What is a CLUE report, and why does it matter when buying a Space Coast home?
A CLUE report is a seven-year insurance claim history tied to a property address. On the Space Coast, a home's past claims can affect whether a Brevard County, Florida buyer can get standard coverage at all.
Here is a scenario that plays out in Brevard County more often than buyers expect. The inspection comes back clean. The appraisal lands. Then the insurance quote arrives, and it is either double what was budgeted or the carrier will only write a stripped-down named-peril policy. Nothing about the house changed. What changed is that the carrier pulled the claim history on the address.
Claim history follows the property, not just the owner, and a Space Coast buyer can inherit a prior owner's record. That is worth understanding before you are eight days from closing.
What Exactly Is a CLUE Report?
CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes it as a claims information exchange operated by LexisNexis that collects and reports up to seven years of home insurance and personal property claims to inform pricing and underwriting.
For a homeowners policy, the report includes the date of loss, the type of loss, amounts paid, and the property address. It does not contain credit reports, criminal records, or lawsuits. Insurers use it almost exclusively when underwriting new policies, which is exactly the moment a buyer is standing in.
One caveat worth knowing: not every insurance company subscribes to CLUE. A clean report is useful evidence, not absolute proof that a house has never had a claim.
Can a Space Coast Buyer Pull the CLUE Report on a House?
No. Under federal law, a CLUE report on a property can be accessed by the owner, the insurer, or the lender. A buyer under contract on a Melbourne or Merritt Island home cannot order one on a house they do not yet own.
What you can do is ask the seller to order it and share it during the inspection period. That is a reasonable request, and sellers who have nothing to hide usually say yes. It also cuts both ways: a seller with a clean seven-year record has a real marketing asset and should be pulling it before listing.
Your own insurance agent will run a loss history on the address at quote time regardless. Asking early just means you learn the answer while you still have contract rights, rather than after your inspection period expires.
Does a Prior Owner's Claim Follow the House?
Yes, and this is the part that catches Space Coast relocation buyers off guard. The claim record is keyed to the property address and stays there for seven years, whether or not you were the owner when it happened.
There is also no federal or state law that specifically governs how an insurer may use a prior owner's loss history in deciding whether to write you a policy. If the carrier can show a correlation between that prior loss and the probability of a future loss at that address, it can factor it in.
The second half of the problem is that your own history follows you. Citizens Property Insurance, for example, builds loss history using the applicant's legal name, mailing address, and property addresses, and asks about losses in the last five years at that or any other location. A buyer relocating to Brevard County from out of state brings their record along.
Which Claims Actually Hurt You in Florida?
This is the most useful and most counterintuitive part, and it is spelled out in Citizens Property Insurance's own published underwriting material.
Citizens states that acts of God, which it defines to include hail, lightning, rain, sinkhole, and wind, are not considered when assessing insurability due to prior losses. A hurricane claim on a Brevard County home does not count against loss frequency.
Non-weather water losses are the opposite. Citizens defines those as accidental discharge or overflow from plumbing, heating, air conditioning, a fire sprinkler, or a household appliance, plus constant or repeated seepage, and the presence of humidity, moisture, or vapor. Repeated non-weather water losses inside the underwriting lookback can move a property off the standard HO-3 open-perils form and onto a named-peril DP-1 form. That is a genuine downgrade in coverage, not a rate bump.
| Loss type | Counted against insurability at Citizens? |
|---|---|
| Hurricane and windstorm | No, treated as act of God |
| Hail, lightning, rain | No, treated as act of God |
| Sinkhole | No, treated as act of God |
| Burst supply line or slab leak | Yes, non-weather water |
| Air conditioning overflow | Yes, non-weather water |
| Repeated seepage or moisture | Yes, non-weather water |
For a Space Coast market where every conversation defaults to hurricanes, that is a real reframe. The claim most likely to complicate your closing is a bathroom supply line, not a named storm.
Proof of Repair and Open Claims
Citizens requires proof of repair on new business when a loss at the property address falls inside its lookback and any of several triggers apply, including an open claim, a loss over $20,000, a sinkhole or liability loss, a loss within the past year, or two or more losses of the same type.
Acceptable proof for a non-weather water loss includes photos of the repaired area plus at least one of the following: a four-point inspection dated after the loss showing no deficiencies, paid-in-full receipts, or a finalized permit. An intent to repair or a contractor estimate is expressly not accepted.
An open, unrepaired claim on a Brevard County home under contract is an insurability problem, not a paperwork problem. If you are buying a house where the seller has an open claim, get the repair status and documentation early, in writing.
What Florida Law Does and Does Not Protect
Florida Statute 627.4133 puts real limits on carriers, and several of them matter to Space Coast homeowners.
- Claims resulting from an act of God may not be used as a cause for cancellation or nonrenewal, unless the insurer can show the insured failed to take reasonable action it requested to prevent recurrence
- A single water damage claim may not be the sole cause for cancellation or nonrenewal, subject to the same qualification
- For personal lines residential property, the statute requires at least 120 days written notice of nonrenewal or cancellation, with the reason included. Most articles say 45 days, which is the standard for nonresidential property, not your homeowners policy
Read the limit carefully, though. Section 627.4133 restricts an insurer from cancelling or nonrenewing an existing policy. It does not stop a different carrier from declining to write a home based on its claim history. That is precisely the buyer's exposure.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a CLUE report on my own Space Coast home?
You are entitled to one free copy every twelve months under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the reporting agency must provide it within fifteen days of your request. Requests go through the LexisNexis consumer portal. If an insurer declines to write you based on a consumer report, that is an adverse action and you are entitled to a free copy from the agency named in the notice.
Does a Florida seller have to disclose past insurance claims?
Florida's disclosure duty, established in Johnson v. Davis, requires a seller of a home to disclose known facts materially affecting value that are not readily observable to the buyer. That duty attaches to the underlying condition, not automatically to the existence of a claim record. Florida courts have also held that an as-is contract does not erase the duty. Ask directly, in writing, and verify through insurance underwriting rather than relying on memory.
Who do I call in Florida if I have an insurance problem?
The Florida Department of Financial Services runs an Insurance Consumer Helpline at 1-877-693-5236, Monday through Friday. DFS also publishes a shopping guide and a complaint portal, and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation maintains a rate comparison tool for homeowners coverage by county.
Ask the Question Early
Insurance is the step that quietly kills Space Coast contracts, and claim history is the piece nobody thinks to ask about until it is late. If you are buying in Brevard County, get a quote on the actual address during your inspection period, and ask the seller for the CLUE report while you still have room to negotiate. If you are selling, pull yours before you list so nothing surprises you at the finish line. My partner Nichole and I got your back. Reach out anytime at (321) 212-7676 or www.livingspacecoast.com.
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