Florida Passed Amendment 3. Here Is What Property Owners Need to Know.

On November 3, 2026, Florida voters approved Amendment 3 with about 62% of the vote, clearing the 60% needed to amend the Florida Constitution. (Results remain unofficial as of November 4, 2026.) The changes take effect January 1, 2027 and will first show up on tax bills mailed in November 2027. Your November 2026 bill is not affected.

What Amendment 3 means for you depends on how you own Florida property.

If You Own Your Florida Home

If you own your Florida home, your homestead exemption gets much larger. Today it is about $50,000. It rises to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then grows with inflation.

The catch is that the larger exemption only applies to non-school taxes. School taxes, which make up roughly 40% of the average bill according to Florida TaxWatch, still apply and are calculated the same way as before. Flat fees for things like trash and stormwater also remain. The 3% Save Our Homes cap on yearly increases in your home’s assessed value does not change, and neither does your ability to carry that savings to a new Florida home (known as portability).

If You Are Moving to Florida

If you are not a permanent Florida resident on December 31, 2026, you start with the old $50,000 exemption and do not get the larger one until your fifth year of receiving the homestead exemption.

Proving Florida residency requires showing that Florida is truly your permanent home. That generally means living there and taking steps such as getting a Florida driver’s license, registering to vote and registering your vehicles in Florida, and filing a declaration of domicile with the clerk of court in the county where you live.

The five-year waiting period may also be challenged in court. In 1982, the Florida Supreme Court struck down a similar five-year rule, and the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected other state benefits that favor long-time residents over newcomers. Until a court rules, plan as though the waiting period applies.

If You Own Rentals, Commercial Property or a Second Home

If you own rentals, commercial property or a second home, you do not get the new homestead exemption. What you get instead is a lower limit on how fast the value used to tax your property (called the assessed value) can rise. Today, that value can go up as much as 10% a year. Starting in 2027, the limit is 5% a year. For example, a rental property assessed at $400,000 could rise to no more than $420,000 the following year, instead of $440,000.

That is helpful, but it does not guarantee a lower tax bill, for three reasons:

• It does not apply to school taxes. The school portion of your bill is still based on the property’s full market value.
• It ends when the property changes hands. After a sale, or after more than 50% of the company that owns the property changes hands, the assessed value resets to full market value. If you are buying, base your numbers on what the taxes will be at market value, not on the seller’s current tax bill.
• It limits the value, not the tax rate. Your city and county can still raise the tax rate they apply to that value.

The third point is the one to watch. Homeowners are getting a large tax cut, and state economists project that cities and counties will collect close to $12 billion less each year once the change is fully in place. The Legislature considered creating a state fund to help cover that loss, but dropped it. That leaves local governments to balance their budgets on their own, either by cutting services or by raising money elsewhere. The most likely sources are higher tax rates and new fees on the property that is still fully taxed, which is mostly rentals, commercial property and second homes.

There is a limit. A separate state law passed in June restricts how much local governments can raise tax rates without a supermajority vote of the local governing body or approval by voters. Even so, many cities and counties will face a real budget gap, and owners of non-homestead property should expect local governments to look to them to help close it.

Those increases rarely stop with the owner. Under a triple net lease, the tenant pays the property taxes, so a higher tax bill passes directly to the tenant. Under many other commercial leases, tenants pay their share of any increase over a base year. Residential landlords do not pass taxes through line by line, but higher costs tend to show up in future rents. For renters, who get no direct benefit from Amendment 3, that could mean paying more.

What to Do Now

Here is where Amendment 3 is most likely to affect our clients, and what to consider.

1. Moving here? If you plan to make Florida your permanent home, try to complete the move before December 31, 2026. Missing that date means receiving the smaller $50,000 exemption for your first four years.
2. Restructuring ownership? Investors often move property into an LLC or bring in new partners. For rentals and commercial property, those changes can count as a change of ownership that resets the assessed value to full market value and wipes out the benefit of the 5% limit.
3. Buying or refinancing? Base your numbers on what the taxes will be at market value, not the seller’s current bill, and test what happens if local tax rates or fees go up. Higher taxes reduce the income a property produces, which affects both what it is worth and how much a lender will lend against it.
4. Leasing? Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, check who pays property tax increases under your lease. If you are negotiating a new lease or a renewal, now is a good time to address base years, caps and tax pass-throughs.

Kessler Law represents investors, lenders and business owners in Florida, New Jersey and New York. If you have questions about how Amendment 3 affects your property or a deal in progress, please contact us.

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice.