HOME CONDITION

Four-point inspections for older homes

A four-point inspection is how an insurer checks the roof, electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling systems of an older house before writing the policy. Florida's Citizens Property Insurance Corporation requires one for homes more than 20 years old. Its form asks for each system's age, type and condition with photos, and active leaks, exposed wiring or, on a roof past 25 years (shingle) or 50 years (hard coverings), under five years of remaining life can stop the application.

Based on Citizens Property Insurance Corporation's published inspection requirements and sample forms, Florida statutes and Consumer Product Safety Commission guidance, checked October 2026. Private insurers set their own underwriting rules. Not insurance advice, and not a substitute for a licensed inspector or electrician.

Why insurers ask for it

A house's age is a weak guide to its risk. A 40-year-old house with a new roof, a recent rewire and updated supply lines may be safer to insure than a 15-year-old house with an original roof and a leaking water heater. The four-point inspection is how an underwriter gets past the year built. Citizens' form says plainly that the information is used only to determine insurability and is not a warranty or assurance of the suitability, fitness or longevity of the systems inspected.

The four systems are the ones most often behind large claims in older houses: the roof against weather, the wiring against fire, the plumbing against water damage, and the heating against both fire and freeze. The Insurance Information Institute reports ISO data showing water damage and freezing claims averaging $15,400 and fire and lightning claims averaging $88,170 over 2019 to 2023. An underwriter reading a four-point report is looking for the conditions that produce those claims.

What the inspector records, system by system

Citizens publishes a sample four-point form (Insp4pt 03 25). It says the specific form is not required, but any other report submitted must include at least the same level of detail. The table summarizes what the form asks for and what tends to draw an underwriter's attention.

Photos are part of the report, not an extra. Citizens' minimum list is each side of the house, each roof slope, the water heater including its relief valve, under-cabinet plumbing and drains, exposed valves, the main electrical panel with its interior door label, the electrical box with the panel cover off, and every hazard or deficiency noted. If the panel's label reads Federal Pacific or Zinsco, our guide to insuring a house with a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel sets out what the form and the CPSC record actually say and when replacing the panel pays off.

Which findings stop a policy

The form does not produce a score. It produces facts that an agent and underwriter then apply to the insurer's rules. Citizens publishes the core of its rule set, and it is a useful model of how strict a last-resort insurer is.

• Hazards first. Citizens says any serious hazards or deficiencies, such as exposed wiring, active leaks or evidence of leaks, should be repaired before an application is submitted.
• Systems in working order. Its note to agents says they may not submit applications for properties with electrical, heating or plumbing systems not in good working order or with existing hazards or deficiencies. Acceptable condition, in the form's words, means each system is working as intended with no visible hazards or deficiencies.
• Single-strand aluminum wiring. The form requires separate documentation of any remediation, certified by a licensed electrician, and lists two repair methods by name: COPALUM crimp connectors and AlumiConn connectors.
• Roof life. Roofs older than 25 years for shingle and similar soft coverings, or 50 years for tile, slate, clay, concrete or metal, need documentation of at least five years of remaining useful life. A roof with less than five years left needs proof of a full replacement before any policy is written.

Private insurers in Florida and elsewhere often follow a similar pattern but set their own thresholds. Ask the agent for the insurer's specific rules before booking the inspection, so the inspector knows what the underwriter will look for.

The aluminum wiring question, explained

Single-strand aluminum branch wiring appears on the form because of a well-documented fire hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says a national survey for the agency found that homes built before 1972 and wired with aluminum were 55 times more likely to have one or more outlet connections reach fire hazard conditions than homes wired with copper. The hazard is at the connections, where deterioration raises resistance and causes overheating, sometimes with no warning signs.

CPSC notes that homes built before 1965 are unlikely to have aluminum branch circuit wiring, and that cables installed between 1965 and the mid-1970s, in new homes, additions and rewired circuits, may contain it. Its publication describes the COPALUM crimp connector repair and the AlumiConn connector method, the same two methods the Citizens form names. Cable marked copper-clad aluminum is a different product and is not covered by those repair recommendations.

For a homeowner, the sequence is straightforward. If the inspection finds single-strand aluminum branch wiring, have a licensed electrician either remediate every connection by an accepted method or rewire, and get written documentation of the work. That documentation goes with the four-point form.

Florida's roof rules: the statute and the insurer's rule side by side

Roof age causes more four-point trouble than any other line, and Florida has both a statute and Citizens' own rule. They answer different questions.

