Florida's Amendment 3, on the November 3, 2026 ballot, would cut the annual assessment cap on apartment buildings of 10 or more units from 10% to 5% beginning January 1, 2027. It applies only to non-school taxes and resets to full just value after a sale, a cumulative transfer of more than 50% of the owning entity, or a qualifying improvement.
That is a real, compounding benefit for one kind of owner: the one who buys, stabilizes and holds without changing control. The value-add sponsor, whose plan runs through a renovation, a recap or a sale, is structurally the owner least likely to keep it. This piece traces why, on a real millage.
What does Amendment 3 change for apartment buildings?
It halves the annual cap on how fast the assessed value of a 10-plus-unit apartment building can rise for county, city and special-district taxes, from 10% to 5%, starting with the January 1, 2027 assessment.
Under Florida law, an apartment building with 10 or more units is assessed under s. 193.1555 as nonresidential real property, the same class as commercial property, not under the nine-units-or-fewer rule in s. 193.1554. The constitutional homes for the two caps are Article VII, section 4(g) for residential property of nine units or fewer and section 4(h) for everything else that is not homestead.
A few definitions, because the statute uses them precisely:
- Just value is the property appraiser's estimate of market value as of January 1.
- Assessed value is the value a levy is applied to, which for a capped property can sit below just value.
- An assessment cap, which the statutes call an assessment limitation, limits how much assessed value can rise from one year to the next, regardless of how much just value rose.
- Non-homestead property is any property that is not the owner's homestead: rentals, second homes, commercial buildings and apartment buildings.
- Nonresidential real property, in the s. 193.1555 sense, is any property not covered by the homestead cap or the nine-units-or-fewer cap, which puts a 10-plus-unit apartment building in the same bucket as an office or a shopping center.
Today both caps are 10% for all levies other than school district levies. CS/HJR 1-F, the joint resolution that put Amendment 3 on the ballot, amends both 4(g) and 4(h) to read "before January 1, 2027, ten percent (10%)" and "beginning January 1, 2027, five percent (5%)." If approved by 60% of Florida voters on November 3, 2026, Amendment 3 would lower the annual assessment cap on 10-plus-unit apartment buildings from 10% to 5% beginning January 1, 2027, for non-school levies only.
The joint resolution leaves the 4(h) reset provisions in place. The legislature must provide for reassessment at just value after a qualifying improvement (4(h)(3)) and may provide for it after a change of ownership or control, "including any change of ownership of the legal entity that owns the property" (4(h)(4)). Current law, s. 193.1555(5), already does both.
According to the Property Appraisers' Association of Florida, the change would first show up on August 2027 TRIM notices and November 2027 tax bills. A TRIM notice is the Truth in Millage notice of proposed property taxes that Florida property appraisers mail each August.
In August 2026 a Leon County circuit judge ordered the ballot title and summary rewritten; the rewritten summary was released August 13, and the amendment text itself did not change. I'm describing what it does to an apartment building's tax line, not telling you how to vote.
Which part of the tax bill does the cap actually touch?
Only the non-school part. The cap limits assessed value for non-school levies; school district taxes are levied on full just value every year, cap or no cap, under s. 193.1555(2).
The formula, once:
- Non-school tax = assessed value × non-school millage ÷ 1,000
- School tax = just value × school millage ÷ 1,000
Take a parcel in the City of Lakeland, Polk County, tax code 90510, at Polk County's 2026 final millage. The total is 17.5082 mills. Of that, 5.2580 is school (2.2480 local plus 3.0100 state), and the other 12.2502 is county, city and district levies. In Lakeland, Florida tax code 90510, school district millage is 5.2580 of 17.5082 total mills for 2026, so about 30% of a freshly reset apartment tax bill is never capped. The other 70.0% is cap-eligible.
As the cap binds, the uncapped share grows. In the 8% growth scenario below, school tax is 32.5% of the 2031 bill.
And the cap limits assessed value, not tax. Millage is set separately, every year, by each taxing authority.
What resets the cap on a 10+ unit building?
Three events reset a 10-plus-unit building to full just value as of the next January 1, and a fourth rule adds smaller improvements at just value on their own. In the statute's own terms:
1. A sale. A change of ownership includes any sale, foreclosure, or transfer of legal or beneficial title in equity (s. 193.1555(5)(b)). The property is assessed at just value as of the next January 1.
2. A cumulative change of control. A change of ownership or control also includes "the cumulative transfer of control or of more than 50 percent of the ownership of the legal entity that owned the property when it was most recently assessed at just value." Under s. 193.1555(5)(b), a change of control includes the cumulative transfer of more than 50% of the ownership of the entity that owned the property when it was last assessed at just value, with no time window. Transfers accumulate from the last reset.
For a sponsor, that line can be crossed by a JV partner buyout, a recap that brings in new majority equity, a rescue-capital deal that takes control, or years of LP interest turnover that add up. Shares of a publicly traded company bought and sold on a public exchange do not count toward the 50%. That exception does not cover a merger or acquisition.
