Florida · Property taxFlorida homestead portability: moving your Save Our Homes savings to a new home

Florida's Save Our Homes rule limits how fast a homestead's assessed value can rise: each January 1 the increase is capped at the lower of 3% or the change in the consumer price index, and never above just (market) value (Florida Statutes §193.155(1)–(2)). Over years, that opens a gap between just value and assessed value. A sale ends it for the buyer: the home is reassessed at just value on January 1 after a change of ownership, apart from listed exceptions such as transfers between spouses or to a surviving spouse (§193.155(3)). Portability lets the seller take the gap along (§193.155(8)). A person who had a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the 3 preceding years can have the new homestead assessed below just value. If the new home's just value is the same or higher than the old one's, the new assessed value is its just value minus the lesser of $500,000 or the old home's just-minus-assessed difference (as of January 1 of the year the old home was abandoned). If the new home is cheaper, the new assessed value is set proportionally – the new just value divided by the old just value, times the old assessed value – with the reduction still capped at $500,000. Joint owners who split up share the old difference, and spouses can designate shares on a state form. To claim it, file the portability form with the new home's homestead application; if March 1 passes, the statute allows a late petition to the value adjustment board for extenuating circumstances, or filing in a later year without refunds for past years. One risk for buyers: if a seller received a homestead exemption they weren't entitled to, the property appraiser can record a tax lien for up to 10 years of exempted taxes plus a 50% penalty and 15% annual interest after giving 30 days to pay – but the lien attaches only once it's recorded, and a purchaser for value before that takes the property free of it (§196.161).