The reissue credit: the one title discount Florida law actually guarantees

Why there is exactly one lever

Florida title insurance premiums are promulgated — set by Fla. Admin. Code Rule 69O-186.003 under § 627.782, Fla. Stat. Every company charges the same premium for the same coverage, which is why shopping title companies on premium is shopping for a number nobody is allowed to change.

The same rule that removes negotiation writes in one reduction: reissue rates. When the property already carries a qualifying prior owner's policy, the premium on coverage up to that prior policy amount is computed at lower tiers. It is not a courtesy or a promotion — it is in the rate rule, and it is the only lever on the premium line.

Educational information, not legal advice. Eligibility depends on the prior policy and the qualifying period, and is confirmed by the title team on your specific file — never assumed from an address.

The two rate ladders, side by side

Original rates, per $1,000 of coverage: $5.75 up to $100,000; $5.00 to $1 million; $2.50 to $5 million; $2.25 to $10 million; $2.00 above. Reissue rates, per $1,000, applied up to the prior policy amount: $3.30 up to $100,000; $3.00 to $1 million; $2.00 above.

Coverage above the prior policy's face amount is charged at original rates for the tiers it occupies — so the credit follows the old coverage, and the new money is priced normally.

What it is worth on a real file

Take a $500,000 sale where the seller bought years ago with a $400,000 owner's policy that qualifies. At original rates the premium is (100 × $5.75) + (400 × $5.00) = $2,575. With the reissue credit, the first $400,000 prices at reissue rates — (100 × $3.30) + (300 × $3.00) = $1,230 — and the $100,000 of new coverage prices at the original rate for that tier, $500. Total: $1,730.

That is $845 that exists or does not exist based on whether anyone asked about the prior policy. On a $1,000,000 sale with a qualifying $1,000,000 prior policy, the same arithmetic moves roughly two thousand dollars.

• Ask the seller for the prior owner's title policy at contract, not at closing week.
• A lender's policy from a refinance is not the same instrument as an owner's policy — check which one you actually have.
• The statutory minimum premium is $100, and a lender's policy issued simultaneously with an owner's policy is a flat $25 up to the owner's coverage.

Where the credit gets lost

It is almost never denied — it is simply never claimed. The prior policy sits in a closing folder from 2013, nobody asks, and the file prices at original rates because that is the default. Sellers who kept their paperwork should say so at contract; agents who ask the question routinely hand their clients a real number.

Check it against your own file

Our closing-cost calculator takes a prior policy amount and applies these exact tiers — the same code the numbers above came from. Run it both ways, with and without the prior policy, and you will see precisely what the document is worth on your transaction.