Every small multifamily offering memorandum in Fort Lauderdale lists the property tax line from the seller's most recent bill. That figure reflects years of assessment caps that belong to the seller and stop applying when the deed transfers. On November 3, Florida voters decide on Amendment 3, which would tighten that cap for rentals, second homes and commercial property. A tighter cap makes the seller's tax line look cheaper and leaves the buyer's first full-value bill where it was, so the difference between the two grows.
Amendment 3 needs at least 60% of the vote to pass. Most of the coverage has been about homesteaded owners. For anyone underwriting a duplex, triplex or fourplex this fall, the provision that matters is a few paragraphs further into the ballot text.
What the amendment does to non-homestead property
The official ballot summary from the Florida Division of Elections raises the homestead exemption for all non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It also cuts the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. The amendment takes effect January 1, 2027. Rentals, second homes and investment property do not get the larger exemption, and Florida TaxWatch's Amendment 3 FAQ says so directly.
The language voters see has already been revised once. Florida Phoenix reported on August 4, 2026, that a circuit judge ordered the original ballot title and summary rewritten. The measure stayed on the ballot, and the state's booklet now carries the revised wording.
Today a Florida rental of nine or fewer units can see its assessed value rise no more than 10% a year. When ownership or control changes, the property is reassessed at just value as of the following January 1. Under the state's definition, a change of control includes a sale, a foreclosure, or cumulative transfers of more than 50% of the entity that owns the property. Amendment 3 replaces the 10% with 5% and leaves the reset in place. The amended constitutional text for residential property of nine units or fewer says that after a change of ownership or control, including a change in ownership of a legal entity that owns the property, "such property shall be assessed at just value as of the next assessment date."
Buildings with ten or more units, and commercial property, follow a slightly different rule. For that class the amendment says the Legislature "may" require a reset after a change of ownership. The current statute, Section 193.1555, already does. For larger buildings, the reset currently comes from state law, while for the duplex-to-fourplex class it is in the constitution.
How a 5% cap widens the gap at resale
The cap only matters when market value grows faster than the cap allows. The table below uses a hypothetical fourplex whose just value rises 8% a year for five years. It compares the assessed value under each cap with the value a buyer would be reassessed at after a sale.
| Hypothetical, five years of 8% annual value growth | Assessed value as a share of just value |
|---|---|
| Under today's 10% cap | 100%, because the cap never binds |
| Under Amendment 3's 5% cap | About 87% |
| Buyer's assessment after a sale | 100%, reset to just value |
At 8% annual growth the 10% cap never limits anything. At 5%, assessed value compounds to about 1.28 times its starting level while market value reaches about 1.47 times. The seller's assessment then sits about 13% below what the buyer will be assessed at. In a slower year the gap shrinks, and in a faster one it grows. The 13% figure comes only from the arithmetic of this example and is not a forecast for any property.
For a buyer, this changes how much the seller's tax bill can be trusted. With today's 10% limit, a long-held rental's tax line is often a reasonable estimate of what the next owner will pay. Halving the limit makes that line go stale faster, and it falls further behind for every year the seller has owned the property. A pro forma that carries that line forward unchanged overstates net operating income starting with the buyer's first full tax year.
Where Fort Lauderdale's missing revenue could come from
Under the new cap, the assessment rises more slowly. The other part of the bill, the millage rate, is where Amendment 3 could raise costs for non-homestead owners.
The Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research publishes revenue impact estimates by jurisdiction. For the City of Fort Lauderdale it projects lost property tax revenue of about $18.1 million in fiscal 2027-28 and about $33.6 million in fiscal 2028-29, climbing to nearly $43 million by fiscal 2031-32. For local governments across Broward, the same estimates show $535.7 million in the first year and about $1.19 billion a year at full effect. TaxWatch notes that the amendment includes no dedicated state funding to replace any of this.
