Florida Statutes Governing Property Appraiser Assessments

The duties of Florida’s sixty-seven county Property Appraisers are established by Florida law. The Florida Constitution Article VII, Section 4, requires the Legislature to establish regulations that “shall secure a just valuation of all property for ad valorem taxation.”

To comply with this requirement, the Florida legislature created Section 193.011, Florida Statutes, requiring the property appraiser to consider eight factors in arriving at a just valuation of a property. The eight factors are as follows:

1. The present cash value of the property,
2. The highest and best use to which the property,
3. The location of said property,
4. The quantity or size of said property,
5. The cost of said property and the present replacement value of any improvements,
6. The condition of said property,
7. The income from said property, and
8. The net proceeds of the sale of the property.

The Florida Supreme Court has interpreted the meaning of “just valuation” and the application of the eight statutory factors that the Property Appraisers consider in arriving at just value.

Case law and statutory provisions require the Appraiser to consider the eight factors to determine a just valuation that represents what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. The Property Appraiser is not required to apply all eight of the factors. If any factor would not arrive at a fair market value for the property, then the appraiser may disregard using it in their appraisal.[1]

The Property Appraiser is required to reassess all property to its just value as of January 1^st each year. This means that the value of a property reflects the eight factor application to any given property on that date. Any change which occurs after January 1^st applies to the following tax year.