3. A qualifying improvement. A qualifying improvement is "any substantially completed improvement that increases the just value of the property by at least 25 percent" (s. 193.1555(5)(a)). A qualifying improvement under s. 193.1555(5)(a) is any substantially completed improvement that raises just value by at least 25%, and it resets the entire property to just value the following January 1, not just the new work. This trigger does not exist for property of nine units or fewer under s. 193.1554.
4. Smaller improvements still aren't capped. Under s. 193.1555(6)(a), changes, additions or improvements to nonresidential real property are assessed at just value as of the first January 1 after substantial completion. The statute defines an improvement as an addition or change that increases value and is "more than a repair or a replacement" (s. 193.1555(1)(b)). The cap then runs on the new, higher base.
Here is the part I'd want a client to hear before the work starts. Whether a given interior renovation program is an "improvement" or a "replacement," and how much of a post-renovation value increase the appraiser attributes to the work rather than to the market, is a parcel-level judgment by the county property appraiser. There is no table that answers it. Ask the appraiser's commercial department, or a Florida property tax consultant, before the scope is final, not after the TRIM notice arrives. If you are pricing the renovation budget and the draw schedule now, how the holdback is structured matters in the same conversation.
The notice duty most sponsors don't know. Under s. 193.1556, an owner of property assessed under s. 193.1555 must promptly notify the property appraiser of a change of ownership or control. A recorded deed counts as notice. An entity-level transfer records no deed, so the owner has to file; the Department of Revenue's Form DR-430 exists for that purpose. A sponsor who fails to notify the property appraiser of an entity-level change of control owes the taxes avoided plus a 50% penalty and 15% annual interest, for up to 10 prior years, under s. 193.1556.
What is the 5% cap worth on a $3 million Lakeland apartment building?
Nothing if values rise 5% a year or less. About $5,328 a year by 2031 if values rise 8% a year. And the cushion disappears the January 1 after any reset.
The driving assumptions:
| Input | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Property | 24-unit apartment building, City of Lakeland, Polk County, FL | Illustrative |
| Tax code | 90510 (Lakeland, no special district) | Polk County Property Appraiser |
| Just value on January 1, 2027 | $3,000,000 (acquired during 2026, so reset to just value) | Illustrative |
| Total millage | 17.5082 | Polk County 2026 final millage |
| School millage | 5.2580 (2.2480 local + 3.0100 state) | Polk County 2026 final millage |
| Non-school millage | 12.2502 | 17.5082 − 5.2580 |
| Millage path | Held at 2026 final rates every year | Simplifying assumption |
| Just value growth | 5%, 8% or 12% a year | Scenarios, not forecasts |
Each year's assessed value is the lesser of just value or the prior year's assessed value times one plus the cap. Holding millage flat is a simplification, and the next section explains why it may not hold.
The year-one bill, 2027, is the same under either cap: $3,000,000 × 17.5082 ÷ 1,000 = $52,525.
| Just value growth | Current 10% cap binds? | Savings from 5% cap, 2031 | Cumulative savings, 2027 to 2031 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% a year | No | $0 | $0 |
| 8% a year | No | $5,328 | $12,531 |
| 12% a year | Yes, from 2028 | $9,136 | $21,296 |
On a 24-unit Lakeland apartment building with a $3,000,000 just value, Amendment 3's 5% cap saves nothing if values rise 5% a year or less, and about $5,328 in 2031 taxes if values rise 8% a year, at Polk County's 2026 final millage (illustrative).
The 8% scenario is the instructive one, year by year:
| Tax year | Just value | Assessed value, 10% cap | Total tax, 10% cap | Assessed value, 5% cap | Cushion (just value − assessed value) | Total tax, 5% cap | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $52,525 | $3,000,000 | $0 | $52,525 | $0 |
| 2028 | $3,240,000 | $3,240,000 | $56,727 | $3,150,000 | $90,000 | $55,624 | $1,103 |
| 2029 | $3,499,200 | $3,499,200 | $61,265 | $3,307,500 | $191,700 | $58,916 | $2,348 |
| 2030 | $3,779,136 | $3,779,136 | $66,166 | $3,472,875 | $306,261 | $62,414 | $3,752 |
| 2031 | $4,081,467 | $4,081,467 | $71,459 | $3,646,519 | $434,948 | $66,131 | $5,328 |
At 8% growth the current 10% cap never binds, so under today's law this owner gets nothing from a cap at all. Amendment 3 is worth $5,328 by 2031, a bill about 7.5% lower than under current law. School tax in 2031 is $21,460 of the $66,131 bill, 32.5%, and none of it moved.
Now reset it. Same building, same 8% growth, 5% cap. A recap transferring 60% of the LLC closes during 2029, so the property is reassessed at just value on January 1, 2030:
| Tax year | Tax, no reset | Tax, reset January 1, 2030 | Extra tax | Cushion lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2030 | $62,414 | $66,166 | $3,752 | $306,261 |
| 2031 | $66,131 | $70,070 | $3,939 | $321,574 |
The two-year cost of the reset is $7,691, and the cushion starts rebuilding from zero. A sale or a qualifying improvement resets the same way. The trigger doesn't change the math, only the date.
Who actually keeps the benefit?
