Nonrenewal, cancellation, declination

Dropped by your homeowners insurance. Here is what actually happened, and what to do next.

The letter feels like a verdict on your home. It usually is not. In wildfire states, most nonrenewals are scoring decisions: a third-party model read aerial imagery of your parcel, produced a number, and the number crossed a line. Nobody walked your property. Nobody asked you for evidence.

Last reviewed August 1, 2026

First, the question everyone asks: can they even do that?

Yes. In every state, an insurer can decline to renew a policy when the term ends, subject to notice requirements that vary by state. A nonrenewal is not a cancellation mid-term, which is much more restricted. It is the company deciding not to offer you a next term.

What has changed in the last few years is not whether they can, but what they owe you when they do. A growing set of states requires a written reason. Two states go further and give you a formal right to contest the wildfire risk score behind the decision. Our state-by-state tracker maps all of it.

The two doors in front of you

Door one: ask for reconsideration

Available if you are in California or Colorado, where the law gives you a formal path to contest the wildfire risk score itself, on a clock: the insurer has 10 days to acknowledge your appeal and 30 days to decide it. It works on evidence, which means it works best if you can document the condition of your property and the mitigation work you have done.

Door two: shop the market

Available everywhere, and usually the faster path. Independent agents place hard-to-write homes every week. The applicant who walks in with a dated, verifiable record of the home's condition and mitigation is a different conversation than the applicant with nothing. Some homes land in a FAIR Plan or surplus lines market first and move back to the standard market later.

Neither door comes with a promised outcome. Both doors go better with evidence in hand.

Your state changes the playbook

The reason letter, the deadlines, and whether an appeal exists at all are state questions. Three states have their own pages:

CaliforniaThe oldest score appeal right in the country, since October 2022, plus disclosure deadlines before nonrenewal. ColoradoHB25-1182, effective July 1, 2026: written notice at nonrenewal and a statutory right to appeal the score. TexasNo score appeal, but since January 1, 2026 the written reason arrives automatically under HB 2067.

Everywhere else: the tracker covers ten more states and what applies when nothing specific does.

What to do this week

1. Read the letter for the reason Depending on your state, the reason may be stated automatically, or you may have to request it in writing. The reason determines which door matters. A scoring reason points at reconsideration where that right exists. A condition reason, like a roof, points at fixing and documenting.
2. Note the dates The nonrenewal takes effect on a date in the letter. Everything else works backward from it. Mark it before you do anything else.
3. Document the property as it stands The industry increasingly prices homes from the air. The record that answers it is made at ground level: the roof, the cleared perimeter, the vents, the work the model cannot see. Date-verifiable documentation is useful behind either door, and it is the one step entirely inside your control.
4. Call an independent agent early Not the captive agent for the carrier that dropped you. An independent agent can quote multiple markets at once, and can tell you quickly whether your home is a placement problem or just a paperwork problem.

Where a sealed record fits

Sealed Home Record exists for step three. You walk your property with your phone for about an hour. Every photo is sealed as it is captured, with verified time and location, tamper-evident, and summarized in a certificate with a permanent verification link anyone can check.

It is evidence for a reconsideration request where your state provides one. It is a documented mitigation record to show the next carrier's underwriter. It is proof of the home's condition an independent agent can put in front of multiple markets. It does not stop or reverse a nonrenewal, and nobody honest will promise you that.

Document it while the question is open.

$59 a year founding price until September 1, 2026, locked in for life. $69 a year after. One property, unlimited sealed captures.

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