The Florida legislature began their regular Spring session this week. The biggest concern is of course the State of Florida's budget woes. There are monumental shortfalls everywhere and the State is slashing and burning programs left and right while looking at all sorts of tax and fee increases. There is a lot going on to say the least.
The Florida Association of Realtors ® has a great legislative tracking webpage, and I will be keeping up with them as best I can. FAR's webpage.
So far in reviewing these bills I see the following:
(1) Several measures affecting property taxes including the following. Most of these have been proposed before but didn't get anywhere.
- A proposed cap of 1.35% of assessed value. HB 385
- A proposed cap on assessment increases on non-homestead property of 5% per year. HB 97
- A proposed 50% exemption for new home buyers that would be phased out over a period of time. HB 97
(2) Several proposals requiring landlords to notify tenants if the property they are renting goes into foreclosure or a short sale situation. One of the proposals mentions a $10,000 fine for non-compliance. HB 401
(3) A proposal to allow vicitims of domestic violence to amend or break a lease. (This has been proposed several times in the past but never made it anywhere.) HB 517
(4) Requirement for landlords to notify lenders if they plan to rent their property out, and restrictions against lenders who foreclose on tenants. HB 875
(5) Requirement for lenders to register vacant properties in foreclosure onto a State registration list. HB 119 and 221
(6) Amendments to the foreclosure fraud law that passed last year. HB 1181
(7) More changes to Florida's already confusing homeowner's insurance laws. (There are a bunch of these bills #'s .)
Those are the more significant bills affecting the real estate community that I was able to find in digging through this long list. If you want to affect changes, now is the time to be contacting your legislators. Don't wait until after the bills have become law.
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Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.
ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Notary Public
407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com We Buy Houses Florida
We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.
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