What the Texas Department of Insurance Roof Age Clarification Means for Texas Homeowners

Texas · Home insurance · September 29, 2026

On September 29, 2026, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) said insurers cannot decline or refuse to renew a home policy simply because a house or its roof is old. That sentence is a clarification of a rule already on the books, 28 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §21.1006. It is not a new ban, and it does not change how a hail claim is paid. Homeowners who heard “roof age is banned” sometimes jumped to the wrong conclusion that every older roof must now be written at the old premium and settled at full replacement cost. That is more than the notice says. Actual cash value is a settlement term that describes how depreciation can reduce a claim payment. It is not part of this notice, and mixing the two topics is how homeowners end up confused about what the department actually said.

This article stays close to the documents: the September 29 news release, the proposed amendments issued the same day, the governor’s August 24 directive, and the department’s September 14 response. Where those papers are silent, this page stays silent rather than inventing a birthday cutoff, a fixed percent discount, or a statewide move to actual cash value.

What TDI actually published

The news release is titled “Texas homeowners protected from being denied insurance based on roof age.” The Texas Department of Insurance said it is clarifying its rule. Under that rule, a company may base a decision on the physical condition of the home or of a component, including roofing, wiring, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, or siding. The company may not deny coverage or refuse to renew simply because the house or those materials are older. Age is a number of years on a calendar. Condition is what an inspector can see and describe—curling shingles, soft decking, failed flashing, or active leaks. Keeping those two ideas separate is the whole point of the clarification.

Insurance Commissioner Amanda Crawford is quoted in the release: “Texans deserve fair access to home insurance, no matter the age of their home. By strengthening clarity and accountability, we’re building a more transparent insurance market that supports Texans.” The quote is about access and clarity. It is not a promise that every older roof will be written at the same price, or that every claim will settle at replacement cost. Access means a carrier cannot use age alone as the door slam. Price, deductibles, and settlement method are still decided elsewhere on the form and in the rating plan.

The same day, the Texas Department of Insurance proposed amendments to 28 TAC §21.1006. The proposal says the amendments clarify the existing prohibition against refusing to write or renew residential property insurance because of the property’s age. It also says the amendments do not change the rule’s meaning or application. Written comments are due by 5:00 p.m. central time on November 9, 2026. The commissioner will take comments at a hearing under Docket No. 2874 at 2:00 p.m. central time on November 3, 2026, in person at the Barbara Jordan State Office Building in Austin and remotely. Details for the remote hearing are to be posted on the department’s site. If you plan to comment, use those official dates and channels rather than a social-media summary.

The rule that was already there

“Residential property insurance,” in this section, means insurance against loss to real or tangible personal property at a fixed location in a homeowners policy or a residential fire and allied lines policy. It is the ordinary home and dwelling fire coverages Texans shop for, not a commercial package and not a flood policy. The proposed text says an insurer may not decline to write that coverage based on the age of the property, or based on the age of any individual component or material, including wiring, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, siding, and roofing. In plain language, the age of the house and the age of the roof are both off-limits as stand-alone reasons to walk away from the risk. A carrier that wants to decline still needs a condition story the rule allows, not a birthday alone.

The department’s explanation of the proposal is specific about why the wording is changing. The existing rule already reached components by listing examples. Companies were still treating the age of a roof, or of wiring or plumbing, as if that age were a separate reason to walk away from a risk they did not want. The Texas Department of Insurance’s September 14, 2026 response to the governor says companies might use the age of a component as a stand-in for condition, and that this circumvents the rule against using the age of the property. In other words, calling a roof “too old” without describing its condition was becoming a workaround. The proposal moves those examples into their own paragraph and labels them “components or materials,” and it adds siding to the list so the workaround is harder to argue. The department says insurers already in compliance will not have to make a new filing because of these amendments. That filing note is about regulatory paperwork, not about how your claim will be paid.

The section also says an insurer may not decline to write residential property insurance based on a minimum value of the property. That value sentence is part of the same rule. It is not a roof rule, and this article will not turn it into one. Keep roof-age talk and minimum-value talk on separate lines when you read a denial letter.

