can't sell my house because (it) has no value," said Iris Irizarry, 64, a retired Head Start director from Brooklyn. "What kind of a law is that?"
In short, it's a law that has done what it was supposed to do: stem a flood of claims that by 2011 were driving up insurance rates and driving down property values in the "sinkhole alley" of Hernando and Pasco counties.
But concerns are surfacing that the sinkhole fix has gone too far: It has limited the availability of sinkhole insurance and allowed insurers to charge prices rivaling the cost of a standard homeowners policy. It has made it far more difficult for homeowners to qualify for a claim. And by leaving homeowners stuck with sinkhole homes they cannot repair, it has created a potential new drag on property values. Story here.
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