You Just Became Responsible for a Broward Property
Maybe a parent died and the house in Hollywood is now yours to look after. Maybe the court appointed you personal representative (the person who runs a Florida estate), or you stepped up as trustee of a family trust that holds a condo in Fort Lauderdale. However it happened, you are now the person the county expects to hear from, and the county is not one office. It is at least four, and none of them talks to the others.
The Property Appraiser decides what the property is worth on paper and which exemptions apply. The Tax Collector sends the bill and, eventually, sells a lien if it goes unpaid. The county records office holds the deed that says who owns the place. And the city where the house sits watches its condition, with the power to fine an empty house by the day. The appraiser can remove an exemption while the Tax Collector keeps mailing bills addressed to someone who has died and a code officer photographs the overgrown yard. You are the only one who sees the whole board.
If the death is recent and you are still sorting out the first steps, start with our calm checklist of what to do when a parent dies in Florida, then come back here. If the house itself is the question, our guide to inheriting a house in Florida covers the ownership side. This page covers the offices.
The Property Appraiser: Homestead, Portability, and Deadlines
The Broward County Property Appraiser, Marty Kiar, values every parcel in the county and administers the exemptions that shrink the tax bill. For a new owner, this is the office with the sharpest deadlines and the least forgiveness.
Start with the hard truth about the homestead exemption. It does not transfer when the owner dies. The exemption belonged to the person, not the house. In most cases the property is reassessed after the owner’s death, and the Save Our Homes cap that held the assessment down for decades resets. That is why an inherited home’s tax bill can double or worse the year after the funeral, and why heirs who plan to live in the home need to claim their own exemption rather than coast on the old one. A surviving spouse, or a dependent who already made the home their permanent residence, may be able to keep protections in place; ask the appraiser’s office before assuming either way. How Florida’s homestead rules protect the home itself is a separate topic, covered in our guide to Florida homestead law.
Coasting is also dangerous. If the roll keeps showing an exemption the new owners do not qualify for, Florida law lets the appraiser record a lien for the back taxes plus a 50 percent penalty for each year and 15 percent annual interest. That is not a risk worth a few quiet years of lower bills.
The deadlines come from the appraiser’s own homestead exemption page. The timely filing window for 2026 ran through March 2, 2026, and the absolute late-filing deadline for any 2026 exemption is September 18, 2026. After that date, state law allows no filing for the year, no matter how good the reason. If you moved into an inherited Broward home this year and it is your permanent residence, file before September 18; the office accepts applications online, and its customer service line is 954-357-6830.
Two more programs worth knowing. Portability lets a Florida homeowner carry up to $500,000 of accumulated Save Our Homes savings from an old homestead to a new one, as long as the new homestead is established by January 1 of the third year after leaving the old one; the appraiser publishes an online portability estimator. Note that portability moves your own savings when you move; it does not carry a decedent’s savings to an heir. And homeowners 65 and older with limited household income can claim an additional $25,000 low-income senior exemption against the county portion of the bill (and the city portion in cities that adopted it). The income limit adjusts every year, so check the current figure rather than a neighbor’s memory.
Property Taxes: TRIM Season, Discounts, and the Deceased Owner’s Bill
Every August, the Property Appraiser mails the TRIM notice, the proposed-tax notice most new owners mistake for junk mail. It is not a bill, but it is the year’s most important preview, showing the property’s new assessed value, the exemptions still on the roll (or newly missing), each taxing authority’s proposed rate, and the dates of the public hearings where those rates get set. It also carries your deadline to challenge the assessment, measured in days from the mailing, printed on the notice itself. If the value looks wrong, or an exemption vanished that should not have, TRIM season is when you can still do something about it.
The bill itself comes from a different office. Broward now has a separately elected Tax Collector, and property tax payment runs through that office, not the appraiser. The Tax Collector’s property tax page sets out the schedule. Bills go out in November and are due in full by March 31. Paying early earns a discount of 4 percent in November, 3 percent in December, 2 percent in January, and 1 percent in February. On a Broward-sized bill, the November discount is real money, and an estate is allowed to take it like anyone else.
Miss March 31 and the machinery starts. Taxes become delinquent April 1, interest and advertising costs attach, and on or around June 1 the Tax Collector auctions a tax certificate on the unpaid balance. That certificate is a lien investors buy, and if the taxes stay unpaid long enough, the certificate holder can apply to force a tax deed sale of the property itself. An inherited house has been lost this way over a bill nobody opened. Two practical moves. Keep the taxes current even while probate is pending, and make sure the mailing address on the tax roll reaches a living person, which is fixed through the Property Appraiser’s office.
