CLUE Reports and Claims History When Buying or Selling a Tampa Bay Home

What is a CLUE report, and why does it matter when buying or selling a Tampa Bay home?

A CLUE report — short for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange — is a LexisNexis database record showing up to seven years of insurance claims tied to a property and its owner. Florida carriers check it when they quote a Tampa Bay home, so past water, roof, or wind claims shape the premium a buyer is offered — and whether some insurers will write the policy at all. Only the current owner can order the report on a property, which is why buyers should ask the seller for a copy during the inspection period, and why sellers should pull their own before listing.

Insurance has become one of the first questions in nearly every Tampa Bay transaction I work on — often before anyone asks about the roof age or the flood zone. What most buyers and sellers don't realize is that the property itself has an insurance record, and carriers read it before they read anything else.

That record is the CLUE report. Here's how it works, who can see it, and how to keep a past claim from derailing a sale.

How a CLUE Report Works — and Why Florida Carriers Read It Closely

CLUE is a claims database maintained by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. When a homeowner files a claim, the insurer reports it to the exchange, and it stays on the record for up to seven years from the date of loss. Each entry typically shows the insurance company, the policy number, the date of loss, the type of loss — water damage, wind, fire, theft, liability — and the amount paid, including whether the claim was denied.

Two things make this report more consequential than most people expect.

Claims follow the property, not just the person. When you apply for coverage on a home, the insurer can see the loss history at that address — including claims filed by the previous owner. A house on Davis Islands with two water claims in the last five years carries that history to the next buyer's quote, even though the next buyer had nothing to do with either loss.

Florida underwriting leaves little room for surprises. Tampa Bay carriers are selective about prior losses, and the 2024 hurricane season pushed a large volume of wind and flood claims into the system across Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. A prior claim doesn't automatically make a home uninsurable — but it changes which carriers will quote it, at what premium, and with what conditions. On high-end homes, where replacement cost is already driving premiums, a claims history the buyer discovers late in the contract period is exactly the kind of surprise that reopens negotiations.

One nuance matters for both sides. Simply calling your agent to ask a coverage question is not supposed to be reported as a claim — though inquiries get logged as claims in error often enough that checking is worth it. A filed claim is different: once a loss is reported to the insurer, it can appear on the report even if the claim was denied or closed without payment. Repairs you handled entirely out of pocket, without ever reporting a loss, stay off the record.

If You're Buying: Get the Claims History Before Your Inspection Period Ends

Here's the catch most buyers hit first: you can't order a CLUE report on a home you don't own. LexisNexis releases a property's report only to the current owner. Your agent can't pull it either.

The practical path is to ask the seller for a current copy — and the time to ask is early, not the week before closing. On the FR/BAR “As Is” contract, the inspection period is your window to understand what you're buying, and the claims history belongs on the same checklist as the 4-point inspection and the wind mitigation report. Some buyers make a recent CLUE report one of the items requested with the offer itself, alongside the seller's disclosures.

Florida law already forces part of this conversation. Since October 1, 2024, sellers have been required to give buyers a flood disclosure before signing a contract — it covers whether the seller has filed flood-damage insurance claims and whether the property has received federal flood assistance. I've broken down how the Florida flood disclosure works in a separate guide, but the short version is: flood claims history is no longer optional information, and National Flood Insurance Program claims follow the property address permanently as far as FEMA is concerned.

While you're reviewing the report, get insurance quotes in motion. The claims history, the 4-point findings, and the wind mitigation credits together determine what you'll actually pay — and on waterfront and older South Tampa homes, that number can move a purchase decision. A prior claim with documented, completed repairs often quotes fine. An open or repeated loss pattern is a different conversation, and you want to have it while you can still negotiate or walk.

If You're Selling: Pull Your Own Report Before You List

I'd rather a seller see their own claims history before a buyer's insurance agent does. Two ways to get it:

• Order your free LexisNexis disclosure. Federal law entitles you to one free copy of your CLUE file every 12 months, through the LexisNexis consumer disclosure site or by phone. It arrives quickly and shows exactly what a carrier will see.
• Request a loss run from your insurer. Under Florida law, your insurance company must respond within 15 calendar days of a written request with a loss run statement covering your claims history with that insurer for the preceding five years — and they can't charge you for one statement per year.

Review it for errors — the claim coded to the wrong address, the coverage inquiry logged as a filed claim. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can dispute an inaccurate entry with LexisNexis, and the reinvestigation generally must be completed within 30 days. Fixing an error takes weeks, not days, which is one more reason this belongs in pre-listing prep rather than mid-contract triage.

Then deal with the claims that are real. Florida sellers have a duty to disclose known facts that materially affect a home's value and aren't readily observable — that's been the standard since the Florida Supreme Court's Johnson v. Davis decision — and the standard seller's property disclosure asks directly about damage and repairs. A disclosed claim with a paper trail — scope of work, contractor invoices, permits closed out — reads as a maintained home. The same claim discovered by the buyer's carrier in week three reads as a concealment problem, even when it wasn't.

This is part of how I prepare every listing: claims history, disclosures, and likely insurance questions handled before the first showing, so nothing surfaces mid-contract that we didn't put on the table ourselves. If you're thinking about selling a Tampa Bay home, it's worth doing this work before the sign goes in the yard.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many years of claims does a CLUE report show?

Up to seven years from the date of loss. Claims drop off automatically after that, so a 2017 roof claim is no longer visible on a report pulled today, while a 2021 water claim still is.

Can a buyer order a CLUE report on a home they want to purchase?

No. LexisNexis releases a property's CLUE report only to the current owner, so buyers can't pull one on a house they don't yet own. The workaround is to ask the seller to order a recent copy and share it — some buyers request it as part of the offer.

Do a previous owner's claims affect my insurance on a home I just bought?

They can. Carriers review the loss history at the property address when quoting a new policy, and prior claims — especially water and roof losses — can affect eligibility and premium even though you didn't file them. Documented repairs help; ask the seller for that paperwork before closing.

What if my CLUE report lists a claim that's wrong?

Dispute it with LexisNexis under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The reinvestigation generally must be completed within 30 days, and entries that can't be verified must be corrected or removed. Common errors include coverage inquiries logged as claims and losses attached to the wrong address.

Does Florida require sellers to disclose past insurance claims?

Flood claims, yes — Florida's flood disclosure law requires sellers to tell buyers before contract whether they've filed flood-damage claims or received federal flood assistance for the property. Beyond flooding, Florida sellers must disclose known facts that materially affect the home's value and aren't readily observable, and the standard disclosure form asks about damage and repairs.

If you're weighing a Tampa Bay purchase, or getting a home ready to list and there's a claim in its history, a direct conversation usually clears more up than another search.

About Shane Vanderson