In 2021, 19-year-old Orlando student Miya Marcano was tragically killed in her apartment by a 27-year-old maintenance employee with access to her apartment complex’s master key fob. In response to this tragedy and a growing trend of violence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 898, known as “Miya’s Law,” at the end of June 2022. The new law took effect July 1, 2022, and seeks to strengthen renter safety measures.
In this podcast episode, we discuss potential issues to watch for and what agents need to know before placing a habitational business in Florida.
Featuring:
Visit REDYIndex.com for critical pricing analysis and a snapshot of the marketplace.
Do you want to take your career to the next level? Join #TeamCRC to get access to best-in-class tools, data, exclusive programs, and more! Send your resume to resumes@crcgroup.com today!
In 2021, 19-year-old Orlando student Miya Marcano was tragically killed in her apartment by a 27-year-old maintenance employee with access to her apartment complex’s master key fob. In response to this tragedy and a growing trend of violence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 898, known as “Miya’s Law,” at the end of June 2022. The new law took effect July 1, 2022, and seeks to strengthen renter safety measures.
In this podcast episode, we discuss potential issues to watch for and what agents need to know before placing a habitational business in Florida.
Featuring:
Visit REDYIndex.com for critical pricing analysis and a snapshot of the marketplace.
Do you want to take your career to the next level? Join #TeamCRC to get access to best-in-class tools, data, exclusive programs, and more! Send your resume to resumes@crcgroup.com today!
00:00:00:18 - 00:00:22:25
Dan Wentz
There's been a significant law change in Florida that anybody who writes habitation or should know about and pay attention to. Today we talk about Mayas law. What it means for insurance, and what you should know as you write habitation in Florida. We're joined by Corey Freedman, who's a broker from CRC Group's Boca Raton office and he specializes in real estate and habitation risks.
00:00:22:28 - 00:00:30:00
Dan Wentz
He's going to help us navigate Mayas lore. Next, right here, this is the Placing You first podcast from CRC Group.
00:00:30:03 - 00:00:32:05
Speaker 2
This podcast features news and.
00:00:32:05 - 00:00:32:26
Dan Wentz
Insights from.
00:00:32:26 - 00:00:36:06
Speaker 2
A vast knowledge base of 4300 plus associates.
00:00:36:19 - 00:00:39:27
Speaker 3
Over $34 billion of premium annual.
00:00:39:28 - 00:00:43:16
Speaker 4
Plus, we give you the latest information on what's happening at CRC.
00:00:43:19 - 00:00:48:09
Speaker 3
This this this is the placing you first podcast and now.
00:00:48:09 - 00:01:15:26
Speaker 2
Here's the host of the podcast. Dan what's the death of a 19 year old from Florida has led to a new law. Nia Marcano disappeared in September 2021. She missed a flight to see her family, which prompted them to report her missing. Police identified one person of interest in Mia's disappearance, 27 year old Armando Manuel Caballero, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex where Mia also worked and lived.
00:01:16:07 - 00:01:32:07
Speaker 2
Mia's remains were found a week later. Authorities believe Armando Caballero entered me as apartment using a master key from the apartment complex before her disappearance. A lawsuit from Mia's family maintains the apartment complex was negligent.
00:01:32:18 - 00:01:44:05
Speaker 3
We believe that they put Mia's life in danger by the mere fact that they hired this guy. I mean, just a basic background check to show that this guy had some hits on his records.
00:01:44:18 - 00:02:08:17
Speaker 2
Now, Mia's law has unanimously passed in the Florida Senate. The bill will require landlords to get a background check on all apartment complex employees. Those with a violent criminal history and convicted sex offenders will not be eligible for higher landlords will also have to give tenants a 24 hour notice before entering their apartments, as well as keep a log of anyone who accesses Master.
00:02:09:02 - 00:02:17:22
Dan Wentz
Buy with Corey Friedman today to talk about Maya's law. I think that was a pretty good summary right there. What do you think, Cory? They miss anything?
00:02:20:00 - 00:02:39:08
Dan Wentz
Yeah, pretty eye opening. And it's it's a different world from when I lived in apartments. I own my own home now, but I can't imagine someone just walking into my apartment or having access to my apartment. You never thought that anybody would ever do that? It's amazing that we made it to 2022 before we had any issues with this happening.
00:02:39:11 - 00:02:54:09
Dan Wentz
So I can't believe this wasn't a law before, but but now it is definitely a law and it's got some insurance implications. Right. What do you think, Corey, is this is this going to cause some issues or change things in the insurance world?
