Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida
We live in Florida (Osceola County) and have 20 acres of vacant land which used to be a working orange grove. Because of a bacteria, the grove is now defunct and overgrown. The county upped our taxes to $8,000 from less than $1,000 which is outrageous and we need to know what recourse we may have to change this amount to a more reasonable one and what we may do to keep the agriculture exemption for the property.
1 Answer from Attorneys
To qualify for the exemption, you, the property owners, are required to use their land for "bona fide" agricultural purposes.
By having your property classified as agricultural for property tax purposes, farmers receive reductions in your property tax bills. Farmers receive blank agricultural classification renewal cards in the mail in early to mid-January from their property appraiser.
Under a 2002 law, farmers who don’t fill out and send in their green agricultural-classification cards could be throwing away their tax benefit. Under the new law, farmers must actively certify to property appraisers that they are entitled to the agricultural classification. If they fail to fill out and send in the DR-499C application or an application provided to them by their local property appraiser, the applicant may lose the tax benefit they receive from their agricultural classification.
To receive a DR-499C agricultural classification application form, contact your property appraiser.
No matter what, you must bring the grove back.
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