Video Summary

When do you apply for Homestead Exemption? Well, first off, let’s talk about what you have to have in order to be entitled to Homestead Exemption. You must own and occupy the property before December 31st to apply for Homestead for the following year. In addition to that, you must be a resident of the state of Florida, and furthermore, that you’re not receiving any Homestead Exemptions or any entitlement as a result of being a resident of another state. You need to be sure to do that. If you do, you have until March 1st of the following year in which to apply.

If you buy your property, or acquire this property, it become homestead during the year, you don’t have to wait to apply. You can apply at any time as soon as we get title to the property. I suggest to most folks that I deal with, particularly in a closing, I suggest that they go ahead and do it right away. Get their driver’s license changed, particularly from out of state, to show what their new address is, and tell them to apply right away so it doesn’t slip through the cracks. By getting Homestead Exemption, it exempts the first $25,000 of your tax valuation, or your assessed valuation, or taxable value that the property appraiser puts on your property, from taxes.

That will save you about $500. You pay tax on the taxable value of your property between $25,000 and $50,000. Then, from $50,000 to $75,000, you again exempt everything but school taxes. That saves you about another $300, so there is an immediate savings of $800. If you’ve seen those info commercials, there’s even more when you have Homestead Exemption. Under the Florida Constitution, there’s the Save Our Homes Amendment, which says that once you have Homestead Exemption, your assessed valuation will not increase by the lesser of cost of living or 3%, whichever is less.

As the property value increases and the assessed valuation increases, your taxable value, which I have mentioned a couple of times, stays at a very low level. The whole idea is to keep you in your home so the taxes don’t price you out of it. The question is, be sure if you bought your house, you moved into this home, and you’re not getting exemption from any other state, you need to hustle on down to the property appraiser and apply for a Homestead Exemption. If you’re not a dinosaur like me, and you’re involved with computers or whatever, I believe that you can go online and apply for Homestead Exemption.

Don’t be tempted to fudge as far is if you’re getting exemption in another state, or make sure you’re not. The penalties of getting Homestead Exemption and they find out are very severe. They put a big lien against your property if you do have Homestead in another state, and you have interest. It’s not pretty. Be sure you don’t have … If you have property in another state, that you’re not getting any exemption because you have to swear to that when you apply for Homestead Exemption. Get out there and get your Homestead Exemption before March 1. I’m not sure whether you can apply on March 1 or it has to be before. I think you can apply as late as March 1, but don’t procrastinate. If you have any questions, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What are squatters rights? Well, squatters really do not have any rights whenever they simply move into the property and they don’t have any right to move into the property. It could even be considered a crime as far as breaking and entering as far as that’s concerned. We’ve seen a lot of this whenever folks find that houses are in foreclosure and have been abandoned. Sometimes they simply move in and sit there and they’re squatters and there’s no one that files a complaint about breaking and entering in order to have them removed.

If they’ve entered the property and no one really knows when they did it or why they’re there or who is there, well then that’s problematic and you then have to go through an action and it’s called an unlawful detainer action. You simply file an action saying that, “Look, I’m the owner or I’m the property manager or I’ve leased the property,” you have a right of possession and these folks have entered into possession.

You can have them removed the same way as if you have let someone such as a relative move into a house of theirs because they just needed to stay there for a few months until they got on their feet or their house was built or some other reason, and here it is a couple of years later and they’re still there and they don’t want to move and that the rent’s right and that you’re paying everything. You can then turn around and terminate that or give them notice and you can have them removed under the unlawful detainer statute.

You can’t do it under the eviction statute and the landlord-tenant statute because they’re not tenants and they’re not paying you any rent. As far as squatters are concerned, they’re usually complete strangers and they’re just opportunists who have moved in some abandoned property or what appears to be abandoned, and they really have no rights. However you as the owner of the property may be under the obligation to file an action, have them removed.

