Hurricane Season and Your Home Purchase
Updated September 2026
Every summer a buyer calls us with the same question: a storm has a name, they are two weeks from closing, and nobody has told them what happens next. The answer is not dramatic, but it is specific. A named storm touches three things in a pending contract — your insurance, your closing date, and the condition of the house — and each one has a rule already written down.
What stops first? Insurance binding
The first thing a storm does is freeze insurance. Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed carrier, suspends binding as soon as the National Weather Service issues a tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning for any part of Florida. During the suspension, agents cannot bind new applications or increase coverage on existing policies, regardless of the requested effective date. Applications submitted before the suspension can still be processed.
Agents call this “the box,” because the trigger is a watch or warning inside a defined area around the state, not a landfall. Citizens publishes a running list of every suspension and every lift on its binding-alerts page, and there have been several every year since 2020. Most private carriers follow a similar practice.
What this means for you: if your policy is quoted but not bound when the watch goes up, you wait until the suspension lifts. A lender will not fund without proof of coverage, so an unbound policy is a closing that cannot happen on the scheduled day.
The contract already has a plan for this
The Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contract used in most Miami-Dade transactions carries a force-majeure paragraph, Standard G. It names hurricanes, floods and extreme weather, and it also names the unavailability of insurance or required approvals essential to closing. When one of those events prevents performance, the affected deadlines, including the closing date, extend for a reasonable time up to seven days after the event no longer prevents performance.
There is a ceiling. If force majeure keeps preventing performance more than thirty days beyond the original closing date, either party may terminate by written notice and the buyer’s deposit is returned. One caveat worth knowing: an event does not qualify if the party who failed to perform could have overcome it with reasonable and diligent effort. A buyer who never applied for insurance cannot lean on a binding suspension.
Who owns the damage
The same contract also settles who carries the risk of a storm that hits the house between signing and closing. Under the risk-of-loss paragraph, that risk stays with the seller until closing. If the cost of restoration is up to one and a half percent of the purchase price, the seller repairs before closing or escrows one hundred twenty-five percent of the estimate. If it is more than that, the buyer chooses: take the property with a credit equal to one and a half percent of the price, or terminate and recover the deposit.
| What happens | What the rule says |
|---|---|
| A tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning is issued for any part of Florida | Citizens suspends binding: no new policies and no coverage increases until the suspension lifts |
| The storm or a binding suspension prevents closing on time | Standard G extends the affected deadlines for a reasonable time, up to seven days after the event stops preventing performance |
| Force majeure keeps preventing performance more than 30 days past the closing date | Either party may terminate by written notice and the buyer’s deposit is returned |
| The house is damaged before closing, restoration up to 1.5% of the price | The seller repairs before closing or escrows 125% of the estimate |
| Damage above 1.5% of the price | The buyer chooses: take the property with a 1.5% credit, or terminate and recover the deposit |
Walk it again after the storm
Your inspection period may be closed, but your walk-through is not. After a storm, treat the final walk-through as a second inspection: roof, soffits, windows, the electrical panel, any sign of water under doors or around sliders. Photograph everything. If you find damage, the risk-of-loss paragraph above is the mechanism, and your agent will route the repair estimate through it. Our guide to the Florida AS IS contract and inspection period explains how the deadlines fit together.
Shutters and generators are negotiation items
In Miami-Dade, opening protection is a line on the wind-mitigation form and a line on your premium. A house with verified impact windows or rated shutters on every opening is cheaper to insure than the same house with one unprotected window. If the seller has shutters in a garage, get them, and get the product-approval paperwork with them. A whole-house generator or a transfer switch is the same conversation: ask for it, ask for the permit, and ask for the service records. Our flood, windstorm and roof insurance guide covers what the carrier is actually pricing.
June is not the deadline. Binding is.
Buyers sometimes push to close before the season starts, as if the calendar were the risk. The calendar is not the trigger; the watch is. A closing in April with a policy bound in March is safe. A closing in April with a policy still being quoted is exposed to whatever forms in the Atlantic that week. The practical rule is simple: bind your homeowners and, where required, your flood policy as early in the contract as the carrier will allow, and confirm in writing that the effective date matches the closing date. If the property sits in a mapped flood zone, our Miami flood zones guide explains what the lender will require.
Storms are part of owning here. The contract, the carriers and the county have all built rules around them. Your job is to know those rules before you need them.
Sources
- Citizens Property Insurance, “What is Citizens’ hurricane or tropical storm binding suspension rule?” — https://securesupport.citizensfla.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1455
- Citizens Property Insurance, Binding Alerts — https://www.citizensfla.com/binding-alerts
- Battaglia Law, Force Majeure Clauses in FAR/BAR Real Estate Contracts — https://battaglia.law/the-force-is-strong-with-this-one-force-majeure-clauses-in-far-bar-real-estate-contracts/
- Leslie Wells Realty, Understanding Risk of Loss and Force Majeure in Florida Real Estate Contracts — https://lesliewellsrealtymagazine.com/2025/05/28/understanding-risk-of-loss-and-force-majeure-in-florida-real-estate-contracts/
Frequently asked
Can I close on a house during a hurricane watch in Florida?
Only if your insurance is already bound. Citizens — and most private carriers — suspend binding as soon as a tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning is issued for any part of Florida, and a lender will not fund without proof of coverage. If the policy is quoted but not bound, the closing waits until the suspension lifts, and Standard G of the contract extends the deadline.
Who pays for hurricane damage to a house that is under contract?
The seller carries the risk of loss until closing. If restoration costs up to one and a half percent of the purchase price, the seller repairs before closing or escrows 125% of the estimate. If it costs more, the buyer chooses between taking the property with a credit equal to 1.5% of the price or terminating and recovering the deposit.
What is the force majeure clause in the Florida real estate contract?
Standard G. It names hurricanes, floods and extreme weather, and also the unavailability of insurance or approvals essential to closing. When one of those prevents performance, the affected deadlines extend for a reasonable time up to seven days after the event no longer prevents performance; past 30 days beyond the original closing date, either party may terminate. An event does not qualify if the party could have overcome it with reasonable and diligent effort.
When should I bind homeowners insurance when buying in Miami?
As early in the contract as the carrier will allow, with the effective date matching the closing date in writing. The calendar is not the trigger; the watch is. A closing in April with a policy bound in March is safe; a closing in April with a policy still being quoted is exposed to whatever forms in the Atlantic that week.