How Renting Out Your Homestead Property Can Affect Your Florida Homestead Exemption

– Florida’s homestead protection prevents creditors from forcing the sale of a debtor’s primary residence to satisfy a judgment or lien.
– The protection applies to primary residences up to one-half acre within a municipality and up to 160 contiguous acres outside of a municipality.
– There are four exceptions to the homestead protection, including liens and judgments for taxes, obligations contracted for the purchase of real property, labor, services, or materials furnished to repair or improve real property, and other obligations contracted for labor performed on real property.
– Florida’s homestead exemption for property taxes reduces the home’s value for assessment of property taxes by as much as $50,000. 1. A Florida homeowner can only designate one property as their homestead for tax purposes, and renting out this property may be considered abandoned until the owner physically occupies it.
2. The amended law does not apply to members of the United States Armed Forces who rent out their homestead while deployed.
3. It is unclear how this change may affect creditor protection on the designated homestead property.
4. Renting out both designated homestead properties could lead to the loss of homestead protection for tax purposes, and a creditor could argue that this also voids creditor protection.
5. Crafty creditors may use this argument to coerce debtors into settling their owed debt.

https://www.jimersonfirm.com/blog/2013/09/the-rental-of-homestead-property-can-destroy-floridas-homestead-exemptions/