There was a scam going on out there where some folks had a service that they were trying to claim ownership of the property by posting something on the door and they would claim that they were claiming this by adverse possession and then they would turn around and rent the property to some unsuspecting person when it was simply being abandoned. I think those folks may have had some problems as far as fraud’s concerned. They certainly didn’t understand adverse possession and how that works.

If you’re a squatter, well good luck. You’re not long for staying there whenever the person who is entitled to possession finds out, they can file an unlawful detainer action. If you’ve got some squatters and you need to get rid of them, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What is Adverse Possession and How Does It Work? Well, whenever you ask a Board Certified Real Estate Lawyer about adverse possession, he puts it in the context of real estate. There is a Statute, which allows you if you have, you possess the property adversely. Meaning that you’re living there and you have what they call Open and Notorious Possession of the property. Means that you probably fenced it or it’s been enclosed by a fence, and you’re not there with permission of the owner of the property. That means that you’re possessing the property adversely.

This can happen, particularly if you believe you own the property, and you might have a Deed to it, and so you’re living there, and yet there’s other people who are claiming ownership. Under that scenario, you can then file what they call a Suit to Quiet Title to eliminate the interest of any other parties, because you have what they call Color of Title. Meaning you have a Deed to the property and that you are there, and you have open and notorious possession. Meaning that you’re living there and it’s not like it’s you’re living in another State, but you’re possessing it.

Then, in addition to that, you need to be paying the taxes on the property, and after seven years of paying the taxes, as well as having some sort of Deed to the property, you can then file a Suit to Quiet Title, based upon Adverse Possession. Now, there’s a problem, however, whenever someone moves into the property, and they don’t have the Deed to the property. They can possess the property adversely. Meaning if someone is out of State, or someone’s died, and no one objects, basically a squatter that moves in and takes over the property.

Well, they’re possessing the property adversely. However, that does not mean that they will eventually have a right to claim ownership of the property, just because they have possessed the property adversely or they’re living there, and they can be subject to a cause of action, which would depossess them of the property, and it’s not a defense to say, “Oh, I’ve been living here for seven years, and oh, I’ve been paying the taxes.” Well, that doesn’t work. However, if they live there and there’s a particular form with the Property Appraiser’s Office that you can complete that says that you wish to return the property for taxes. It’s a particular form that you complete and say, “Send me the tax bill. The purpose of this is that I’m going to pay the taxes for seven years, and after seven years, and I’ve occupied the property, well, then I’m in a position to file a suit to Quiet Title.” That’s another way to obtain title by adversely possession of the property.

Some folks are concerned about when their neighbor’s fence is over their property line by a foot, or a few feet, or whatever. They’re concerned about their neighbor trying to claim their property, they’re losing ownership. That doesn’t happen, because they don’t have title, and furthermore, you could consider consent, so that’s the other thing. Is if you let your relative, or anybody else, your friend, or whatever, live on the property and they pay the taxes, or whatever.

They’re living there with your consent, and so they cannot later claim some kind of ownership, because they are not claiming it adversely. Whenever your neighbor’s fence is on your property, probably the worst thing that you could do was to say, “Move your fence,” and then not do anything about it, because then it would show that they’re adversely possessing a part of it. If you just leave it there, well, they can’t say that they were possessing your property adversely, just because you being a good neighbor, and let them maintain their fence.

If you have any questions about adverse possession and trying to build title, you can give me a call at 727-847-2288. Let me remind you, if you’re viewing this out of State, that I’m a Board Certified Real Estate Attorney in the State of Florida. I can’t give you any advice as far as any other State is involved, and so what I say on this video is, “Florida Specific.” My phone number again is 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

When Would I Need A Quitclaim Deed? Well, first let’s talk about, “What is a quitclaim deed?” A quitclaim deed says that, “I convey to you whatever interest I may have in the property that I am conveying to you.” It’s not saying that you have any ownership interest whatsoever. Most of the time, quitclaim deeds are the primary purpose whenever lawyers use them, is usually in conjunction with clearing the title to real estate. You simply say, “Well, look. I’m not warranting,” meaning that I’m not asserting that I have ownership, like what you do under a Warranty Deed. You’re simply saying, “Look. Here it is. Whatever problems there are with the title to the property, you’ve got them. Whether there’s liens against it, whatever the situation is, here’s a quitclaim deed. I’m simply transferring the property.”

