SOUTHWEST FLORIDA – Florida’s largest home insurance company is requiring thousands of its customers to get random home inspections.

As state run Citizens insurance company’s rates continue to climb, many people have reached out to NBC2 concerned that a new home inspection could send rates even higher.

Policy holders report Citizens calling them and ordering a home inspection, and in some cases, the homeowner may have just recently had one.

The calls are catching many people by surprise, but they don’t have a choice, as the company is requiring the inspections.

Marylou Simon has a Citizens policy and said she received a call out of the blue from the company, and although she explained she had one just six months ago, she said it didn’t matter.

Erika Valentino is also with Citizens and received the same call requiring the inspection.

“They called me on a Tuesday and came on a Wednesday.  I asked them why they’re doing this and they said they’re telling us all to re-inspect,” Valentino said.

Michael Peltier is a spokesman for Citizen and confirmed on Thanksgiving Day that the inspection requests are legit.

“They wanted us to go out and get a more accurate picture of the policies that we cover,” Peltier said.

Citizens now covers 1.4 million policies statewide and is working to shed many of them to keep the company solvent.

Data obtained by NBC2 shows that in 2019, Citizens inspected just 2200 of the homes it insures.

By the end of this year 2023, they plan to have inspected 300,000 properties.

“This is a really good chance for us to get a handle on the policies we have,” Peltier stressed.

He pointed out these inspections themselves don’t cost the homeowner.

“These are getting confused with four point inspections or wind mitigation inspections that are paid for by the policy holder,” Peltier noted.

However many homeowners are concerned that a new inspection could cause their rates to go up.

“In the cases where we are seeing premium adjustments we’re seeing about 42% of those actually going down,” Peltier responded.

The other 58% are seeing increases or rates stay the same.  Insurance experts point out that an updated home inspection can ultimately find problems that could save homeowners in the longrun.

Marylou Simon said she expected her rates to increase by 20%.

“I just don’t have that in my budget right now,” Simon said.

Erika Valentino said she will sit back and wait and see what happens with her rates following the home inspection.

Anyone who sees an increase is advised to shop around as more companies are beginning to open up in Florida.