The Florida homestead exemption reduces the taxable value of your permanent home. You qualify if you hold title and make the home your permanent residence on January 1, and you apply to your county property appraiser by March 1 under section 196.011. Once granted, Save Our Homes limits how fast the assessed value can rise.
Ask ten Florida homeowners what "homestead" means and you will get several answers, all partly right. In Florida law the word covers three separate things: a property tax exemption with an assessment limit attached, protection of your home from most creditors, and restrictions on how the home can be sold, mortgaged or left at death. They come from different parts of the Florida Constitution and the statutes, they are administered by different people, and qualifying for one does not mean you have done what the others require. This article focuses on the tax side, which is what most people mean when they search for the homestead exemption, and then shows how it fits with the rest.
What are the three kinds of Florida homestead?
| Concept | Where it comes from | What it does | How you get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax exemption and Save Our Homes | Florida Constitution Article VII, sections 4(d) and 6; sections 196.031 and 193.155, Florida Statutes | Reduces the taxable value of your permanent residence and limits how fast its assessed value can rise | Apply to the county property appraiser by March 1 |
| Creditor protection | Florida Constitution Article X, section 4(a) | Protects a primary residence from most creditors | Applies by law when the property qualifies; no tax application is involved |
| Restrictions on devise and sale | Florida Constitution Article X, section 4(c) | Limits leaving the home by will when the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child, and requires a spouse to join in a sale, mortgage or gift | Applies by law; addressed through estate planning |
The second and third rows are the subject of our Florida homestead planning page. The rest of this article is about the first row.
Who qualifies for the Florida homestead exemption?
Article VII, section 6 of the Florida Constitution grants the exemption to a person who "has the legal or equitable title to real estate and maintains thereon the permanent residence of the owner." Section 196.031(1)(a) puts the timing into the statute: the exemption is for a person who, on January 1, has legal title or beneficial title in equity to Florida real property and who in good faith makes the property his or her permanent residence.
Two points in that definition trip people up:
- January 1 is the snapshot date. If you close on a home and move in on January 2, you do not qualify for that tax year. You apply for the following year.
- Permanent residence is a question of fact. Owning a Florida home is not enough. The property appraiser decides whether the home is truly your permanent residence.
How does the property appraiser decide permanent residency?
Section 196.015 lists factors the property appraiser may consider, and says no single factor is conclusive. They include:
- A formal declaration of domicile recorded in the county's public records.
- Where your dependent children attend school.
- Your place of employment.
- A prior permanent residence in another state or country, and when it ended.
- Florida voter registration at the property address.
- A Florida driver license or identification card, and proof that out of state licenses were surrendered.
- A Florida license tag on a vehicle you own.
- The address on your federal income tax return.
- Where your bank accounts are and where statements are sent.
- Proof of utility payments at the property.
If you are moving to Florida, getting these details in order before January 1 makes the application simpler.
What does the exemption actually exempt?
The exemption has two layers. Article VII, section 6 sets a base exemption that applies to all property taxes, including school district taxes, and an additional exemption that applies to levies other than school district levies. Section 196.031(1)(b) provides that the additional exemption amount is adjusted annually for inflation. Because the figures change and depend on your assessed value, we do not quote dollar amounts here. Your county property appraiser's website shows the current numbers and how they apply to your home.
How do I apply, and when is the deadline?
- Confirm you qualify as of January 1. You must hold title and live in the home as your permanent residence on that date.
- Gather your documents. Property appraisers typically ask for proof of the residency factors listed above, and Social Security numbers for applicants and spouses.
- Apply to your county property appraiser. Section 196.011(1)(a) requires the application on or before March 1 of the tax year. Missing that date waives the exemption for that year unless a statutory exception applies.
- Include portability if it applies. If you had a Florida homestead within the past three years, file the portability application with your homestead application (see below).
- Keep the acknowledgment. Once granted, the exemption generally renews each year as long as you continue to qualify.
You apply to the property appraiser in the county where the home is located, not to the state. In the counties our clients most often ask about, those offices are the Broward County Property Appraiser, the Brevard County Property Appraiser, the Orange County Property Appraiser, the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser and the Pinellas County Property Appraiser. If your home is held in a trust, check the county's instructions: the Brevard County Property Appraiser's filing instructions, for example, ask for a copy of the trust agreement.
If you are buying a home, moving it into a trust or settling an estate that includes one, schedule a free consultation and we will look at how the exemption and the rest of your plan fit together.
What is Save Our Homes?
Save Our Homes is the assessment limit that comes with the exemption. Under Article VII, section 4(d) of the Florida Constitution and section 193.155(1), once a home receives the homestead exemption, the annual change in its assessed value may not exceed the lower of three percent of the prior year's assessment or the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding year. The assessment can never exceed the home's just value.
Over time, the gap between a long held home's market value and its capped assessed value can grow large. That gap is what people mean by the "Save Our Homes benefit."
What happens to Save Our Homes when ownership changes?
Section 193.155(3) provides that after a change of ownership, the home is reassessed at just value as of January 1 of the following year. That is why a buyer's tax bill can be much higher than the seller's was: the seller's exemption and capped assessment do not pass to the buyer, and the buyer must apply in their own right. Our real estate closings page covers this from the buyer's side.
Not every deed is a change of ownership in the same way, and transfers into certain trusts or between spouses can be treated differently. Before signing a quitclaim deed or other transfer of a homestead, it is worth checking how the property appraiser will treat it.
How does homestead portability work?
Portability lets you take some or all of your Save Our Homes benefit with you when you move from one Florida homestead to another. Under section 193.155(8), you may qualify if you received a homestead exemption on a prior Florida home as of January 1 of any of the three years immediately preceding the year you establish the new homestead. The amount that can be transferred is limited, and section 193.155(8) caps the reduction at $500,000. Portability is not automatic: section 193.155(8)(h) requires you to file the application with your homestead exemption application.
What changes or ends the exemption?
- Moving out. If the home is no longer your permanent residence, you no longer qualify.
- A change of ownership. As described above, it triggers reassessment under section 193.155(3).
- The owner's death. Heirs or beneficiaries who want the exemption must qualify and apply themselves.
Taking an exemption you are not entitled to is costly. Under section 196.161(1)(b), when a person who was not entitled to a homestead exemption received one, the property appraiser may record a lien for the taxes that were exempted in any of the prior 10 years, plus a penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid taxes for each year and interest of 15 percent a year. If your circumstances change, tell the property appraiser.
How is the tax exemption different from homestead protection?
The tax exemption is something you apply for. The constitutional protections in Article X, section 4 apply by law. Under section 4(c), the homestead "shall not be subject to devise if the owner is survived by spouse or minor child," with an exception allowing it to pass to a surviving spouse when there is no minor child, and "the owner of homestead real estate, joined by the spouse if married, may alienate the homestead by mortgage, sale or gift."
In practice this means a person can have the tax exemption and still be unable to leave the home to whomever they choose, or to deed it away without a spouse's signature. Tools such as enhanced life estate (lady bird) deeds and transfer on death deeds are often discussed in that context, and each interacts with homestead differently.
Where can I get help in my county?
We help homeowners with the real estate and estate planning sides of homestead through our real estate law and estate planning practices. Broward families can read our Broward County estate planning page and meet with us in Fort Lauderdale. The property appraiser decides the exemption itself; our role is to make sure your deed, trust and estate plan do not undermine it.
David Cannady is the founding partner of Cannady & Associates. A former Florida prosecutor, he was admitted to The Florida Bar in 2014 and earned his J.D. at Florida State University College of Law.
This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for your situation. Laws change; talk to a lawyer about your facts.
