Provision One: Rebuilding Without Losing the Cap
Section 193.155 of the Florida Statutes contains the Save Our Homes assessment limitation, which caps annual increases in the assessed value of homestead property. Subsection (4) deals with what happens when that property is changed, and paragraph (b) deals specifically with damage or destruction by misfortune or calamity.
The mechanism is worth stating precisely. Changes, additions or improvements replacing all or part of homestead property damaged or destroyed by misfortune or calamity, including ancillary improvements, are assessed on substantial completion using the property's assessed value as of the January 1 immediately before the date the damage was sustained, subject to the assessment limitations, provided the square footage stays within the applicable threshold.
What Are the Current Thresholds?
Where the rebuild exceeds the threshold, the assessed value is increased by the just value of the portion above it. The rest remains capped. So building bigger is not prohibited; it simply means the additional space arrives on the tax roll at full market value.
The provision applies to work commenced within three years after the January 1 following the damage or destruction. It also covers voluntary elevation, which was added by a later amendment and matters on properties in flood-prone parts of the metro.
We publish no current thresholds as settled figures, because they changed recently and county appraisers implement them on their own tax roll cycles. The property appraiser for your county will confirm what applies to your parcel, and the conversation is free.
Provision Two: If You Do Not Rebuild
Where an owner chooses not to rebuild, the homestead exemption comes off the property as of the January 1 following the damage. What survives is the accumulated assessment differential built up under Save Our Homes over the years of ownership.
Florida allows that differential to be transferred to a new homestead within the state, and there is a three tax year statutory window in which to do it.
How Much Is a Differential Actually Worth?
Two practical points follow. The window runs from the January 1 after the damage rather than from when you sell, so a decision that drifts consumes it. And the exemption remains on the land during a rebuild, which is a different position from abandoning the property.
Putting the Two Together
The choice on an Orlando homestead reduces to three situations.
Rebuild within the threshold. The cap survives as though the fire had not happened. This is usually the strongest position on a long-held homestead and it argues against taking the fire as an opportunity to build substantially larger.
Sell and buy again in Florida. The differential can port within the three tax year window. The benefit follows you.
Sell and leave, or sell a non-homestead property. Neither provision applies and the decision is an ordinary one about price, speed and certainty.
Should This Change Whether I Sell?
What This Page Does Not Cover
Florida's insurance claim deadlines, the documentary stamp structure on a conveyance and the wind requirements that apply in the coastal counties are statewide or coastal matters rather than Central Florida ones, and restating them here would not help you. Your closing agent will quote the documentary stamps for your price, and your carrier's correspondence should set out the claim timetable.
One Central Florida distinction is worth knowing though: the enhanced wind provisions that apply in the far south of the state do not apply here. Building requirements in this metro are the ordinary Florida ones, which makes a rebuild simpler and cheaper than the same project would be at the southern end of the state.
What Changes Across the Metro
Central Florida is not one jurisdiction. The City of Orlando permits inside its own limits, and very large unincorporated areas of Orange County are permitted by the county. Beyond them, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and Volusia counties each administer their own, and the incorporated cities within them do the same.
Why Does the Boundary Matter More Than It Looks?
Within the metro, the older established neighbourhoods are covered under an area of older houses near the lakes and a central district of older mixed stock. Suburban and post-war housing behaves differently in a large area of mid-century houses and an eastern belt of newer subdivisions, while the unincorporated county areas and the southern neighbourhoods of mixed stock complete the set.
Beyond Orange County, the same state provisions apply in Kissimmee, Sanford, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Oviedo, Clermont and Casselberry, each under its own building department.
The full index is on our service area index.
Region and Provision Questions
Who Do I Ask About the Homestead Position?
The property appraiser for the county the parcel sits in. They deal with calamity rebuilds routinely, the conversation costs nothing, and they will explain what applies to your parcel rather than in general.
Am I Inside the City or Not?
The county property appraiser's parcel record names the jurisdiction, free. Do not rely on the mailing address, which is the commonest source of wasted weeks here.
Does the Rebuild Clock Depend on My Insurance Settling?
No. The three year period runs from the January 1 following the damage regardless of where the claim stands, which is why a stalled claim can quietly consume a tax benefit as well as time.
Primary Sources
- F.S. §193.155(4) — assessment of homestead property damaged by misfortune or calamity
- Florida Senate Bill 180 (2025) — amendment raising the square footage thresholds
- F.S. §193.155 — Save Our Homes assessment limitation generally
- Florida county property appraisers — damaged property guidance and portability
- City of Orlando and Orange County building departments — permitting jurisdiction