The statute applies to homeowners policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2022. The partial-replacement rule matters for houses that had one slope reroofed after a storm. A roof is only as young, under the statute, as the date its whole surface was last brought to code. Our roof age and material guide explains how roof age also changes settlement terms on a claim, and the hail roof claim guide covers the roof terms that decide a storm payment.

Where Florida's roof statute stops

The statute in the table is narrower than it first looks, and its own text says where. Section 627.7011(6) states that the section does not apply to policies that are not homeowners policies as that term is commonly understood in the insurance industry, and does not apply to mobile home policies. It also says the section does not limit an insurer's ability to reject or nonrenew on the grounds that the structure does not meet underwriting criteria for replacement cost or law and ordinance policies, or for other lawful reasons.

Two groups of owners should read that closely. The first is mobile home owners. Citizens requires a four-point inspection for mobile home applications on properties more than 20 years old, the same as for houses, but the 15-year roof protection in subsection (5) does not reach a mobile home policy. The second is owners of rented or seasonal houses insured on a dwelling form rather than a homeowners form, who should ask whether their policy counts as a homeowners policy under the statute before relying on it. In both cases the inspection still matters; what changes is the legal floor beneath the insurer's decision.

The "other lawful reasons" clause matters for everyone. The roof statute stops an insurer from acting on age alone. It does not stop an insurer from acting on condition, and the four-point form is built to record condition: cupping, granule loss, soft decking, signs of leaks in the attic. A 12-year-old roof with active leaks is protected from a refusal based on its age, but not from a decision based on what the form records about its condition.

Five inspections, five different jobs

Florida homeowners often hear several inspection names in the same conversation with an agent. Citizens' inspections page and its forms separate them, and the differences decide who you hire and what the report can do for you.

• The four-point inspection covers roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC on applications for properties more than 20 years old. It decides insurability. The form says it is not a warranty of the systems' fitness or longevity.
• The roof inspection form (sample RCF-1) is Citizens' separate roof certification for roofs past the 25-year or 50-year thresholds. The four-point form says that its own roof section, with photos of each slope, can take the place of the roof inspection form, so one visit can cover both if the inspector completes that section fully. The roof form's signer list names general, residential, building or roofing contractors, building code inspectors and Florida-licensed home inspectors.
• The wind mitigation inspection documents construction features that may qualify for premium discounts. Citizens' roof form says it does not verify loss mitigation features and points to the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802. Our wind mitigation guide walks through that form.
• The sinkhole inspection is required under certain conditions for owners who want Citizens' optional Sinkhole Loss coverage, and the coverage is not issued until Citizens reviews and approves the results. Citizens says the coverage may not be added after the beginning of the policy term, so anyone who wants it at renewal should tell the agent as early as possible.
• Field surveys, exterior only or interior and exterior, are ordered by Citizens during the life of the policy at no cost to the policyholder and carried out by a third-party survey company, which contacts the owner by phone or mail.

None of the five is a termite inspection. The four-point form looks at roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC, so wood-destroying insects need a separate pest inspection, and the homeowners policy excludes insect damage in any case; our termite damage guide explains the one collapse exception.

The sinkhole rule is the one people learn too late. Because the coverage cannot be added mid-term and the inspection has to be reviewed first, the decision belongs at the start of the renewal process, in the same call where the four-point or roof inspection is scheduled. Citizens notes that coverage for catastrophic ground cover collapse is included in certain of its policies while gradual subsidence sinkhole coverage is optional for most policy types; the policy documents say which applies to yours.

Put together, the list suggests an order for an older Florida house heading into a Citizens application. Ask the agent first which of the five apply: the four-point is set by the home's age, the roof certification by the roof's age and covering, the sinkhole inspection by whether you want that optional coverage, and the wind mitigation form by whether you want to document discount features. Then book one licensed professional who can sign every section you need, and ask that the four-point roof section be completed with photos of each slope so it can stand in for the separate roof form. Book the wind mitigation inspection as its own visit or its own form, since the roof form expressly does not cover it. Fewer visits mean fewer scheduling gaps between an offer and a closing date.

Timeline: from quote to bound policy

A four-point inspection fits into the buying or renewal process at a specific point. The steps below follow the order Citizens' rules imply; private insurers vary.