00:02:54:17 - 00:03:18:15
Corey Friedman
So it's very, very new. Dan, you know, this law was just was just put into into law this past July 2022. So I don't believe that it's truly resonated or sunk in with the with the insurance marketplace yet. This is, like I said, very new the topic. It was originally breached to us by an insurance company. So the insurance companies are aware of it.
00:03:19:09 - 00:03:38:18
Corey Friedman
We've yet to see any real action on their part as to whether they're going to adopt or draft exclusions, anything that may have ultimate, you know, insurance implications. But it's certainly something which is the reason why we drafted the article that we want to get out there people to understand and be aware of.
00:03:40:06 - 00:03:56:27
Dan Wentz
Yeah. So what are what are the potential insurance implications? I know that you're you know, we're not real sure if the exclusions are coming or what the reaction from the carriers is going to be for this. But what are how would this change things? Assume that, you know, things are going to change. Well.
00:03:57:09 - 00:04:27:16
Corey Friedman
We know that we're in a marketplace in Florida where where companies are looking for best in class, insured, apartment complex operators and so will we believe that, you know, as part of the underwriting process. Underwriters and carriers, as they become aware of this newly adopted law that they'll be asking the questions and want to see, you know, a written, you know, handbook, if you will, or certain measures being taken by the insurer to, you know, operate in and compliance of this new law.
00:04:27:26 - 00:04:50:24
Corey Friedman
And ultimately, the people that don't will either be not offered best in class insurance terms are non renewed. You know, as insurance companies, like I said, look, to insure the best of the best, the ones that are not following the rules will be will left on the sideline with possible exclusions, warranties on their policies. Higher premiums, higher deductibles.
00:04:51:12 - 00:04:52:07
Corey Friedman
TBD, really?
00:04:52:15 - 00:05:12:13
Dan Wentz
What about those companies that are just going to plead ignorance to this? Right. They didn't know that this law was coming, that this was a thing. They didn't change any of their procedures. Is this something that they're going to be able to get exempted from or do they need to get on top of this right away?
00:05:12:16 - 00:05:37:01
Corey Friedman
Well, unfortunately, for an insurance companies write negligence results in paid claims. The only way that I could see a carrier being able to deny a claim for noncompliance with this law would be to draft an exclusion and have that, you know, bolted on to the policy. So, again, it's these insurance companies who ultimately end up paying the price for what you referred to as negligence.
00:05:37:03 - 00:05:56:14
Corey Friedman
So we we had asked some of our internal resources, you know, how are the insurance supposed to be made aware of this? Right. I mean, what what also spurred this are the reason for we for the article was we had asked some of our largest retail producers for this class of business, hey, have you ever heard of this?
00:05:56:23 - 00:06:20:12
Corey Friedman
And the answer unequivocally was no. And so we're saying, hey, if the agents don't know, then the insured probably don't. Right. And so, unfortunately, I'm not in law. I don't know what measures are put in place that make apartment complex owners brought up to speed on this type of stuff. You know, when new laws are created, this was just basically dropped and it's like, hey, we got a new law.
00:06:20:25 - 00:06:40:20
Corey Friedman
So if this type of stuff is happening off, then what you know, from the state level, what is bestowed upon the insurers to do have to comply with these type of changes if the retail agents aren't aware of this. Right. So why don't we start asking questions about our the accounts that we have on our desks are saying, hey, are they compliant with Meyers law?
00:06:41:01 - 00:06:51:04
Corey Friedman
And they state what's my is law, right. And that's where we come and become educators in this regard. Right. So that's the gist of where we're at right now with this with this newly created for.
00:06:51:09 - 00:07:08:20
Dan Wentz
The first time, they hear about it maybe when they have to work with an exclusion or when there's a lawsuit, when people start getting sued, you know, for not keeping up with this and it really pretty eye opening. Yeah. Seems like the yeah it seems like the kind of thing that people are going to want to implement. Right.
00:07:08:22 - 00:07:30:03
Dan Wentz
But you've got to know about it first and you make some great points there about people not, you know, how do they actually get notified that they should do this? And there's also gray areas with this. Right. So if if we have an insured way, you know, what? What do you think their best course of action is? Maybe they start with getting educated first on Maya's law.
00:07:30:10 - 00:07:49:29
Corey Friedman
Well, certainly it all starts with education and then certainly implementation. I think part of the law requires, you know, written written logs, as far as I think as it pertains to master keys, I still believe you mentioned gray area. I still believe as part of the law there is some gray area with regard to like key fobs, master key fobs.
00:07:49:29 - 00:08:14:18
Corey Friedman
I think the article cited that there was still some unfinished work in that regard. But, you know, as part of the inspection process, as part of the the procurement of insurance, the ones that are aware of this law and I'm upholding themselves to a higher standard are going to make themselves the most visible to the insurance companies to make them a client that they want to be partnered with.
