Home insurance in Philadelphia, when the renewal does not come.

Act 205: the insurer needs a listed reason

Section 5(a)(9) of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act, known as Act 205 (40 P.S. section 1171.5), covers policies on owner-occupied private residential property. Once such a policy has been in force sixty days, the insurer may cancel it or refuse to renew it only if:

• MisrepresentationThe policy was obtained through material misrepresentation, fraudulent statements, or omission or concealment of a material fact.
• Change in the riskThere has been a substantial change or increase in hazard since the policy was issued.
• The owner's conductWillful or negligent acts or omissions by the insured have substantially increased the hazards insured against.
• NonpaymentA premium was not paid when due. The Insurance Department notes that state law does not require a grace period.
• Other approved reasonsReasons the Commissioner has approved by regulation. One on the books: the property would not meet the FAIR Plan's own eligibility rules.

The notice has to reach you at the address on the policy or a forwarding address, give an effective date at least thirty days after it was mailed or delivered, state the specific reason, tell you that you may ask the Insurance Commissioner in writing to review the decision within ten days of receiving it, and mention possible eligibility for the FAIR Plan. The statute says a cancellation or refusal to renew is not effective unless that written notice is received.

Three details change what I do with a file. The first sixty days of a new policy are outside this protection; the Department describes them as the insurer's time to underwrite, and a declination then is treated as a refusal to write. Claims are not on the list: the Department's homeowners guide says Pennsylvania law does not allow an insurer to terminate a homeowners policy for claims or loss history, though claims can still raise the price. And the section speaks of owner-occupied homes, so a rowhouse you rent out sits outside it. More on the Pennsylvania non-renewal rules page.

Ten days to ask for a review

The review is real and it is short. Under the Department's regulation (31 Pa. Code section 59.7) you ask by written request, and signing a copy of the notice and sending it to the Department is enough. The Department opens an investigation and tells both sides, sends each a copy of the investigative report, and gives each ten days to comment or ask for a formal hearing. The Department's guide tells owners the request has to be received within ten days of the notice, so I date the envelope the day it arrives.

When the stated reason is a change in hazard, such as a roof at the end of its life, knob-and-tube wiring or a vacant house next door, the question is whether it is substantial and whether it arose after the policy was issued. The Department's guide says an owner does have to respond to an insurer's repair request, and that the Department makes sure the request is reasonable and the owner gets enough time. A dated roofer's or electrician's invoice often settles it faster than an appeal. Complaints and questions go through the Department's Consumer Services online portal.

The Pennsylvania FAIR Plan is a fire policy

The Pennsylvania FAIR Plan, formally the Insurance Placement Facility of Pennsylvania, has operated since October 1968 out of an office on Independence Mall. It is an association of the property insurers doing business in the state, uses no public money, and takes applications from an agent or broker or directly from anyone with an insurable interest. It is not a homeowners policy:

• The form. For one- to four-family dwellings it issues a basic dwelling form covering fire and lightning, with windstorm or hail, smoke, riot, vehicles, aircraft and vandalism available as added perils, and a broad form with more perils for homes that qualify.
• What is missing. Its rules say coverage for other perils and for time-element or indirect loss is not provided, so there is no living-expense coverage if a fire puts you out. These are dwelling property forms; personal liability has to come from another policy. Theft is only an optional residential crime endorsement.
• The limit. For an occupied one- to four-family dwelling the maximum is five hundred thousand, and that is building and household contents combined. A home bought within the last six months is further capped at twice its purchase price when owner-occupied.
• Condition. The Plan inspects. Its standards list broken windows, loose or exposed wiring, roof, wall or plumbing leaks and accumulated combustibles as grounds to decline or restrict coverage, and a building vacant more than thirty days is ineligible unless boarded up or under active renovation, with a few exceptions.

That is why I treat it as the floor. A lender's fire requirement can be met there while I look for a surplus lines homeowners policy or a companion policy for liability. The Department notes that surplus lines insurers are not backed by the state guaranty fund, which I put in writing before anything is bound.

Ida, the Schuylkill and the basement

The storm in every underwriter's file here is the remnant of Hurricane Ida on September 1, 2021. The National Weather Service office at Mount Holly reports that the Schuylkill at Philadelphia did not crest until the morning of September 2 and flooded parts of the city with what it calls the worst flooding of the modern era, including several feet of water on the Vine Street Expressway. Upstream the Schuylkill at Norristown and the Brandywine at Chadds Ford set floods of record. The same afternoon an EF-2 tornado ran eight miles from Fort Washington through Upper Dublin to Horsham in Montgomery County. A federal major disaster declaration for Pennsylvania followed on September 10.

Those are three different insurance questions. Tornado wind is covered by a homeowners policy, subject to its wind or hail deductible; the Department's guide warns that a percentage deductible is figured on the home's insured value, not on the size of the claim. River and surface water is flood, which the Department lists as a common exclusion. It describes three places to buy it: the National Flood Insurance Program, private insurers admitted in Pennsylvania, and surplus lines. And water that comes up through a floor drain or basement toilet is a third thing again, usually covered only when a water backup endorsement has been added.

For that last one the City helps. The Philadelphia Water Department's Basement Backup Protection Program installs a backwater valve, and modifies downspouts where needed, at no charge for homeowners who get sewer water through basement fixtures in wet weather, provided the water bill is current or on a payment agreement. The work carries a one-year warranty and upkeep is the owner's after that. I ask about the valve on every rowhouse with a finished basement; see sewer backup coverage and the Pennsylvania flood guide.

What a rowhouse adds to the file

A rowhouse shares its side walls. A fire, a roof leak or a burst pipe next door becomes your claim too, and your insurer has no say in how the neighbor's house is kept. Underwriters ask about the adjoining properties for that reason, and a vacant or boarded house on either side is the most common cause of a decline I see on otherwise sound homes. It is also the situation where the FAIR Plan's own vacancy rule bites if you own the empty one.

The rest is age. Flat roofs with a known replacement date, updated wiring, replaced supply and drain lines and a heater with a service record move a file from declined to quoted more often than anything else. If the home is rented, it needs a landlord policy, not a homeowners form, and Act 205's owner-occupied protection does not follow it.

What I need to quote

The address, the cancellation or non-renewal notice and the day you received it, the current declarations page, year built, whether the home is attached and what stands on each side, roof type and year, updates to wiring, plumbing and heating, whether the basement is finished and has a backwater valve, who lives in the home, any claims in the last five years, and the date coverage must start. If the ten-day review window is still open, tell me first.

Common questions

General information about home insurance in Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania as of November 2026, not legal advice. Cancellation and non-renewal rules are in section 5(a)(9) of Act 205 (40 P.S. section 1171.5) and 31 Pa. Code chapter 59; FAIR Plan terms are from its general rules manual; storm facts are from the National Weather Service. All of them change. Coverage depends on the policy issued. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.