Legal Scoop on Southwest Florida Real Estate

In prior posts, I mentioned the basic timing of the property tax system in Florida. As a reminder, important dates to keep in mind are:

• January 1: all property in the State must be assessed based on its condition on that particular date (I like to call this the "snapshot photo" date);
• March 1: the general deadline to submit exemption applications;
• July 1: local property appraisers generally have their values determined;
• Mid-August: TRIM notices are mailed to inform property owners of their proposed assessment and tax bill for that year;
• September: 25 days from the date of mailing the TRIMs, the appeal period expires if you want to appeal through the Value Adjustment Board; and,
• November: taxes can be paid for the greatest discount. 

Which begs the question, what can I do now if I'm thinking about my property taxes but haven't paid attention to these dates? Here are 5 quick things you can be doing:

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My colleague, Sharon Zuccaro, previously blogged about Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes on Florida Homeowner Association ("HOA") Disclosures. As Sharon pointed out, sellers of homes within HOAs are not required to deliver copies of the HOA's governing documents to purchasers, but are required to provide a Disclosure form. The Condominium Act provides different disclosure requirements for non-developer sellers of condominium units.

Disclosure Required

The buyer of a condominium unit from an individual is entitled to receive copies of certain governing documents at the seller's expense, if the buyer so requests in writing.  If such request is made, the buyer may cancel the contract for the sale of a condominium unit within 3 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays after the contract was executed by the buyer and the buyer has received a current copy of the declaration of condominium, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules of the association, a copy of the most recent year-end financial report and frequently asked questions and answers document, and a copy of the condominium governance form prepared by the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes.

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George Wheeler is a 30 year employee with the Florida Department of Revenue. He currently serves as IDP Administrator in Classified Use Administration. His responsibilities as Senior Appraiser at DOR include the areas of agriculture/greenbelt, conservation, and working waterfront.

Since my recent article in the Florida Land Development News about property taxation and potential exemptions, I have received numerous questions about the treatment of conservation lands for ad valorem taxation. I first ran into this issue some time ago, and had the pleasure of working with George Wheeler with the Florida Department of Revenue to determine the best option for the landowner in that case. For this blog post, I imposed on George again and he was kind enough to chat with me about this rather  misunderstood area of property taxation.

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Does the recording of a Notice of Commencement signed by the Landlord affect the Landlord's rights under a previously recorded Notice of Lien Prohibition? The answer, of course, is: "it depends." 

A "Notice of Lien Prohibition" is a tool sometimes available to landlords that prohibits contractors and materialmen from placing a lien on the landlord's underlying fee interest to space that has been leased to a tenant, when a tenant has made improvements on the space but failed to pay the the contractor and/or materialman in full. This tool is available under Section 713.10 (2)(b) of the Florida Statutes, which provides the following protection for landlords:

The interest of the lessor shall not be subject to liens for improvements made by the lessee when:

1. The lease, or a short form or a memorandum of the lease that contains the specific language in the lease prohibiting such liability, is recorded in the official records of the county where the premises are located before the recording of a notice of commencement for improvements to the premises and the terms of the lease expressly prohibit such liability; or

2. The terms of the lease expressly prohibit such liability, and a notice advising that leases for the rental of premises on a parcel of land prohibit such liability has been recorded in the official records of the county in which the parcel of land is located before the recording of a notice of commencement for improvements to the premises, and the notice includes the following:

a. The name of the lessor.

b. The legal description of the parcel of land to which the notice applies.

c. The specific language contained in the various leases prohibiting such liability.

d. A statement that all or a majority of the leases entered into for premises on the parcel of land expressly prohibit such liability.

Steps to Take for Protection

To minimize the risk of a lien being placed on the landlord's fee interest to rental property for 

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D. Michael Burke left his career of 15 years in Ohio as the owner of a computer hardware servicing company, to grow into one of the top producing real estate agents in Southwest Florida. Michael has become the “voice of real estate” in Lee County, Florida through his weekly featured column in the Fort Myers News-Press Saturday's Home Finder section, and his own publication with 20,000 subscribers "The Coconut Point Press" which features local real estate market trends in Southwest Florida. D. Michael Burke is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Elite in Bonita Springs.

Michael believes that there is no reason why homes should not sell in the current real estate market.  In the last couple of years, the market in Southwest Florida has shown clear signs of stabilizing with the number of closed sales rising each month and lower inventory levels. So, as we conclude 2011, we would like to share D. Michael Burke's top home selling tips for sellers to effectively sell their properties. The following are Michael's best home selling tips, listed in the order of priority from highest to lowest:

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