Report Property Damage (Hurricane or Other Calamity)

If your home has suffered catastrophic damage, there are provisions in Florida law that pertain to your property tax assessment and how it is affected when your home is destroyed by a hurricane, fire or other calamity.

Notifying us may be the last thing on your mind, but we hope you contact us as soon as possible to let us know what happened and ideally, provide photos, insurance adjusters’ reports, repair receipts and any other related documentation to the structural damage of your home and improvements (not fence damage or downed trees). Once notified, we will document the property’s condition based on photos, insurance reports or a site visit. Homeowners may continue to receive the homestead exemption and the Save-Our-Homes cap as long as they do not claim a new exemption on a different home while they rebuild or repair the damages. 

Our appraisal team will return for a field visit at the end of the year to determine whether or not you have completed the rebuild or repairs. If incomplete on January 1st after the damage occurred, our staff will reduce your market and capped values accordingly as of January 1st for the new tax year. The reduced value will affect the property tax bill you receive next November. For example, if your home suffered extensive damage in September of 2019 and you complete the repairs in February 2020, your November 2019 tax bill will not include any property tax reduction. Instead, the loss of value and resulting tax reduction would appear on your November 2020 tax bill. The value of the repaired or replaced property would not be taxed until November 2021. 

Also of note, if the repaired or replaced building is no larger than 110% of the former damaged building, no value is added over the capped value that existed at the time the damage occurred. If the rebuilt square footage is greater than 110% of the building’s original size, only the value attributed to excess square footage is added above the 3% Save-Our-Homes cap or 10% non-homestead cap. 

The loss or damage to your home due to a calamity (hurricane, storm or otherwise) is a devastating experience. The revaluation of your home is possibly the last thing on your mind; but please let us know as soon as you are able so we can help make the process easier.

Contact our office to discuss the calamity and future assessment with your Area Appraiser. For more information visit Section 193.155 4(b), Florida Statutes