Is Your South Bay Rental Facing a FAIR Plan Non Renewal or Rate Increase in 2026?

Published August 10, 2026

California's FAIR Plan has grown from about 140,000 policies in 2015 to roughly 4 percent of the state's residential market, according to the state's own numbers. It also only insures the building. Here is what the California Department of Insurance has actually filed, and why a FAIR Plan policy alone will not read like a normal landlord policy.

The short answer

There is no confirmed statewide FAIR Plan base rate increase on file from the California Department of Insurance for 2026 as of this writing. What is confirmed, from CDI's own releases, is that FAIR Plan has grown to roughly 4 percent of California's residential market, insurers were assessed 1 billion dollars in 2025 after wildfire claims, and FAIR Plan itself only covers the structure, not liability or water damage.

Last verified: August 10, 2026

Why this question keeps coming up

If you own a rental in El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Gardena, or Carson and your carrier has non renewed, reduced coverage, or quoted a number that made you call your broker twice, you are not imagining a trend. According to the California Department of Insurance's June 25, 2025 press release, the FAIR Plan grew from about 140,000 policies statewide in 2015 to roughly 4 percent of California's entire residential insurance market by 2023, and growth accelerated after major wildfire years. That is a statewide figure from CDI, not a South Bay or Schofield observation, and CDI's own framing is that traditional insurers pulling back is what pushes more properties onto the FAIR Plan in the first place.

The South Bay is coastal and largely outside the highest fire hazard severity zones that drive most FAIR Plan placements. But underwriting decisions by individual carriers, reinsurance costs, and statewide rate and claims pressure do not stop at a city line. An owner here can still see a non renewal or a renewal at a materially different price even without a brush fire nearby.

What CDI has actually filed and approved

Here is the confirmed timeline, built only from CDI's own press releases.

| Date | Action | Source |

|---|---|---|

| July 26, 2024 | Commissioner Lara and the FAIR Plan agreed to a modernization deal: a new high-value commercial option up to 20 million dollars per building and 100 million dollars per location, plus a rule requiring insurers to cover half of catastrophe losses up to 2 billion dollars combined before any assessment reaches policyholders | CDI release031-2024 |

| February 11, 2025 | CDI approved a 1 billion dollar assessment on FAIR Plan member insurance companies to keep paying Southern California wildfire claims. Insurers may add a temporary supplemental fee to current policies only with prior CDI approval, and assessment costs cannot be folded into future base rates | CDI release015-2025 |

| June 25, 2025 | CDI announced an FAIR Plan overhaul package, effective July 26, 2025, expanding commercial, HOA, and affordable housing coverage options and adding transparency requirements | CDI release044-2025 |

| February 2, 2026 | Commissioner Lara and Assemblymember Calderon introduced AB 1680, the Make It FAIR Act, citing 22.4 billion dollars paid on Los Angeles wildfire claims since January 2025 and proposing to require more comprehensive coverage from the FAIR Plan | CDI release005-2026 |

Two things are notable by their absence from this list. First, none of these releases names a specific percentage increase to the base premium a typical dwelling or landlord policyholder pays. Second, the February 2025 release is explicit that the 1 billion dollar assessment is a cost borne by member insurers and, if passed through at all, shows up as a separate temporary supplemental fee with its own CDI approval, not as a silent bump folded into your renewal rate. If your renewal notice shows a large increase, ask your broker to identify whether it reflects your individual carrier's own rate filing, a supplemental fee tied to the FAIR Plan assessment, or something else, because CDI's own releases treat these as separate line items.

What the FAIR Plan actually covers

According to the FAIR Plan's own site, cfpnet.com, the plan sells three main products. A dwelling policy covers owner occupied or tenant occupied dwellings of up to four family units, plus personal property for renters and condo owners. A commercial policy covers business buildings, habitational buildings of five or more units, retail, manufacturing, farm, winery, and office property. Residential earthquake coverage is offered separately through the California Earthquake Authority.

