Colo. Commissioner Asks Insurers to Limit Homeowners Moratorium

Colorado Insurance Commissioner William Kirven III recently sent a letter to the top 100 property and casualty insurers in Colorado asking them to continue writing homeowners insurance for consumers.

“I am very concerned that some of our residents cannot find homeowners insurance,” Commissioner Kirven said. “I understand the logic of a company choosing not to write new policies within 10 miles of a significant wildfire, but I do not accept the justification of a statewide or other excessively broad moratoria in all mountain communities or the entire state.”

The Colorado Division of Insurance has received numerous telephone calls from consumers who cannot purchase homeowners insurance because insurers are choosing not to issue or renew policies while the state is experiencing wildfires. Consumers are being told that they cannot purchase new insurance on a home just purchase, that they cannot increase their existing coverage, and in some cases, that they cannot renew current policies. These actions are not acceptable outside of the immediate threatened areas around the fire.

“I ask that such punitive and unnecessary moratoria not be imposed upon Colorado citizens,” Commissioner Kirven said in his letter. “While there is no Colorado law that prohibits an insurer from choosing to impose a reasonable moratorium for threatened areas, I encourage all insurers to reconsider overly broad moratoria and respond to consumers in a good faith manner.”