Annual Availability Survey (including Free Trade Zone Report & Special Homeowners Insurance Supplement) - 2023

The Department’s secure portal is required to be used for submissions made for this report, which combines the Annual Availability Survey, Free Trade Zone Report, and Special Homeowners Insurance Supplement. All licensed Property & Casualty insurers are required to submit this report, pursuant to Insurance Law §308, as outlined in the cover letter to property insurers. This data assists the Department in determining market conditions for these lines of business.

Required Filers

The following types of insurers are required to file the Annual Availability Survey (including Free Trade Zone Report & Homeowners Supplement):

  • Property/Casualty Stock & Mutual
  • Assessment Cooperative
  • Advance Premium Cooperative
  • Reciprocal

Companies within the same insurance group may continue to file a single submission.

Insurers must now submit completed surveys online via the secure DFS Portal (see further instructions below).

Completing the Survey

Download and complete the Microsoft Excel workbook with all of the data required for the Availability Survey, Free Trade Zone Report, and Special Homeowners Survey, for the specified filing year.

As stated in the instructions, save the file in the original excel file format; do not convert the file to a different version of excel or "PDF".

After saving the workbook log into the DFS Portal to upload the completed file (see below).

DFS Portal

  1. To access the DFS Portal you will need to create or log into an existing Portal account (as stated in the email you received with a link to instructions to create an account).
    If you have already set up a portal account in previous year(s), you do not need to create another one for this year's survey; accounts are also not limited to one person for a company.
  2. Once signed in, you must request access to the "Annual Availability Survey (including Free Trade Zone Report & Homeowners Supplement)" application using the “Ask for Apps” button.
    If you have already requested and were given access to the App for the Availability Survey in previous year(s), it should already be on your "My Applications" list & you do not need to request it again.
  3. After DFS approves your request, you will receive a confirmation email.  The next time you log in, you will see the application "Annual Availability Survey (including Free Trade Zone Report & Homeowners Supplement)" in “My Apps” and will be able to submit your completed report file as follows:
    1. The first drop-down on the submission screen is for “Reporting Year”, for this survey you MUST choose “2023”.
    2. Choose the company you are making the submission for.  If a report is being submitted for more than one company in a group, all applicable companies must be chosen from the “drop-down” list.
    3. Click the “Upload Survey” button and select the file to be uploaded in the dialog box. You may also enter any “Additional Comments” in the space provided.
    4. Click the “Submit” button after this is done.
    5. You should receive an email confirming receipt of the report.

IMPORTANT:  This report file MUST be submitted through the “Annual Availability Survey (including Free Trade Zone Report & Homeowners Supplement)” application. DO NOT submit the report through the “Insurance Company and Fraternal Benefit Society Filings” portal, as it will not be processed and the company may be considered out of compliance with this statutory requirement.

In addition, If you are making this submission through the portal page after 12/31/2023, the drop-down selection for the year MUST be changed to 2023.

Note: A portal session times out if there has been no activity for 30 minutes. Data entered into the portal will NOT be saved once the session has timed out. Accordingly, start a new session just before you begin entering your data.

Browsers and Blockers

  • Use a supported browser: The latest version plus one previous of Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, are supported.
  • Disable any “Pop-up Blocker” setting in your browser before using portal applications.
  • Maintenance: This application may be unavailable daily from 7:30 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. for scheduled maintenance.
  • Applications may not be compatible with cell phones, tablets or other mobile devices.

Trusted Source

To manage the users authorized to file on behalf on an entity, each entity must identify an individual to serve as a local security administrator called a "Trusted Source."

A Trusted Source has the right to approve new submitters and reviewers for their company without active DFS intervention.

Each entity must designate one trusted source, plus one backup, to manage access approvals to this application for the entity. A trusted source will be assigned this role when DFS approves an “Ask for Apps” request. Users should identify if they will be the designed trusted source for their company in the “Request Comment” field.

Questions?

Questions regarding this filing should be sent to [email protected].