If California homeowners want to know what might be in store for them when renewal time comes around for their home insurance policies, Jennifer DeNicola is the poster child for what they might face. And it isn’t pretty.
Jennifer owns a house in Calabasas with a Homeowners Association (HOA). She bought the house two years ago and got a home insurance policy with Farmers. Then, in December she got a letter from Farmer’s that surprised her. The letter said that to get a home insurance renewal, she needed to get a certification from a website called Wildfireprepared.org and follow their instructions for specific home-hardening measures. She would have three months to complete the work. Without that, Farmers would not renew her policy.
Farmers provided no contact information about how to reach the people behind Wildfireprepared.org and Jennifer was on her own. She tried to reach a Farmers’ executive to no avail.
“I was one of the first here to get these letters,” she said. “The Farmers’ agents had no answers, there was no help from Wildfirerepared.org to understand what was specifically required for my home.” Jennifer found out that some of her neighbors were getting the same letters from Farmers and were trying to find other insurers, but that none were writing home insurance policies. Her Farmers insurance agent told her nine out of ten people trying to meet Wildfireprepared.org certification requirements were not making the grade.
“Farmers is sending thousands of notices to people saying they will not renew their policies unless they do substantial renovations to their property, yet not providing enough time to first get the permits necessary to comply with city/state ordinances or HOA rules,” Jennifer said. “On top of that Wildfireprepared has a long approval process and Farmers is giving very little time to complete these renovations. Even if consumers wanted to implement the renovations, they would probably be cancelled before they have a chance to complete them.” Fortunately, Jennifer’s HOA was flexible and she got approval quickly.
Jennifer thinks that it is reasonable to take logical steps to ensure homes are fire defensible to obtain home insurance. But Wildfireprepared.org has too many requirements that can take more time than Farmers is providing and will cost homeowners significant amounts of money to comply.
She said that the LA County Fire Department had also been notifying the community of steps to take to mitigate fire risk and was doing home inspections throughout the year. So, Jennifer invited an LA County fireman to inspect her property for compliance with local and state rules. “He said that the 5-foot perimeter is something they believe helps protect a house during a fire, but it is not currently a legal requirement by the State of California. But Wildfireprepared’s rule of no hedges in the 5-to-30-foot zone, according to LA County Fire, is excessive.”
The State’s “Safer From Wildfire” guidelines for defensible space include removal of dead brush and combustible outbuildings in the 5-to-30-foot zone, but not well-maintained thriving hedges.
‘He said my house was totally fire defensible and my hedges are green and thriving, not dried up. The fireman said the likelihood of my hedges to burn from an ember is low—but he also included that anything could burn if it gets hot enough.” Jennifer believes Wildfireprepared and Farmers is going overboard.
Jennifer doesn’t understand why county fire department rules and the Institute’s rules are out of sync. “It’s amazing to me that the insurance executives trust a high paid think tank over the California firefighters who actually fight our fires. Wildfireprepared will not be fighting my fire, so why didn’t they and their parent company, Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, talk to California’s fire fighters before rolling out these demanding and possibly unattainable requirements?” Jennifer asked.
“And before dumping this timeline on owners, why didn’t these companies notify cities and agencies across California so cities can create rapid approval processes? To me it seems either bad planning and execution or purposeful planning with the intent to drop homeowners without having to cancel them.”
Wildfireprepared’s first requirement was for Jennifer to create a 5-foot noncombustible barrier (bare dirt, gravel, pavers, rocks, concrete etc.) around her home including from the outer edge of any attached deck or overhang extension. This included the removal of all thriving vegetation, trees, any overhanging branches, grass/turf, as well as any wood/rubber mulch or stored items. Any wood or vinyl fencing and gates within 5 feet of the home also had to be removed and replaced with a noncombustible fence such as metal.
“I had to have a landscaper tear out all the foliage in the 5-foot perimeter of my house to comply with Farmer’s requirements,” Jennifer said.
The next set of requirements Jennifer had to meet was within the 5-30 feet zone. Jennifer’s maintenance of the yard, trees, and structures now included removal of hedges or rows of bushes, plants, or trees. The requirement stated that bushes and shrubs must be spaced apart as far from each other as they are tall and that no tree branches could touch one another.
“I also had to tear out my hedges in the 5-to-30-foot zone. These hedges were so far from my house and were green and thriving. They were used to mask part of the concrete wall separating properties. I also have a bunch of ground cover plants, that are not mentioned in the requirements. I have no idea what I supposed to do with the ground cover.”
