Tax appeals · Updated July 2026
Florida’s 2026 appeal season: what the TRIM notice starts
Every August, Florida property appraisers mail the TRIM notice — Truth in Millage — showing your proposed assessment for the year. Printed on it is the only deadline that matters: you have roughly 25 days from the mailing date to petition your county’s Value Adjustment Board. Miss it and the assessment stands until next summer.
This season is unusual. Much of Florida has been cooling — hardest in the southwest — while assessments set as of January 1 carry last year’s heat. That lag is exactly the kind of gap appeals exist to correct, but Florida’s homestead cap means the opportunity is heavily concentrated in specific groups of owners. Here’s who actually has a case, and what to do the week the notice arrives.
Why 2026 is a lag year
Florida values property as of January 1, using sales from the months before. In markets that fell through the year — southwest Florida’s single-family markets and condos across much of the state — that timing means assessments can sit above what the same home would sell for today, and in soft markets, above what it was worth on the valuation date itself.
Condos deserve their own mention. Statewide condo inventory has ballooned while prices slid, and buildings hit with post-Surfside structural-reserve requirements have seen values pressured further by special assessments. A unit’s market value claim from mass appraisal can badly miss what buyers will now actually pay.
Who has a real case (and who doesn’t)
Save Our Homes caps assessment growth at 3% per year for homesteaded owners — so if you’ve owned your homestead for many years, your assessed value is probably far below market and an appeal has nothing to correct. Don’t spend money confirming that.
The strong cases cluster in three groups: recent buyers (2021–2023), whose caps reset at purchase and who are assessed at or near peak-market prices; condo owners in softened buildings; and non-homestead property — second homes and rentals — which carries a weaker 10% cap and rides the market much more directly.
- Bought in 2021–2023 → assessment likely reflects peak pricing
- Condo in a building with falling sales or special assessments
- Non-homestead (second home / rental) in a cooling market
- Long-tenure homesteaders: usually NO case — the cap already protects you
The calendar, from notice to hearing
TRIM notices mail in mid-August (the exact date varies by county). From the mailing date you have about 25 days to file a VAB petition with your county clerk — most large counties take petitions online, with a small filing fee. That puts most 2026 deadlines in the first half of September.
Before or after filing, you can also request an informal conference with the property appraiser’s office — some cases resolve there. If yours doesn’t, a special magistrate (often an appraiser) hears your petition and weighs evidence of market value as of January 1, 2026.
What wins in front of a special magistrate
Magistrates act on comparable-sales evidence: what similar properties sold for around the January 1 valuation date, adjusted for the differences. A licensed, USPAP-compliant appraisal with that analysis — and a signature a magistrate can rely on — is the strongest document a homeowner can file. A stack of Zillow screenshots is not.
Because the deadline is tight, sequence matters: check whether the numbers support an appeal the week your TRIM arrives, order evidence immediately if they do, and file the petition without waiting for the report — the petition preserves your hearing date; the evidence follows.
Questions people ask
About 25 days after your county mailed its TRIM notice — the exact date is printed on the notice. TRIM notices mail in mid-August, so most county deadlines land in early-to-mid September 2026.
If you’ve owned for years, usually not — Save Our Homes has likely held your assessed value below market. If you bought in 2021–2023, your cap reset at purchase and it’s absolutely worth checking.
No. VAB petitions are built for property owners — file online with your county clerk, pay the small fee, and bring evidence of market value. What you need is the evidence, not the lawyer.
We’re not an AVM, a computer model, or a real-estate agent estimate. Every report is prepared under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and signed by a licensed appraiser in your state — the same qualification required for mortgage appraisals.