I find that I field calls all the time, or people suggest to me the solution to their real estate title problems is getting a quitclaim deed, and I suggest to these folks that talk to me about their solution, as far as using a quitclaim deed, is the operative word is a Deed or a Conveyance, so you need to look at the particular circumstance as to what kind of deed do you want to use and the intended purpose. That many people throw that term around, “Well, I’ll just use a quitclaim deed,” and thinking that that is a cure-all to any particular problems. It’s unfortunate that sometimes when people just use a quitclaim deed, not thinking that that could cause them problems down the line. Well, it can, and also the conveyance must comply with the requirements of the Florida Law, and need to show the meritable status, and exactly what they are transferring. A quitclaim deed is simply a deed that does not have any warranties and says that, “Look. Whatever interest I have in property, I am transferring to you.”

I would encourage you if you’re dealing, or looking to buy some property, and the person says, “Oh, we’ll take care of this. We’ll just use, I’ll give you a quitclaim deed to the property, and you give me X number of dollars, or whatever.” Be very cautious on that. You need, particularly, if it’s, usually it’s a substantial investment if it’s a house or property, and you may wind up with nothing. That’s the reason why we have title insurance, and for a few hundred dollars or hundreds of dollars, you can verify that you’re actually getting marketable title to the property, or at least know what the liens are against the property. Don’t take someone’s word for it and simply have them execute a deed, a quitclaim deed, whenever you’re paying them good money for the property. Quitclaim deeds are usually used to clear up people’s interest in property, where you’re not purchasing it from them, and it certainly isn’t a cure-all. If you have any questions about quitclaim deeds, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Do I have to get my neighbors permission to erect the fence where there is already one? Well, that sound like a simple enough question. First off is you need to figure out where your boundary line is. If your neighbors fence is on his property or even if it’s on your property, well, you can put up a fence and you can put it back to back with his and you don’t have to ask his permission.

It’s really not a matter of asking the client, the neighbors permission and that you can put fences up on your property and around them back to back. In fact, I’ve seen that whenever a neighbor has a fence up, but it has been somewhat neglected over the years and is not very sightly, so you may then want to erect a more opaque fence, such as one of this new vinyl fences and you can run them back to back with your neighbors fence. The big thing is, you need to put your fence on your property.

If your neighbors fence is on your property, you can explain to them or send them a little letter with the survey showing that their fence is encroaching upon yours and ask them to please move their fence since it’s on your property or work with the neighbor as far as erecting your new fence and suggest that it’s not a problem if he wishes to tie into it. Depending on what the circumstance is as to how you work that out, but the answer to the questions is you don’t need to ask your neighbors permission to put up a fence as long as it’s on your property.

One cautionary note here is that you need to check your home, your restrictive covenants, in your homeowners association restrictive covenants and that they may restrict whether or not you can construct the fence and you may need to get their permission to put up a fence, whether it’s on your property. That’s something that you might want to check on before you do that.

Also, I think that you’re supposed to whenever you do a fence, there’s a finish side and a an unfinished side. The finished side is supposed to face your neighbor, with the unfinished side facing your side. However, that’s your wood fences versus the new vinyl ones, which don’t have an ugly side. Unless they hadn’t been pressure washed in a long time. That might be on both sides. The other sane thing is as far as maintaining it, you need to get your neighbors permission if you do need to do maintenance to go on to his property.

If you have a problem with fences or whatever, well, I’ll be glad to chat with you about it. Give me a call at 727-847-2288.