Mayor Dean Trantalis has said where the pressure would land. Speaking at the Tower Club in August, he put the city's losses at $17 million in the first year and up to $27 million in the second. He said property taxes fund 45% of day-to-day operations and that 62% of the budget goes to police and fire. As the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported, he also said that if the city raised its tax rate, which it has not done in 20 years, non-homesteaded properties would take the hit, rents would likely rise, and second-home owners would pay more.
The city has plenty of room to raise its rate. The Florida Constitution caps municipal operating millage at 10 mills, with exceptions for bond debt and certain voter-approved levies. Fort Lauderdale's FY 2027 adopted budget guide sets operating millage at 4.1193. According to the same guide, the city has now gone 20 consecutive years without raising the rate. The commission adopted the $1.28 billion budget 4-1 on September 14 with about $12 million in cuts, Local 10 reported. Raising the rate is one option, and nobody has proposed it. The city could also cut services or raise fees, and TaxWatch notes that Amendment 3 does not limit local governments' ability to increase taxes or fees.
The fee charged per door
Fees affect small multifamily owners in a way that ad valorem taxes do not, because the rate structure can be per unit. Fort Lauderdale's fire assessment rose from $403 to $444 a year "per residential dwelling unit" in the FY 2027 budget. A single-family home pays $444. A fourplex pays $1,776 on the same tax bill. The city's fire assessment page says rates are set each year during the budget process and appear on the annual property tax bill.
A homestead exemption does not reduce a per-unit fee, and neither does the 5% cap. Any fee increase grows with the number of doors. Fees are one of the backfill options TaxWatch names and one that WLRN's reporting identified. Of everything on the bill, they put the most weight on high-unit-count properties.
What the rental-side models estimate
Two September 2026 analyses estimate what a rate-based backfill could cost rental property. Both assume local governments raise millage enough to replace the lost revenue, so they describe one possible outcome, not a forecast. Under that assumption, the Florida Apartment Association estimates the average Fort Lauderdale apartment's property tax bill could rise by $504 in 2028. The underlying study by Jared Walczak puts the figure at $631 per apartment unit across Broward. The FAA cites research finding that landlords typically pass at least 60% of property tax increases through to rents over time, and sometimes nearly all of them.
Homesteaders would see real savings. Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar estimated average homeowner savings of about $1,300 in the first year and $2,300 in the second, NBC 6 reported on October 5. For investors, the savings are capped growth on property they already own. They also face exposure to whatever the city and county choose to replace the lost revenue with.
Questions to settle before you write an offer this winter
Voters decide on Tuesday, November 3. Assessments under the new cap, if it passes, start January 1, 2027. Deals that close over the next few months will be underwritten without knowing which rate and fee decisions are coming. These questions apply under either outcome:
- How long has the seller held the property? Longer ownership usually means the capped assessment has drifted further below just value. The Broward County Property Appraiser's record shows both assessed and just value.
- Is the transfer a change of control? Buying the LLC that owns the property does not avoid the reset when it moves more than 50% of ownership.
- What does each fee cost per unit? Write down the fire assessment and any other non-ad valorem charges per door, and rerun the deal with each one higher.
- What happens at a higher millage? Model the city portion of the bill above 4.1193. The city says that rate has held for 20 consecutive years, and its current statements from the city describe pressure to raise it.
This is general information about how the amendment and Florida's assessment rules work, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm the figures for any specific property with your tax advisor, attorney and the Broward County Property Appraiser.
FAQ
Would a duplex I rent out get the new $150,000 exemption? No. The larger exemption applies only to homesteaded primary residences. Rentals and second homes get the 5% assessment cap instead.
Does Amendment 3 change school taxes? The increased exemption and the 5% cap both apply to non-school levies. School district taxes are excluded.
Does Save Our Homes still apply to homesteads? Yes. TaxWatch says the 3%-or-CPI cap on homestead assessments, portability and existing personal exemptions all stay in place.
If you're weighing a Fort Lauderdale duplex, triplex or fourplex this winter, Team van Zyl can rebuild the seller's tax line from the property's just value and stress-test it against higher millage and per-unit fee scenarios before you commit. Bring us the rent roll and we'll show you the tax figure to underwrite to.
