Florida Property Taxes, Exemptions, and Tax Deeds When You Sell

Save Our Homes, and why your buyer's bill jumps

A Florida homestead receives an exemption from taxable value and, more importantly, the Save Our Homes assessment limitation: the assessed value cannot rise more than 3 percent a year or the change in the consumer price index, whichever is lower. Over a long ownership that produces an assessed value far below market.

When the property sells, the cap resets and the new owner is assessed at market value. A buyer looking at your current tax bill is looking at a number they will never pay, and their actual bill can be multiples of it. This is one of the most common reasons a financed Florida contract falls apart late: the buyer's escrow calculation changes and affordability disappears.

The 10 percent non-homestead cap

Property that is not a homestead — rentals, second homes, and investment property — gets a separate limitation capping annual assessed value increases at 10 percent. It applies to non-school levies.

That cap is looser than Save Our Homes, which is why rental owners across Florida have watched assessments climb much faster than their homesteaded neighbours. Combined with rising insurance premiums, it is the arithmetic that has pushed a great many Florida landlords to sell.

Portability, if you are buying again in Florida

A homesteaded owner who sells and establishes a new Florida homestead can transfer accumulated Save Our Homes benefit to the new property, within statutory limits and time frames. It is not automatic — you apply for it with the property appraiser in the new county.

It matters for sale planning. If you are downsizing within Florida, portability can make the move substantially cheaper than the new home's market assessment would suggest. Ask the property appraiser before you assume either way.

Tax certificates and tax deeds

When Florida property taxes go unpaid, the tax collector sells a tax certificate — effectively a lien — at auction, typically by the start of June. The certificate holder earns interest, not ownership.

After two years from the date the taxes became delinquent, the certificate holder may apply for a tax deed, which triggers a tax deed sale of the property itself conducted by the clerk. That is the point at which an owner can actually lose the house. Delinquent taxes do not have to be cleared before you sell — they are identified in the title and lien search and paid from the closing proceeds — but if a tax deed application has been made, the timeline is the constraint.

Proration and the documentary stamp tax

Florida bills in arrears, with discounts for early payment from November. A sale closing mid-year prorates the year's taxes between seller and buyer on the settlement statement.

Separately, Florida charges documentary stamp tax on the deed: $0.70 per $100 of the price in every county except Miami-Dade, which uses $0.60 per $100 plus a surtax on property other than a single-family home. The seller customarily pays it, though the contract controls. It is the single largest statutory cost in a Florida closing, and it is why Florida seller costs run higher than Texas, where there is no transfer tax at all.

If you are behind

• Ask the county tax collector for the exact amount owed, including interest and costs.
• Find out whether a tax certificate has been sold, and when the taxes became delinquent.
• Find out whether anyone has applied for a tax deed, and whether a sale has been scheduled.
• Check whether you qualify for any exemption you are not claiming — homestead, senior, veteran, or disability.
• Remember that delinquent taxes come out of closing proceeds, so a sale does not require paying them first.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Laws change and every situation is different, so talk with a qualified Florida professional about yours.