Age is not condition, and age can still affect price

The proposed subsection (d) keeps two exceptions, and both are easy to misread if you only skim headlines. A company may still decline to write coverage based on the physical condition of the property or of a component or material. And the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (often called the coastal wind pool) may still require different building-code standards based on the date a structure was built, repaired, or added to, under Insurance Code Chapter 2210. That coastal association writes wind and hail coverage in parts of the Texas coast where private markets are thin. A construction date used for a coastal wind-pool building code is not the same thing as a carrier dropping a homeowners policy because a roof turned a certain age. This article will not invent a birthday cutoff. The rule does not name one, and neither will we.

Condition means what an inspection can see: curling or missing shingles, a deck that is soft, failed flashing, active leaks, or a roof that is already coming apart. Age means a number of years. A letter that cites only the roof’s age is an age reason. A letter that describes failed material, with the inspection behind it, is a condition reason. If the letter is vague, ask for the inspection photos and the written findings so you can tell which bucket you are in. The rule draws that line carefully. It does not promise that every old roof will be written, and it does not force a company to ignore a roof that is already failing. Homeowners who repair documented problems before they shop often get cleaner quotes than those who argue age while the decking is soft.

The Texas Department of Insurance’s consumer page on auto and home underwriting says the other half out loud. Companies can’t turn you down just because of your home’s age or value, but they can charge you more. That second half is the part many social posts leave out. The September 29 clarification does not freeze the premium at last year’s number. A carrier can still rate the house using age along with other factors such as location, claims history, and construction. What it cannot do, under §21.1006, is use age alone as the reason to decline the application or to refuse renewal. Price and access are related conversations, but they are not the same sentence in the rule, and treating them as identical leads people to expect a result the rule never promised.

That underwriting page also says that after a policy is issued, a company has 60 days to do more underwriting research, and that it could cancel the policy or change the premium based on what it finds. If it cancels, it must give 10 days’ notice. Those two numbers are about a new policy’s underwriting window. They are not a notice period for nonrenewal at the end of a term. The department’s response to the governor says the Legislature could consider requiring 60 days’ notice of the renewal premium. “Could consider” means that notice period is not the current rule this article is explaining. Do not treat it as one, and do not cite it to a carrier as if it were already binding law.

Actual cash value is not this rule

Nothing in the September 29 release, the proposed amendment, or the governor’s August 24 directive switches roofs from replacement cost to actual cash value. A claim that more companies are moving older roofs to actual cash value is not a figure in those documents. This article will not repeat it as a fact, even when the rumor is popular on social media. If your renewal changed how the roof settles, that change lives on the declarations page and in the form language—not in the age-access rule. Read the roof settlement line the way you would read a deductible change: as a coverage term you can accept, shop against, or ask an agent to explain in plain English.

The settlement method is still a sentence on the form, and it is a different sentence from the underwriting rule. The Texas Department of Insurance’s homeowners guide says policies provide either replacement cost or actual cash value. Replacement cost pays to repair or replace at current prices. Actual cash value pays replacement cost minus depreciation. Depreciation is the loss of value from wear and age. Understanding that difference helps you read a claim estimate, but it does not rewrite §21.1006.

The department’s own example, not a quote from Freedom Insurance Group: a roof bought 10 years ago, with a current price of $10,000 for a new roof. On a replacement-cost policy, after a $2,000 deductible, the company pays $8,000. On actual cash value, the Texas Department of Insurance says that same roof might be worth $7,000. After the $2,000 deductible, the company pays $5,000, and the owner pays the rest. The department’s comparison of out-of-pocket cost in that example is $5,000 on actual cash value and $2,000 on replacement cost. The word “might” is the department’s. It is an illustration of depreciation, not a schedule for every roof in Texas, and not a guarantee of those exact dollars on your house. Use the example to understand the math, then read your own form and estimate for the numbers that apply to you.

A company can still offer, at renewal, a form that settles the roof at actual cash value, or an endorsement that limits cosmetic hail, or a percentage hail deductible. Those are coverage terms you can accept, negotiate about, or shop against. Agreeing to them is not the same thing as being nonrenewed for age. Refusing the new terms and then having nowhere to go is a shopping problem. It is not, by itself, proof the carrier violated §21.1006. Read the renewal declarations carefully, line by line, before the old term ends. If the roof settlement changed, the page will say so. If the only stated reason for a nonrenewal is the roof’s age, that is the rule’s subject, and the condition findings should be in the letter rather than implied in a marketing slogan.

A percentage hail deductible is still a percent of the dwelling limit, Coverage A, not a percent of the roofing invoice. Example, not a quote: 2 percent of a $450,000 dwelling limit is $9,000. That deductible applies before either replacement cost or actual cash value math. The age rule does not shrink it. A new roof does not shrink it either. Knowing the deductible base keeps a hail estimate from surprising you after the storm.