1. The agent tells you an inspection is required because of the home's age or the insurer's rules.
2. You choose a Florida-licensed inspector who is qualified to sign all four sections, or arrange trade professionals for individual sections.
3. The inspection and photos. The inspector completes, signs and dates the form, attaches the photos, and fills the comments section with full details of updates (types, dates, by whom), hazards, and any system not in good working order.
4. You fix what must be fixed first. If the report shows a hazard, repair it and document the repair before the application goes in, rather than after a decline.
5. The agent reviews the form. Citizens makes the writing agent responsible for reviewing each four-point form and ensuring the rules are met before the application is bound.
6. The underwriter decides. Underwriters review all inspection forms, and Citizens says a form may not be accepted if the right professional did not perform it or the license cannot be verified.

Build in time. If the inspection finds a roof near the end of its life or wiring that needs remediation, the repair can take weeks. Starting the inspection early in a home purchase leaves room to negotiate repairs with the seller.

A worked example: one house, two reports

The house below is a labeled illustration, not a real property. It is a 1974 single-family house in Florida with an asphalt shingle roof.

The first report would not support an application under rules like Citizens', because of the roof and the wiring. The second would. The house did not get younger; its systems were documented as updated. That is the real purpose of a four-point inspection from the homeowner's side: it turns repairs into evidence an underwriter can accept.

Updates also help after the policy is bound. A new roof may qualify for wind mitigation credits, which a separate inspection documents; our wind mitigation inspection guide explains that form. And the replacement cost of the house may change after major work, which our renovation and underinsurance guide covers.

Field surveys after you are insured

The four-point inspection is not the only look an insurer takes. Citizens says it may require an exterior-only survey, or an interior and exterior survey, during the life of the policy at no cost to the policyholder. Exterior surveys look at the dwelling, outbuildings and roof without entering; interior surveys also examine the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems. Citizens may require the owner to repair hazards or deficiencies the survey finds. A house that passed its four-point inspection at purchase can still draw a repair request years later if its condition slips. A survey in the first weeks of a new policy carries more weight, because the insurer can still cancel on what it finds; our guide to a home inspected after the policy started sets out the 60-day and 70-day windows by state and a repair calendar for keeping the policy.

Who pays, and what the report is worth afterward

The four-point inspection is usually the homeowner's cost. Citizens says that in some cases the property owner pays for inspections while in others Citizens pays, and it lists its own field surveys as being at no cost to the policyholder. Florida's roof statute says the roof inspection that can stop a refusal based on roof age is performed at the homeowner's expense. Ask the agent before booking whether the insurer will accept a report you commission, and from which licensed professionals.

A report is not permanent. It describes the house on the inspection date, and Citizens' form says the information is used only to determine insurability. If you shop a year later, or a different insurer asks, expect to be asked whether anything has changed and possibly for a new inspection. Keep the signed form, the photos and the repair invoices together; they help the next inspector record updates accurately, and the next underwriter see what was fixed and when.

Read the report before it goes to the agent. Check that ages and dates match your permits, that updates are described with the work done and who did it, and that the comments explain any item marked unsatisfactory. A blank where the form asks for a year last updated reads, to an underwriter, as original equipment.

Getting ready for the inspector

• Gather permits and invoices for any roof, electrical, plumbing or HVAC work, with dates. The form asks for years last updated and full details of updates.
• Make the electrical panel, water heater, under-sink plumbing, main shut-off and attic accessible.
• Find the HVAC manufacturer's plate; the form asks for a photo of it with the date.
• Fix small, obvious items first: a dripping trap, a missing outlet cover, a blocked condensate line.
• If you know of single-strand aluminum wiring or polybutylene piping, have the remediation paperwork ready.
• Ask the agent which insurer the report is for and whether it needs Citizens' form or will accept another with the same detail.

Mistakes that cost time

• Hiring someone who cannot sign every section. A trade-specific professional may sign only their own section. You may then need a second visit.
• Submitting with an active leak. Fix it first; Citizens says hazards should be repaired before the application.
• Treating a partial reroof as a new roof. Under Florida's statute, age runs from when the whole surface was last replaced.
• Confusing the four-point with wind mitigation. They are separate forms with separate purposes. Citizens' roof form expressly says it does not verify mitigation features.
• Waiting until closing week. If the report needs repairs, there may not be time to finish them before the policy has to be bound.

A home warranty offered at a sale does not answer an insurer's request for this inspection; our home warranty vs homeowners insurance guide explains what each product is for.

Questions homeowners ask about four-point inspections

If you are buying an older house, ask for the four-point inspection in the same week as the general home inspection, so any roof or wiring work can be priced into the deal rather than discovered at the insurance stage. The home condition hub collects the other guides on what underwriters read from a house.

An inspector's five-year finding is also the evidence behind other states' roof-age rules; the old-roof guide compares Florida's test with Virginia's 2027 text and the Mississippi and Texas rules.