Is a home built before 1960 insurable in California?

Not at most insurers, in the Department of Insurance's 2004 study of homeowners insurers. In the 2003 survey behind it, 8 percent set a maximum home age under 50 years, 9 percent from 50 to 75, and 4 percent above 75.

Each standard insurer writes its own rules and must include them in its rate filings with the Department of Insurance. Those rules treat age in different ways.

Rules can tie age to a system, too. In August 2024, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a large insurer was no longer writing new policies on pre-1976 homes with outdated electrical systems.

The newest public copies of six insurers' manuals, dated 2018 to 2024, show the range:

• No age limit at all, in a December 2022 manual.
• A report of the home's updates once it was more than 25 years old, in a May 2020 manual.
• A review before any quote for California homes over 50 years old, with proof of updated systems, in an August 2024 guide.
• The insurer's approval before coverage started for homes built before 1940, in an October 2018 manual.
• No coverage once a home was more than 75 years old, in a January 2020 manual.
• No coverage for homes built before 1900, in a manual posted in March 2022.

One of the six manuals did. An insurer's December 2022 California manual set a rule at 1960, and none of the other five used that year. A home built that year or earlier had to take modified functional replacement cost, unless the owner preferred actual cash value or full repair cost.

That option rebuilt with "common constructed materials," the manual said, for older homes "built using materials and methods which may now be considered obsolete or antique."

In plain words, a claim would pay to rebuild with today's common materials, not to copy the original ones. The same manual said it might order an inside inspection of a home built in 1950 or earlier.

Two older manuals drew a similar line at 1940. Homes built before 1940 had to be insured for what rebuilding them as they were built would cost, they said, unless a functional replacement cost option was added.

So ask which settlement your quote uses, and what a claim would rebuild. The glossary entry on replacement cost explains the standard term.

The same four systems come up again and again: the roof, wiring, plumbing and heating. Old plumbing, electrical or heating systems raise the chance of fire or water damage, says the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.

The manuals' plumbing rules varied most. Two 2020 manuals turned down galvanized, lead or polybutylene pipes, while a 2022 manual accepted galvanized steel but not polybutylene.

The manuals' heating rules wanted permanent main heat run by a thermostat. A 2020 manual also turned down gas furnaces more than 35 years old and oil burners more than 25.

Wiring and roofs have guides of their own: knob and tube wiring and older panels, and roof age limits.

The FAIR Plan takes older homes, with conditions. Its rulebook, approved March 27, 2026, lets it add a surcharge for "substandard construction, heating, or wiring" while the home stays eligible.

Replacement cost can be the other catch. The Plan's 2021 application said a home more than 25 years old qualified for it only if the roof was replaced in the past 25 years. The Plan's current dwelling policy form states no such roof rule, so ask a licensed agent how it applies today.

A FAIR Plan policy also covers far less than a homeowners policy, so check standard and specialty insurers first. How to apply for the FAIR Plan explains the route if they cannot help.

Some insurers have asked for proof, so gather it before you shop. One insurer's 2024 guide asked for contracts, payment receipts and photographs showing that the roof, electrical, heating and plumbing were updated.

If the trouble is the home's condition, the Insurance Information Institute suggests asking what improvements would make it more insurable.

If an insurer turns the home down, ask why. Under Insurance Code section 791.10, an insurer that refuses or non-renews a home owes you the specific reasons in writing at the time.

Gather these before you shop:

• The year the home was built, which one insurer's 2024 guide checked against public records.
• The years the roof, wiring, panel, plumbing and heating were last updated.
• Permits, final inspections, contracts and receipts for that work.
• An electrician's written report if any original wiring remains.
• Photos of the updated work.

Because each insurer writes its own rules. In its 2004 study, the Department of Insurance wrote that a house with a common refusal factor "may seem like an uninsurable house." Finding a company that does not use that factor, it said, "just means more work."

One manual accepted a pipe material another turned down, and age limits ran from none to 75 years.

The rules on file are public, too. In an August 10, 2018 opinion, the Department of Insurance's general counsel said an insurer's filed rules stay open to the public even when marked confidential.

So ask for a search of standard insurers first, then specialty insurers, whose rules differ again.