Questions We Get Asked

Not on the portion within the square footage threshold. Under the calamity provision the replacement is assessed on substantial completion using the property's assessed value as of the January 1 immediately before the damage.

The long-standing figures were 110 percent of the pre-damage square footage or a total of 1,500 square feet. Senate Bill 180, signed in June 2025, raised those for homestead property to 130 percent or 2,000 square feet, effective on the 2026 tax roll. Confirm the current position with your appraiser.

The assessed value is increased by the just value of the portion above it. The rest stays capped, so the additional space arrives on the roll at full market value.

The provision applies to work commenced within three years after the January 1 following the damage. That clock runs regardless of where your insurance claim stands.

The homestead exemption comes off as of the January 1 following the damage, and the accumulated assessment differential can be ported to a new Florida homestead within a three tax year window.

Only with the numbers in front of you. Space above the threshold costs what it costs to build and carries a permanent assessment increase, because it arrives at just value rather than under the cap.

The statute refers to replacing all or a portion of homestead property including ancillary improvements. How that applies to your particular structures is a question for the property appraiser, who deals with it routinely.

The homestead provisions do not, since they attach to homestead property. The older 110 percent and 1,500 square foot figures continue to apply to non-homestead property.

Your county property appraiser. They handle calamity rebuilds routinely, the conversation is free, and they will answer for your parcel rather than in general.

Because almost all Central Florida housing is slab-on-grade and heat damage to a slab is invisible. It is the largest unknown on most files here and what buyers discount most heavily for.

Older dimensional framing can sometimes be repaired in sections. Newer engineered trusses and floor systems exposed to heat come out whole, so a newer house more often becomes a rebuild.

Close to the centre and on larger unincorporated parcels, sometimes. It is worth establishing before pricing a repair, because it changes which buyers you should be talking to.

Not before an engineer has looked at it. Clearing removes information you may want, and demolition is a cost a buyer prices in anyway.

Not necessarily. A great many properties carry an Orlando mailing address while sitting in unincorporated Orange County, where the county permits. The parcel record settles it free.

Because an application filed with the wrong office is not forwarded, the fee schedules and review times differ, and a contractor quoting from experience in one may be quoting the wrong process for another.

Then that county's department applies, along with any city within it. The state provisions are identical; the permitting is not.

Yes. Who keeps the proceeds is a negotiated term rather than a legal barrier. Tell any buyer at the outset; one who suggests concealing it from your carrier is telling you something useful.

Nothing. No fee, no commission, no repair spend and no obligation if you decline.

Florida charges documentary stamps on the deed. Your closing agent will quote the figure for your sale price, and the rate structure differs at the southern end of the state from what applies here.

The estate has to be able to convey. It is a common cause of delay, and where the property was the deceased's homestead the position is worth taking advice on rather than assuming.