Amendment 3 would halve the assessment cap on the properties most Florida condos actually are
Amendment 3 would halve the assessment cap on the properties most Florida condos actually are
2026-09-10 · Florida · Legislation · Pending — not yet law
Pending — on the ballot, not yet law. On 3 November 2026 Florida voters decide Amendment 3, which would cut the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead residential property from 10 percent to 5 percent. It requires 60 percent approval to pass.
The measure began as CS/HJR 1-F in the 2026 Special Session, sponsored by the House State Affairs Committee and Rep. Overdorf. It was filed on 1 June 2026, passed the House 75-26 and the Senate 30-9 on 2 June 2026, and was filed with the Secretary of State on 16 June 2026.1
What the text says
From the enrolled joint resolution, assessments on non-homestead “residential real property, as defined by general law, which contains nine units or fewer” shall not exceed:
“a. Before January 1, 2027, ten percent (10%). b. Beginning January 1, 2027, five percent (5%).”
The same measure raises the homestead exemption for all non-school levies to “one hundred and fifty thousand dollars” from 1 January 2027 and “two hundred and fifty thousand dollars” from 1 January 2028. A person who was not a Florida permanent resident as of 31 December 2026 gets only $50,000 until “the fifth year of exemption.” Counties and municipalities would be restricted to enumerated uses: public safety, education, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, retirement benefits, and operations and administration.
Why this reaches Florida condominiums specifically
Florida's condominium stock is disproportionately non-homestead — snowbird units, second homes and investor-held units. Those are precisely the properties the 10 percent cap currently governs, and precisely the properties a 5 percent cap would govern instead.
One caution before anyone states this flatly. The clause is qualified by “as defined by general law.” That individually assessed condominium units fall within it is how the existing 10 percent cap operates, but the precise reach is general-law defined and deserves a lawyer's eye rather than an assumption.
A judge struck the Legislature's own ballot pitch
The title voters will see is not the one the Legislature wrote. On 4 August 2026, Leon County Circuit Judge David Frank granted summary judgment in a challenge brought by former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes and other former state and local officials against Secretary of State Cord Byrd, holding the Legislature's ballot title and summary defective.2
What was struck, from the enrolled resolution, was: “SAVE OUR HOMES FROM EXCESSIVE PROPERTY TAXES.—This amendment benefits Florida taxpayers by:” followed by four taglines about exempting homestead properties, ensuring funding for core services, protecting small businesses, and ensuring fairness for Florida residents.
Judge Frank's reasoning:
“Simply put, the proposed ballot title does not state the basic legal purpose of the amendment; it endorses it.”
The Attorney General was ordered to submit corrected language within ten days, ahead of ballot assembly. The state did not appeal. The Division of Elections record now carries the replacement title: “INCREASED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION; LOWER CAP ON INCREASES IN NON-HOMESTEAD PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS,” with a neutral summary and a linked letter recording that the title and summary were rewritten.
What it would and would not do for an owner
The cap limits how fast the assessed value of a non-homestead property may rise for tax purposes. It is worth being precise about the limits of that, because it is easy to oversell.
It does not cap your tax bill. Millage rates are set by taxing authorities and are not constrained by this measure.
It does not touch association assessments. Your condominium or HOA assessment is a private obligation under the declaration and Chapters 718 or 720. Nothing in Amendment 3 limits a special assessment for milestone repairs, a reserve contribution, or an insurance-driven budget increase. Given that this is the year in which Citizens raised commercial residential wind-only condominium rates 14.1 percent and structural reserve obligations came fully into force, that distinction matters.
It resets on sale. Assessment caps of this kind limit annual growth from a base that is re-established when the property changes hands.
What it would do is slow the rate at which a long-held non-homestead unit's assessed value climbs — which, for owners of ageing condominium units already absorbing structural costs, is a real but partial offset.
And what it would do to the other side of the ledger
Halving the cap on non-homestead property while raising the homestead exemption reduces local revenue, and the measure also restricts what counties and municipalities may spend on. For residents of communities where the local government maintains roads, drainage or public amenities, that is worth weighing alongside the tax effect.
It also intersects with a Florida-specific governance layer. Community development districts levy on the tax bill rather than through the association, carry substantial bond debt — nearly 90 developer-organised districts in three Gulf Coast counties issued $2.9 billion in bonds over five years, by one account — and, as of 1 July 2026, have their first-ever recall process for supervisors under SB 1180.
What is not on any ballot
Two negatives are worth publishing, because both circulate as though they were live.
There is no property-tax-elimination measure. Rep. Ryan Chamberlin told WLRN in April 2026 that he was organising a citizen-led amendment to eliminate all property taxes, saying “I've got teams of people in addition to the attorneys to make sure that we do all of this the right way.” He had not filed petition paperwork at that time, and no filing appears in the state's initiative database now, five months later.3
Nothing on the 2028 ballot touches associations. The Division of Elections database shows 18 active initiatives targeting the 2028 general election — marijuana, petition e-signatures, insurance rates, clemency, abortion, school prayer, redistricting, sentencing, solar, Medicaid, clean water and voting rights. Not one concerns property tax, homestead exemption, homeowners' associations or condominiums.
The one adjacent measure is a dead letter: petition 25-03, “Annual Insurance Policy Rate Reduction,” approved for circulation in February 2025, would constitutionally bar policy cancellation and mandate a rate reduction for claim-free policies. It needs 880,062 signatures. Its current statewide valid total is zero.
What to watch next
The vote on 3 November, and the 60 percent threshold. If it passes, the operative date is 1 January 2027, which is also when the homestead exemption increase begins — and it lands in the same month that the mortgage reserve requirement for condominium projects rises from 10 to 15 percent of budgeted assessment income.
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