What the August 24 directive asked for, and what is not finished

Governor Greg Abbott’s August 24, 2026 press release, from Austin, directed the Texas Department of Insurance to take several steps aimed at making property insurance more workable for homeowners. Two of them are easy to mix together in a single conversation with an agent or a neighbor. One was to prohibit insurers from refusing to write or renew residential property insurance based on the age of the property, including components such as the roof. That is the instruction behind the September 29 clarification. The other was to require insurers to include a home’s FORTIFIED roof status in their rate-setting calculation so premiums could come down. FORTIFIED is a branded construction standard for stronger roofs in wind and hail country; it is not the same topic as the age-access rule, and treating them as one announcement creates false expectations about discounts that are not finished yet.

FORTIFIED is a construction standard for wind and hail resistance. It is not a coverage, and it is not an age. Building to that standard can change how a roof performs in a storm; it does not, by itself, rewrite underwriting access under §21.1006. The department’s September 14 response says Texas law requires price to relate to the risk of the property, and that the department plans to issue a bulletin emphasizing that companies should offer premium discounts for wind, hail, or wildfire mitigation. “Plans to issue” is not the same sentence as “credits are now required and in force.” This article will not say a FORTIFIED roof already produces a set percent off. An earlier Freedom piece on storm-hardened homes is the place for that program. It is not this rule, and it is not a substitute for reading your renewal declarations.

The same August directive also told the Texas Department of Insurance to address price optimization, which is using personal data unrelated to risk to set a price. The department’s September 14 response says it issued a bulletin on September 2, 2026, reminding companies that home and auto rates have to reflect risk or expense, not a sales or retention target. That bulletin is real. It is not a roof-age rule, and it does not change a deductible. Keep price-optimization news separate from the age clarification when you talk with an agent or a carrier.

If a letter arrives

A nonrenewal lets the current term run out. A cancellation ends the policy early. Those two words are not interchangeable, and carriers use them for different reasons and with different notice rules. Do not cancel the policy you have until another policy is bound. A gap is a lapse. Shopping quotes is not a lapse, as long as the old policy stays in force until the new one starts. That distinction matters for claims and for how carriers look at your history when you apply somewhere else.

Ask for the reason in writing. Verbal summaries are easy to misremember when you are upset. If the reason is only age, §21.1006 is the rule to point to, and the September 29 release is the agency’s plain-language version of it. If the reason is condition, ask for the inspection. A worn but intact roof and a roof that is failing are not the same finding, and photos help an agent shop the risk honestly. A company that will write the house only at actual cash value has not necessarily declined it. Compare that offer with a replacement-cost offer from another company before you treat it as a denial, and keep copies of every letter and estimate in one folder so you are not reconstructing the story from memory later.

The Texas Department of Insurance’s Help Line, printed on the September 29 release, is 800-252-3439. Save that number with your policy papers. The department can ask a company to answer a complaint. It does not pay the difference because you disagree with a settlement, and it does not rebuild the roof for you. Work the claim, or the nonrenewal, in writing first so there is a clear record. Insurance Code Chapter 542 is the prompt-payment statute for claims. This article will not quote a day count from that chapter, because claim timing rules are a separate topic from underwriting access under §21.1006.

The practical order is the declarations page, then the reason in the letter, then the form’s roof settlement, then a quote that matches those limits and deductibles. Jumping straight to anger about “age bans” without reading those four pieces is how people miss a real condition finding or a real settlement change. The age rule protects access. It does not rebuild the roof, pick the roofer, or promise the old premium. An independent agent can help you line up those documents and shop carriers that will look at the house as it stands today, with photos and inspection notes in hand when condition is the real issue.

Related reading on this site

Renewal paperwork, before you assume the new term matches the old one: what to check on a Texas home renewal. Replacement cost and actual cash value, in more detail: replacement cost versus actual cash value. Hail, which is still a covered peril subject to the hail deductible: hail season in Texas. How a lapse differs from shopping: cancellations, nonrenewals, and lapses. Price, without a fake percent off: what can change a home premium. The home policy itself: Texas homeowners insurance. Storm-hardening, which is separate from §21.1006: discounts for storm-hardened homes. What a complaint can and cannot do: insurance rights in Texas.