February was a busy month for our Owner/Broker, traveling to Tallahassee three times with three different groups to meet with representatives regarding property owner’s interests:
FCAA (Florida Apartment Association)
NEFAR (Florida Realtors)
Northeast Florida NARPM (NARPM Florida)
Each group had its own specific issues to discuss with our representatives but there are some common elements….
FCAA
- Permit affordable and workforce housing by counties and cities to set up programs to reduce property taxes for developers with so much of the property being designated for affordable homes.
- Tenant safety by advocating key access best practices.
NEFAR
- Eliminate business rent tax: Florida the only state in the union that assesses sales tax on commercial leases.
- Condominium reform to increase safety and transparency.
- Advocating to reduce property insurance costs.
- Vacation rental – advocating to have all short-term platforms pay the tourism tax and to follow hotel & restaurants safety guidelines.
NARPM Florida
- Advocate for tenant safety by requiring a 24-hour notice to enter a property instead of 12 hours.
- Advocate for private property rights and reducing cost by eliminating permits and fees to prune, cut or remove a tree as long as it has been certified by an arborist.
- Advocate that we do not need a statue for fee in lieu of security deposit; this will help tenants gain some affordability when renting a home.
- Advocate to streamline the HUD Section 8 program to help with affordability of homes and make it more attractive for Housing Providers to participate.
- Advocate that Air conditioning also be an emergency in the state of Florida such as heat and no hot water.
There are a handful of bills that this combination of groups are monitoring as well which are likely to be the subject of future posts! In the meantime, we welcome questions about any of these issues as advocacy on behalf of property owners is in our DNA!