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Save Our Home Rule Offers Surprise for Homeowners

Homeowners who felt there was some level of inequity in property valuation due to Save Our Homes (SOH) can breathe a sigh of relief. Because of a little known interpretation of the SOH legislation called the Recapture Rule, homeowners (homestead property) previously protected from rapidly escalating property value will see an increase in taxable value.  SOH protection capped increases in homestead values at 3 percent per year, while homes without SOH protection experienced escalating property value at market rates.

The Recapture Rule permits increases in the assessed value (determined by the Property Appraiser annually) although the market value may decrease.  In instances where the property's market value exceeds the assessed value, the assessed value will increase within the above limits until the market value and assessed value are equal. 

Under Save Our Homes, homeowners will keep getting automatic increases in the assessed value until it catches up with whatever the market value is for the home. By law, the Save Our Homes increase is the lesser of either 3 percent or the annual change in the federal Consumer Price Index. In 2008, the Consumer Price Increase went up by one-tenth of 1 percent, which is the amount applied to the assessed value of homesteaded homes throughout Florida in 2009.

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