Jennifer is understandably frustrated. “The Farmers people should have created a way to contact Wildfireprepared. They are sending everyone the same generic letter, but everyone’s home is not the same. I don’t want to take out a single living, thriving plant that they are not requiring me to take out, but there is no one to speak with to direct me.”
Jennifer sent Wildfireprepared and Farmers several emails suggesting that Wildfireprepared do a pre-video meeting before the inspector comes out. “We can show them our homes through video chat and they can give specific directions as to what needs to be changed,” Jennifer said. “Then there is no confusion or over-removal, and when the inspector comes out, there is a much better chance of passing on the first try—saving both the homeowner and the inspector time and money.”
Jennifer’s emails went unanswered. The result was a property that looks like a new build devoid of any life around it, leaving Jennifer in the position of having to create and pay for new hardscaping which will cost her a significant amount of money. And she will first have to get these new plans approved by her HOA and possibly the City of Calabasas before installing it.
Jennifer’s frustration led her to look up the origins of Wildfireprepared.org. She discovered it is the brainchild of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. According to their website, IBHS members currently encompass approximately 76 percent of residential property insurance and 50 percent of commercial property insurance sold in the US.
As a non-profit, the executives’ salaries must be disclosed to the government and Jennifer learned most executives were making around $400,000 a year and the CEO was making $865,000. Based on its 990 filing, in 2021 IBHS spent 67% of their revenue on salaries and in 2022 46%. “These people are making a lot of money off the backs of homeowners,” she said.
Wildfireprepared states that it saves insurance companies money by putting it on the homeowner to prepare a “DIY” home checklist of steps to meet the requirements for a “designation certificate,” including homeowners sending in a $125 nonrefundable fee and taking their own pictures of their work on the property.
“We do not attempt to inspect/document every deficiency to tell a homeowner what to do, such as a full-service inspection,” the website states. “The program is an owner driven process, so it is the homeowner’s responsibility to follow the How-To Checklist and complete the work to their house to achieve a designation certificate.”
Once the work is done, a third-party “evaluator” will be sent out by the Insurance Institute typically within 30 days—but that timing is not guaranteed. Then a homeowner waits up to three weeks for either a certificate via email or 90 days to complete yet more work. Every year, homeowners must pay for another certificate and inspection if they don’t document the work themselves. After three years, recertification is needed.
“It seems to me that Wildfireprepared.org has created a new and profitable revenue stream for themselves and I am guessing Farmers executives are still making a ton of money too,” said Jennifer. “While fire protection is an important issue to educate homeowners on, there are better — more customer-centered — choices that could have been implemented. What seems to be happening here is about corporate greed and Californians are being screwed because of it.”
Jennifer’s Farmers agent told her while Farmers is the first to do this, the rest of the big insurance companies are to follow. Jennifer reached out to the Governor’s office and spoke to his Legislative Affairs Secretary who listened to her concerns. But Jennifer never heard back regarding any action taken. She also reached out to the Insurance Commissioner’s office but no one contacted her back.
Farmers would not even give her an estimated cost for her home insurance policy renewal if she were to get her certification so she could determine if all these changes and costs to her property even made financial sense. “What if Farmers raises my already high rates from $10,000 to $20,000 per year?” she said.
Jennifer sent her pictures into Wildfireprepared, which did not respond within the 30-day timeframe its website promises. With the clock ticking on her Farmers policy expiration date, she called her agent who finally reached Wildfireprepared and Wildfireprepared contacted Jennifer to do a video walkthrough of Jennifer’s property.
Jennifer learned that Farmers does not provide Wildfireprepared with policy expiration dates, nor does Wildfireprepared ask about policy expiration dates in their application—a serious oversight by these organizations that is causing homeowners even more unnecessary stress.
Days before her policy expired, Jennifer had her video inspection and her certificate was immediately granted and emailed to her. She sent the certificate to her Farmers agent and her Farmers home insurance policy was renewed. About a week later, Wildfireprepared sent an inspector to do an onsite visit to verify the walkthrough.
It wasn’t until Jennifer received her email renewal that she learned her Farmers premium jumped to over $18,000–more than double her previous year’s rate.
Jennifer worked with her Farmers agent to figure out the best balance of deductible and premium. She increased her deductible for fire and theft and increased her water damage deductible even higher than for fire, which lowered her rate to around $16,600. Her farmers agent also recommended that Jennifer install a whole home water shut off valve, giving Jennifer a substantial discount that brought her yearly policy down to under $15,000.