00:08:14:19 - 00:08:24:27
Corey Friedman
Right. And I think that is the key focus here. If you plead negligence, if you say we're unaware, we don't know. But what do you got for us? I mean, I think you're going to become less attractive in a very hard market.
00:08:24:27 - 00:08:43:20
Dan Wentz
Yeah. And that's the last thing you want right now, right? Your people are trying to get that better pricing. So they need to know about Maya's law and especially when it comes up. This, you know, this round of renewals is going to be probably tough for those people in Florida. Right, because, you know, we've got so much change going on with regards to this law.
00:08:43:20 - 00:08:53:24
Dan Wentz
If you're right, inhabitation or what do you think a retail agent can do or what? You know, what is their best path forward when it comes to navigating Maya's law for anybody.
00:08:53:24 - 00:09:12:18
Corey Friedman
Out there that's watching this, that that, you know, has clients that are in this space, I think it would be a great opportunity for them to reach out, to share with them the news about this newly adopted law, to say, hey, this is a compliance issue that we have to deal with. I've also yet to see it on a supplemental.
00:09:13:19 - 00:09:37:24
Corey Friedman
You know, are they compliant? If you recall, there's the I believe it's the Virginia Graham Baker Law that was adopted after a 2000 to loss of a young child, seven year old child who was stuck inside a pool hot tub drain. Right. And as a result of that, that law, that loss pool drains and covers have to be upheld to a certain standard.
00:09:37:24 - 00:10:07:02
Corey Friedman
So insurance is an adopt is an adaptive, you know, industry. We also didn't use to exclude terrorism from insurance company policies. Right. So as terrible things happen, the industry reacts and takes action. Right. And so what can we do is we can educate, we can make sure that our insurers are compliant with these laws. Like I said several times before, you know, hold themselves to a higher standard not to plead ignorance and make themselves marketable.
00:10:07:02 - 00:10:21:07
Dan Wentz
It sounds like if I'm a retail agent, the first thing I need to do is pull up my list of accounts when they're renewing and start calling people and being like, Hey, just let you know something's different. This year. Meyers Law, you know, you need to look into it. We need to start, you know, we need to do this and this and this.
00:10:22:28 - 00:10:26:12
Dan Wentz
So, yeah, getting ahead of it probably is a big deal.
00:10:26:21 - 00:10:50:16
Corey Friedman
Look, I think any time you have an opportunity to pass along news other than an insurance increase, premium increase or a change in your, you know, deductible is an opportunity to show your value. And, you know, added value is from an education standpoint and things they can do to, you know, mitigate future claims. Right. And ultimately make themselves more uninsurable as insurance have losses.
00:10:50:16 - 00:11:05:25
Corey Friedman
Right. You know, next year, renewal becomes harder for us to market them so it makes them more attractive. So anything an insured can do from a risk management standpoint, right. To prevent future losses, which be of course, complying with something like a mine's law.
00:11:05:25 - 00:11:20:15
Dan Wentz
And I think that if I was an insurance agent on the flip side and I didn't educate my clients, my insurance about this, I would I would probably no longer be their agent. Right. Maybe a no inside out no end situation there. Yeah.
00:11:20:15 - 00:11:20:23
Corey Friedman
Yeah.
00:11:21:24 - 00:11:37:29
Dan Wentz
We can do in this situation. So as you know, it's your best, best thing. Well, we do have a lot of information up on the website about this CRC group dot com. If you look for the tools and Intel section, this is part of the intel we we spread out there to help you out and to help you with your clients.
00:11:38:27 - 00:11:42:00
Dan Wentz
Corey, did we miss anything today? No, I think that's really good.
00:11:42:00 - 00:12:01:07
Corey Friedman
You know, this is this is evolving. This is going to be a question that is is going to come up. Like I said from the very beginning, this was something that was brought up by an insurance company underwriter who is very present in our state in the state of Florida in this space. And so if they're asking the questions, that means action will take place going forward.
00:12:01:15 - 00:12:15:10
Corey Friedman
And what that looks like in the near future, we don't know yet. But in the meantime, education is is key here. You know, we will we certainly wouldn't want to see anything ever happen similar to this ever again, for sure.
00:12:15:14 - 00:12:33:26
Dan Wentz
Absolutely. And the insurance company, I mean, just by instituting the you know, the exclusions, the questions, that kind of stuff, they're going to make sure that apartment complexes are following suit and making the changes that they need to make to make sure this doesn't happen. Well, Corey, great conversation and I really appreciate you joining us today on the podcast.