HB 7065 Protects Florida’s Homeowners in AOB Battles

05/17/2019

After seven years of fighting for AOB reform in Florida HB 7065 passed with the support of the state’s governor, CFO, Citizens, as well as business and consumer protection groups. Now, homeowners will be able to protect themselves against predatory water mitigation and restoration vendors who pressure them to sign AOBs.

This legislation also gives homeowners the right to cancel an AOB agreement and requires notice to the policyholder if a contractor enters into litigation on their claim.

HB 7065 also removes vendor access to Florida policyholders’ unique one-way attorney fee rights, and creates new rules to discourage contractors from running up their bills with unnecessary work or inflating their charges.

Today, Florida courts have been inundated with tens of thousands of lawsuits. The question is, how long will it take to move through this tremendous backlog of cases and what will the impact be on future litigation from mitigation and other contractors? Stay tuned.