The owner who buys, stabilizes and holds with the same control group. In a rising market, that owner's non-school assessed value compounds at 5% while just value runs ahead, and the cushion widens every year.
The value-add sponsor sits on the other side of the same rule. A plan that renovates, raises value 25% or more, then recaps or sells walks through a reset door at each step. Every one of those steps is a normal part of the multifamily business plan we arrange financing for. None of them is a reason to change the plan. They are a reason to price it honestly.
If your plan is a long hold, Amendment 3 would make Florida's tax line more predictable from 2027 on. If your plan involves a recap, the 50% line is cumulative from the last reset, so how the equity comes in matters. Talk to Florida tax counsel before you sign the recap: the notice and penalty rules make this an expensive thing to get wrong after the fact. The bridge loan that funds the renovation or the recap is the easy part to size; the tax line is the part sponsors miss. None of this is tax advice.
What does it change about buying a Florida apartment building?
Nothing in year one. A purchase resets the property to just value as of the next January 1, under the current cap and the proposed one.
What changes is the gap. A lower cap lets a long-term owner's assessed value fall further below just value over time, so after 2027 the seller's tax bill becomes a worse guide to the buyer's. Because a sale resets a Florida apartment building to just value the next January 1, a lower assessment cap widens the gap between the seller's tax bill and the buyer's.
Underwrite taxes at the reassessed figure, the property appraiser's just value times the total millage for that specific tax code, never at the seller's bill. On a Florida acquisition, that is the number the deal has to carry from year one.
The honest counter-case
It may not pass. Sixty percent is a real threshold. Until November 3, underwrite today's 10% cap and today's millage.
The millage can move. The Property Appraisers' Association of Florida notes that because homestead taxable value would fall, the TRIM rolled-back rate, the millage that would raise the same property tax revenue as the prior year excluding new construction, would effectively become a "rolled-up rate": the highest millage a taxing authority could adopt without exceeding prior-year revenue. Whether boards adopt it is a local budget decision. The amendment restricts what counties and cities may spend ad valorem revenue on; it does not cap the millage rate. A lower cap on assessed value with a higher rate applied to it is a possible outcome. I won't forecast which. Polk County voters are also deciding an additional 1.0 mill school levy on the November 3, 2026 ballot, and a school levy sits on just value whichever way Amendment 3 goes.
Implementing legislation could change administrative details if it passes, as the association's FAQ also notes.
In a flat or falling market the cap is worth zero, at 10% or at 5%. Many Florida apartment values have not been rising fast enough to trip a 10% cap. The 5% growth row in the table is the honest base case for a lot of buildings, and it pays nothing.
FAQ
Does Florida's Amendment 3 apply to apartment buildings? Yes. It lowers the cap for non-homestead residential property of nine units or fewer and for nonresidential property, which includes apartment buildings of 10 or more units, from 10% to 5% beginning January 1, 2027, if 60% of voters approve it on November 3, 2026.
Does the 5% cap apply to school taxes? No. Assessment caps on non-homestead property apply only to non-school levies; school district taxes stay on full just value.
What resets the cap on a 10+ unit building? A sale or other title transfer, a cumulative transfer of more than 50% of the owning entity since the last reset, or a substantially completed improvement that raises just value by at least 25%. Smaller improvements are added at just value on their own.
Does selling LLC interests trigger a reassessment in Florida? It can. Transfers of ownership or control of the owning entity count cumulatively, and once they pass 50% since the property was last assessed at just value, the property resets the next January 1. The owner must notify the property appraiser.
How much would Amendment 3 save on a Florida apartment building? Nothing in a year when just value grows 5% or less. In the Lakeland example, about $5,328 by 2031 at 8% annual value growth on a $3,000,000 building, holding 2026 millage constant.
Will Amendment 3 lower my apartment building's taxes? Not necessarily. It caps assessed value, not millage, and the Property Appraisers' Association of Florida notes taxing authorities could adopt a higher "rolled-up" rate as homestead taxable value falls.
Send Us the Deal and the Plan
If you are buying, renovating or recapitalizing a Florida apartment building, send us the address, the rent roll or T-12, the purchase price or current value, and the hold or recap plan. We will size the financing on the reassessed tax line, not the seller's, and tell you where in the plan the reset lands.
Dominick Prevete, Founder, Blue Sky Capital Advisors. 31+ years in real estate finance; 100+ bank and private-lender relationships across the bridge, agency, and private-credit spectrum. 4 Sutton Ct, Hamburg, NJ 07419 · (908) 220-6404. Financing arranged in all 50 states.
Assessment mechanics only, not tax advice. Amendment 3 has no legal effect unless approved by 60% of voters on November 3, 2026. Example figures are illustrative and hold 2026 millage constant. Statutory language is from CS/HJR 1-F, enrolled, and the 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 193.1555, s. 193.1554 and s. 193.1556. Timing, the "rolled-up rate" and implementing legislation are from the Property Appraisers' Association of Florida's Amendment 3 FAQ. Millage is from the Polk County Property Appraiser's 2026 Final Millage Rates, printed October 6, 2026. Everything here is as of October 23, 2026. Each parcel is assessed by its county property appraiser on its own facts.