Virginia Makes the Roofer's Unlicensed Work Your License Problem

The Bureau of Insurance letter on the Virginia SCC's public adjuster page is dated 7-29-24.⁵ It is the Bureau's only written guidance on where contractor work ends and public adjusting begins, and the definition of "public adjuster" it quotes was already not the Code's text in 2024. 2026 Va. Acts ch. 142 was approved April 6, 2026 and took effect July 1.³

Where Virginia moved the risk on July 1

The act added § 38.2-1845.24, credited to 2026, c. 142 alone. Subsection A makes it unlawful for any person to engage in, offer, or advertise public adjusting without a Commission license. Subsection B moves the exposure, making it unlawful for a licensed public adjuster to knowingly aid or abet another person's unauthorized practice.² The unlicensed roofer's problem used to be the roofer's. A share of it is now yours.

Subsection C reaches past the license: "No person shall negotiate or effectuate the settlement of a claim arising from a loss or damage covered by an insurance contract with an individual engaged in the unauthorized practice of public adjusting."² No person includes the desk adjuster. A carrier that keeps dealing with an unlicensed contractor while routing you around is violating Virginia law too.

Section 38.2-1845.10 lets the Commission suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a license across nineteen enumerated causes.⁸ Cause (13), engaging in the unauthorized practice, is new in 2026.³ Current law also reaches knowingly accepting public adjusting services from an unlicensed individual who unlawfully solicited the business, at (12), and paying or sharing a commission with an unlicensed person, at (14). Section 38.2-218 sets the money: not more than $5,000 for a knowing or willful violation, not more than $1,000 without knowledge or intent, and a series of similar violations from one act capped in the aggregate at $10,000.⁶ Revocation costs five years before reapplication under § 38.2-1845.11 E, or such other period as the Commission sets in its order.⁸

Run this before your next contractor referral

Since 2019, c. 627, § 38.2-1845.12(B) has barred five acts to anyone not duly licensed, among them preparing or filing a policyholder's claim, aiding a policyholder in negotiating settlement, and taking compensation for investigating or settling claims. The 2026 act only swapped "insured" for "policyholder" there.¹ Massachusetts drafts its unfair-practice bar by enumerated verb the same way.

Section 38.2-1845.3 has not moved since 2012. Its exemptions cover insurer adjusters, independent adjusters, Virginia-licensed attorneys, repair-facility employees writing motor vehicle estimates, subrogation settlers, and at clause (iv) a person employed only for the purpose of obtaining facts surrounding a loss or furnishing technical assistance to a licensed public adjuster.⁷

There is no general contractor exemption.

Clause (iv) is the lane, and "employed only for" closes it against a contractor who also wants the repair job. An estimator you retain to write scope sits inside it. A roofer bidding the work while writing your scope does not, and the Bureau said as much in 2024: a contractor who is also a licensed public adjuster cannot act in both roles regarding repairs to a property.⁵

Contractor activity	Bureau's 2024 read
Offering repair or reconstruction services	Generally not public adjusting
Opining whether damage is from a storm or other incident normally covered by a property policy	Generally not public adjusting
Preparing an estimate and scope of work for the loss	Generally not public adjusting
Discussing the estimate with the customer	Generally not public adjusting
Recommending that the insured file a claim	Generally not public adjusting
Being present when the insurer's adjuster inspects	Generally not public adjusting
Answering the insurer's questions about the estimates	Generally not public adjusting
Soliciting, investigating or adjusting a claim	Generally public adjusting
Aiding or acting for an insured in negotiating or effecting settlement	Generally public adjusting
Preparing, completing or filing a claim	Generally public adjusting
Accepting a commission or fee for investigating or settling	Generally public adjusting
Advertising for employment as a public adjuster	Generally public adjusting
Advertising that the contractor will negotiate or investigate a claim, including claim specialist or claim analyst titles, or claims of dealing with insurance companies or raising the settlement	Generally public adjusting

The grid predates § 38.2-1845.24 by two years, so treat the right column as the Bureau's view of conduct in 2024. Nothing in it excuses a licensee under subsection B. Section 38.2-1845.22 lets the Commission investigate anyone alleged to be in the business of public adjusting.⁸

For your own unlicensed staff, § 38.2-1845.24(E)(2) is the safe harbor, drawn tight: administrative tasks that neither interpret, analyze, or explain insurance or an insurance contract, nor urge anyone into a public adjusting contract.² Scheduling, uploading, indexing, all fine. The moment an assistant explains coverage on a call, the task has stopped being administrative.

The contract itself carries risk. Section 38.2-1845.13(E) lets a policyholder void a public adjuster contract entered by a person acting in violation of § 38.2-1845.2,⁸ so a lead that arrived dirty can take your agreement with it, much as Illinois voids a PA contract sourced through a roofer. Section 38.2-1845.12(D) 2, new in 2026, bars you from adjusting a claim in which the policyholder has assigned duties, rights, or benefits contrary to § 38.2-2131 to a contractor or vendor.¹ Read the contractor's agreement before you sign yours. The bar Virginia enacted in 2025, cc. 120 and 134, voids the offending provision: no insured under a fire policy may transfer claim duties, rights, or benefits without the insurer's written consent. The carve-out still lets the insured direct payment for reasonable covered services, the narrow ground Illinois worked into 1575(f)(4).⁴

What PAs are asking about § 38.2-1845.24