Your Texas Home Insurer Must Now Tell You in Writing Why It Declined, Canceled or Did Not Renew Your Policy

What Changed, and When

The law is House Bill 2067 of the 89th Texas Legislature, by Representative Dennis Paul. It passed the House 128–0 on the conference committee report, and by its own terms it took effect January 1, 2026.

Before HB 2067, Section 551.002(a) of the Texas Insurance Code required an insurer to give a written statement of the reasons for a declination, cancellation or nonrenewal “on request by an applicant for insurance or a policyholder.” HB 2067 struck that phrase. The same words came out of Section 551.109. The written statement is now something the insurer provides, rather than something a person has to know to ask for.

The bill also added three new sections to Chapter 551:

• Section 551.006 requires every insurer to send the Texas Department of Insurance, at least once each quarter, a written report summarizing the reasons it gave, organized by the ZIP codes of the applicants and policyholders. TDI has to post an aggregated summary of those reports on its website, and that summary may not identify any insurer, directly or indirectly. Workers’ compensation reporting is statewide rather than by ZIP code.
• Section 551.007 covers commercial lines: the declination notice goes to the applicant’s agent, and the agent has to disclose the declination to the applicant and make the notice available to review.
• Section 551.008 permits an insurer to deliver the notice or written statement electronically, under Chapter 35 of the Insurance Code.

A new Section 551.0521 requires written notice of a declination on an application for liability or commercial property insurance, and Sections 551.055 and 551.109 were amended so the notice states the reason.

Section 8 of the bill sets the reach: the change applies to an application made, or a policy delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed, on or after January 1, 2026. Anything before that date is governed by the earlier law.

The reporting rolled out in phases. In Commissioner’s Bulletin B-0008-25, issued July 18, 2025 to all property and casualty insurers including farm mutuals, TDI described three phases beginning with residential property and private passenger auto, then certain commercial lines, then the remaining property and casualty lines. Reporting started April 1, 2026. The public page went live on September 23, 2026.

Who in Texas This Reaches

Every Texan who applies for, holds, or has recently lost a home insurance policy, statewide. That is a far larger group than the usual subject of a news post, and it includes people who never think of themselves as having a legal problem: a homeowner whose renewal did not arrive, an applicant turned down after a roof inspection, a buyer who cannot close because no carrier will write the house, and a landlord or condominium owner dealing with the same market.

Auto policyholders are next. TDI says the first auto insurance report is expected in October 2026, and that the page will expand to include auto insights later this year.

Commercial applicants are reached differently: under the new Section 551.007 their declination notice goes through their agent, so the agent is the person who has to put it in front of them.

The page itself is aggregate. Entering a ZIP code returns two reports — how often each reason was cited in notices in that area, and how many policies companies declined, did not renew, or canceled. It does not name companies, and it does not show anything about one household’s own policy. TDI says it updates the page at least quarterly.

What This Changes Legally

The reason is now written down. That is the practical shift. A phone call saying a policy was dropped “because of underwriting” leaves nothing to examine. A written statement of reasons is a document with a date on it, and documents are what disputes are decided on. Texas Insurance Code Sections 551.002(b) and (c), and rules adopted under Section 551.002(d), set standards the statement has to comply with.

The stated reason can be checked. A written reason can be compared against the policy language, against the property’s actual claim history, and against what the carrier told the homeowner at other points. Where a reason turns out to rest on a mistaken fact — a claim attributed to the wrong address, a loss that was never paid, a roof condition that was repaired — that is a concrete thing to raise, and a lawyer can advise on how.

Anti-discrimination and other limits still apply on top. Chapter 551 sits alongside the rest of the Insurance Code, including Chapter 544, which addresses unfair discrimination in the business of insurance, and Chapter 541, which addresses unfair or deceptive acts and practices. Whether any of that bears on one situation is a question about the facts of that situation.

The public page is evidence about a market, not about a policy. The ZIP-code reports can show a homeowner that a reason cited to them is common in their area, or that it is not. Because the summary may not identify any insurer, it does not establish what any particular company did.

The Department takes complaints. TDI states that Texans may file a complaint with the Department if an insurer does not provide a written explanation. TDI’s consumer complaint process is on its website, and it is separate from anything a private attorney does.

What Kind of Option Might Apply

Nothing on this page is legal advice, and nothing here says whether any particular declination, cancellation or nonrenewal was proper. What an experienced Texas attorney can review, on the actual paperwork, includes:

• Whether the written statement of reasons was provided at all, and whether what arrived meets what Chapter 551 calls for.
• Whether the stated reason matches the record — the policy, the claim file, the inspection report and the correspondence.
• What the policy itself says about cancellation and nonrenewal, including notice periods and any renewal protections that apply to the form.
• Whether a cancellation mid-term is treated differently from a nonrenewal at the end of a term, and what follows from that difference.
• How a nonrenewal interacts with a mortgage, including force-placed coverage by a lender and what it costs.
• Whether a related claim was underpaid or denied, and what deadlines apply to a claim dispute as opposed to a coverage decision.
• Whether the situation involves the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association or the FAIR Plan, and how those differ from the standard market.
• Whether to file a complaint with TDI, pursue a private claim, or both, and in what order.

Why Acting Quickly Can Matter

Insurance timelines are short and they are written into the policy rather than posted anywhere a homeowner would see. A nonrenewal notice arrives some fixed number of days before the policy ends, and that window is the time available to read the stated reason, correct anything wrong in it, and line up replacement coverage before there is a gap. A gap in coverage is its own problem: it can breach a mortgage, it can trigger lender-placed insurance at a much higher premium, and a loss during the gap has no carrier behind it.

Written statements also have a way of disappearing. The statement of reasons, the renewal notice with its date, the declarations page and the inspection report are the record, and they are easiest to collect while the file is fresh. Separately, Texas claim disputes carry their own limitations periods, which run from events rather than from when someone learns they have a problem. A lawyer reading the documents early is in a different position from a lawyer reading them after a deadline has passed.

Sources

1. Texas Legislature, House Bill 2067, 89th Legislature (2025), enrolled text (primary document).
2. Texas Department of Insurance, “TDI launches new transparency tool showing why some home policies are declined, canceled, or not renewed,” September 23, 2026 (primary document).
3. Texas Department of Insurance, “Reasons home and auto insurance policies are declined, not renewed, or canceled” (the ZIP-code search page).
4. Texas Department of Insurance, Commissioner’s Bulletin B-0008-25, July 18, 2025 (primary document; the three-phase reporting plan).
5. Texas Legislature Online, HB 2067 bill history, last action “Effective on 1/1/26.”
6. Carrier Management, “New Texas Law Requires Insurers Provide Reason for Declining or Canceling Policies,” February 24, 2026.