Pinellas family left on hook for flood damage question disclosure form

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Our Better Call Behnken investigation has discovered the federal government can deny your flood insurance claim, even when you did everything right.

Now, new homeowners left of on the hook for flood damage are questioning the disclosure form the sellers provided them. This is after their flood claim was denied because of the previous homeowner’s claim.

A Pinellas County family thought they were protected with a $8,600 flood policy through the program, which is administered through FEMA, but after their home was flooded by Tropical Storm Debby, their claim was denied.

The family said FEMA cited prior loss on the property that the previous homeowner collected on but did not repair.

Homeowner Danielle Jensen said she feels she was sold a worthless policy.

“He told me that he had received the prior loss report,” Jensen said, explaining what her insurance adjuster told her. “He looked at it, and it was the worst case scenario and that from the prior loss report, from the pictures, it was clear that the house was in the exact same state when he viewed it.”

Jensen bought the St. Petersburg home from a California-based investment company, AJX Homes FL, LLC, in June. Public records show AJX bought the home in October 2023, two months before their flood claim.

On the disclosure form, the seller did check “yes” to whether water intrusion affected the property but did not document the damage or say that there was an insurance payout or that the damage was un repaired.

In fact, that “yes” is the only “yes” on the form for every single other question, including “have you ever had any claims filed against your homeowner’s insurance policy?” the investor representative checked “I don’t know.”

Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken reached out to the seller and to their local real estate agent about this but have not heard back.

Chris Greene, of the Flood Insurance Guru, tells me he has seen this happen before. He says the new disclosure form will help because it asks specific flood claim questions but he says FEMA should do more to protect home buyers.

“I think they should prove it because what’s stopping people from just taking the money, running and selling a house and a situation like this happening. This should not have a negative impact on the new homeowner. They had not impact. They didn’t know what they did with it.”

A new state law goes into effect Oct. 1 that will require the seller disclose whether they have filed a flood claim and whether they have received federal assistance for flood damage to the property.

Jensen’s family is on their own, forking over tens of thousands of dollars to repair their home, and now they won’t get reimbursed.

“Even down to the appliances that have the same serial number from the prior loss claim,” she said.

What’s happening to Jensen’s family could happen to anyone buying a national flood policy.
There was no public record to check to see if there was prior damage that wasn’t repaired.

Still, the family was sold the expensive policy.

“It’s worthless, unless we flood again after we’ve made all these repairs at which point we could use it because it’s all new materials,” she said, noting she would not have bought the property had she known about the unrepaired damage or FEMA’s policy.

Jensen said FEMA told her they don’t require policy holders prove they made the repairs.
That leaves her questioning why she was sold this policy in the first place.

FEMA confirmed to Better Call Behnken that it does not require policy holders prove they made repairs, and new homeowners can’t check to make sure they did.

FEMA has issued over 1.7 million NFIP policies in Florida, with more than $400 billion in total coverage. There’s no way to know how many of those policyholders would be denied damages because of unrepaired prior loss claims, just like Jensen’s.

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