If you have flood insurance on your home, listen up.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun charging a renewal surcharge on all flood insurance policies, effective April 1. The surcharge is $25 if the policy insures your primary residence and $250 if the insurance is for a second home.
To be eligible for the lower surcharge, however, property owners mus fill out a new “proof of primary residency” form with their annual policy renewals. Without the new form, FEMA will automatically assess the $250 surcharge.
Sen. Charles Schumer says many homeowners are wrongly being charged the $250 fee for policies on their primary residences “because many residents, and even some insurance companies, are in the dark on the new renewal requirement and haven’t been filling out the necessary documents.”
Schumer today urged residents to check their bills to see if they were charged an extra $225.
FEMA began mailing notification letters to policy holders in April, Schumer said. Homeowners are told in the letters that they have 30 days to fill out the necessary paperwork and provide proof of primary residency or their renewal premium will reflect the higher surcharge. If the paperwork is not filled out and mailed to FEMA within 30 days of receipt, a default charge of $250 is included on the policy holder’s bill.
New York has approximately 143,000 policies rated as residences. Approximately 12,000 primary residence verification letters in New York are being sent out by FEMA per month, Schumer said.
The senator said in a press release he is “pushing FEMA to scrap this ill-conceived policy altogether and go back to the drawing board to come up with a policy that is not potentially punitive to homeowners, especially since so many are still getting over the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.”
