Wayne Goodwin, the North Carolina insurance commissioner, has ordered a decrease in the landlord insurance property rates by 7.3 percent, at the same time that a request by the industry to increase the rates for extended insurance coverage by 36.1 percent was denied.
The rates generally fluctuate from part of the state to the next. The insurance industry group called the North Carolina Rate Bureau had been seeking to increase premiums paid by policyholders the area of Fayetteville by 25 percent for non owner-occupied properties. Some of the affected policyholders with rental homes and investment properties said that this would force them to increase the rent paid by their tenants.
According to an official from the Rate Bureau, across the state, the rate increase would have been an average of approximately $475 per year, at 20.9 percent.
The original filing for the rate changes was made back in January 2011. The hearing officer was Goodwin, who had been elected to his position, and who heard the evidence and testimony from the Department of Insurance and the Rate Bureau.
Goodwin explained that after having heard the cases from both sides, he determined that increasing the insurance rates for extended coverage for these properties was not justified. He said that he did not give the request his approval because the result would have been “excessive and unfairly discriminatory rates. Additionally, dwelling policyholders will have the benefit of decreased fire rates.”
