Repair or Replace Your Roof? Florida's 25% Rule Explained (2026)

Florida Building Code, Existing Building §706.1.1 reads: "Not more than 25 percent of the total roof area or roof section of any existing building or structure shall be repaired, replaced or recovered in any 12-month period unless the roof covering on the entire existing roof system or roof section is replaced or recovered to conform to the requirements of this code."

In plain terms: small repairs are fine, but once the work passes 25% of a roof or roof section within 12 months, the code requires the covering on that whole roof or section to meet the current code, not just the damaged part.

Miami-Dade and Broward are in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, where reroofing follows FBC Building §1521. That section repeats the 25% limit (§1521.4), requires repairs to use roofing components that have a product approval (§1521.2), and requires repairs not to create additional ponding water (§1521.3).

Palm Beach County is outside the HVHZ, so reroofing there falls under FBC Building §1511, with the same 25% limit and 2007-code exception in §1511.1.1. You can look up any product approval yourself in the Florida Building Commission or Miami-Dade product control search linked in the Sources section.

Fla. Stat. §627.7011(5)(b) says an insurer may not refuse to issue or renew a homeowner's policy on a residential structure with a roof less than 15 years old solely because of the roof's age. For a roof at least 15 years old, §627.7011(5)(c) says the insurer must let you have the roof inspected by an authorized inspector, at your expense, before requiring replacement, and may not refuse or non-renew solely for roof age if the inspection shows 5 years or more of useful life remaining.

How roof age is counted matters for repairs. Under §627.7011(5)(d), a roof's age is calculated from the last date on which 100 percent of the roof's surface area was built or replaced under the code in effect at that time, or from the first date of a partial replacement when later partial replacements brought the total to 100 percent. A patch of part of the roof does not, by itself, restart that date.