What the FAIR Plan's own site does not describe itself as offering is a full homeowners or landlord policy. It calls itself a source of "basic fire insurance coverage," built for foundational protection rather than a comprehensive policy.

Why a FAIR Plan policy alone will not look like a normal landlord policy

This is the part owners moving to the FAIR Plan get wrong most often. FAIR Plan pays to rebuild the structure. It does not, by itself, do what a standard landlord or dwelling fire policy bundle usually does.

The clearest confirmation of the gap comes from CDI itself. The February 2, 2026 press release announcing AB 1680 states plainly that the FAIR Plan "currently requires separate policies for water damage and liability." That is CDI's own characterization of the product as it exists today, not a broker's sales pitch.

The FAIR Plan's own site fills in the rest. Its Difference in Conditions page states that a DIC policy is "designed to combine with a California FAIR Plan policy to provide coverage similar to that in a comprehensive homeowner's policy," and that DIC policies "provide coverages that are not available through the California FAIR Plan, such as water damage, theft and liability coverage." The FAIR Plan also states plainly that it does not sell DIC policies itself. You get that through a broker, from a separate carrier.

For a landlord, this means a FAIR Plan-only setup, with nothing else, leaves out landlord liability if a tenant or a visitor gets hurt on the property, water damage from a burst pipe or failed water heater, theft, and the kind of broad personal property and loss of rents coverage a standard dwelling fire policy usually bundles in. None of that is a defect in the FAIR Plan. It was built as a narrow property-only backstop, and both the FAIR Plan's own site and CDI describe it that way.

What to actually do about it

If your carrier has non renewed and you are quoted, or already placed, on a FAIR Plan policy, the sequence that matters is: confirm exactly what the FAIR Plan quote covers, ask your broker for a DIC quote to sit alongside it, and confirm the combined cost against what a standard landlord policy would have cost before assuming FAIR Plan is automatically cheaper. It frequently is not, once the DIC layer is added in.

FAQ

Has CDI approved a specific FAIR Plan rate increase for 2026?

Not confirmed. CDI's press release archive for 2024 through 2026 does not include a release announcing a specific base rate increase percentage for FAIR Plan dwelling or commercial policies. Check your own renewal notice or CDI's rate filing records for the number that applies to your policy.

Does the FAIR Plan cover liability if someone is hurt on my rental property?

No. CDI's February 2026 press release on AB 1680 states the FAIR Plan currently requires a separate policy for liability. You need a DIC policy or another liability product layered on top.

What is a DIC policy, exactly?

Per the FAIR Plan's own site, a Difference in Conditions policy is a separate product, sold by other carriers through a broker, that adds coverages the FAIR Plan does not include, specifically water damage, theft, and liability, so that the combination approximates a normal comprehensive homeowners or landlord policy.

Is the growth in FAIR Plan policies a South Bay phenomenon?

No. The 140,000-policies-in-2015 to roughly 4 percent-of-the-market-by-2023 figure is a statewide number from CDI's June 2025 release. Nothing here reflects a Schofield-specific count of non renewals or FAIR Plan placements in the South Bay.

If I get a supplemental fee notice, is that a rate increase?

Not the same thing, per CDI's own February 2025 release. A temporary supplemental fee tied to the 2025 wildfire assessment requires its own prior CDI approval and is described separately from a carrier's base rate. Ask your broker which one you are looking at.

Can I get out of the FAIR Plan once I am on it?

That depends on whether the standard market will write your property again, which is a broker and underwriting question specific to your address, roof age, claims history, and carrier appetite, not something CDI's filings answer in general.

This article summarizes publicly available information from the California Department of Insurance and the California FAIR Plan as of August 10, 2026. It is general information, not insurance, legal, or financial advice. Rates, filings, and program rules change. Confirm your specific coverage, exclusions, and current rate with a licensed California insurance professional before making a decision about your property.

Topics: compliance, insurance, FAIR Plan, South Bay, landlord insurance, property management

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