Official Records: Where Deeds Are Recorded in Broward
Broward County’s deeds, mortgages, liens, and other official records are kept by the county’s Records, Taxes and Treasury Division at 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 114, in Fort Lauderdale (main line 954-831-4000). The county’s posted recording fees are $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, plus $1 for each name past four that must be indexed, and Florida’s documentary stamp tax (70 cents per $100 of the price paid) is collected at recording. Deeds that carry no purchase price, like many estate distributions, usually owe only a minimal stamp, though a mortgage on the property can change that math. The county says a deed sent by mail normally records in about four to six business days.
Before you record anything, pull what is already there. The county’s Official Records search is free and covers recorded documents from 1978 forward. Find the prior deed and read it, because how the decedent actually held title decides everything that follows. A home owned jointly with survivorship rights passes outside probate, a home held in a trust follows the trust, a lady bird deed already named who takes, and a home in the decedent’s sole name is headed to court. Heirs are routinely surprised by what the deed actually says, and the surprise is far cheaper now than at a closing. While you are in the records, search the owner’s name for mortgages, judgment liens, and code enforcement orders; they all live in the same index.
Code Enforcement and the Lien Trap
This is the section that saves estates the most money, because it is the trap nobody warns heirs about. Florida’s code-enforcement law gives cities and counties a fast administrative track for property violations. A code officer cites the property, the owner gets a deadline to fix it, and if nothing happens the case goes before a special magistrate, an attorney appointed by the local government with authority to hold hearings, order compliance, and impose fines. Those fines can run up to $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat violation, and they keep accruing until the property is brought into compliance. A certified copy of the magistrate’s order is then recorded in the official records, where it becomes a lien on the property and on other real and personal property the violator owns. The law does not let these liens be foreclosed against a constitutional homestead, but an inherited house sitting empty usually is not anyone’s homestead anymore, which is exactly the problem.
Think about how a vacant inherited house lives. The grass grows, a storm takes a fence panel, the pool turns green, and every notice the city sends goes to an owner who has died. By the time the family lists the house, months of daily fines have compounded into a five-figure recorded lien that must be dealt with before or at closing. The estate did nothing wrong except not know.
Who to call depends on where the property sits.
- Hollywood. The city’s Code Compliance unit (954-921-3061, at City Hall, 2600 Hollywood Blvd.) runs cases before a special magistrate. You can report a concern through the city’s Hollywood Connect portal and look up existing cases on a property through the city’s online records portal.
- Fort Lauderdale. The Community Enhancement and Compliance Division handles code cases, which are heard by a special magistrate appointed by the City Commission.
- Unincorporated Broward. For property outside any city, the county’s own code enforcement section has jurisdiction, with its own special magistrate and the same daily-fine authority.
- Any other city. Each of Broward’s municipalities runs its own code office under the same state framework. Call the city hall for the city on the property’s address.
Here is the judgment call. Never ignore a code notice because the estate is still in probate. Show up, explain the situation, and ask for time; magistrates deal with estates constantly. Then fix the violation, because compliance is what stops the daily accrual, and a complying owner is in a far stronger position to negotiate the accrued balance. If a lien has already been recorded and a sale is coming, deal with it early; it will not evaporate at closing. When the probate case and the code case are tangled together, that is a legal problem worth a conversation, and it is the kind our Fort Lauderdale probate practice handles.
Inherited a Broward property and not sure which fire to put out first?
That is what the free consult is for. In 30 minutes we will sort the deadlines that matter from the ones that can wait, and tell you plainly whether you need probate at all.
Book your free consultThe County Commission and Your Property
Broward is governed by a nine-member County Commission, elected by district, and its votes reach your property more directly than most owners realize. The millage votes each fall set the county’s share of the tax rate on November’s bill. Zoning and land-use items redraw what can be built near your parcel. County land purchases, road projects, and budget hearings all pass through the same agenda. If you now manage a property here from out of state, the agenda is how you find out what is coming before it arrives.
The watching is easy. The Commission’s agendas, backup materials, and minutes are published on its legislative portal, broward.legistar.com, with agendas posted before each meeting and meetings streamed live. First, find your district with the county’s Find Your Commission District lookup, so you know which commissioner answers for your address. Then make a habit of skimming the posted agenda for your area’s items. Ten minutes with an agenda beats hearing about a rezoning from the neighbor after the vote.
Ordinances and Zoning Lookups
Every rule that binds your property, from fence heights to rental registrations, lives in a published code, and the codes are layered. The county’s code applies countywide and governs unincorporated areas, while each city keeps its own code and land-development rules for property inside its limits. All of them are searchable free.
- Broward County. The county Code of Ordinances on Municode.
- Fort Lauderdale. The city’s Code of Ordinances and its Unified Land Development Regulations (the zoning code), both on Municode.
- Hollywood. The city’s Code of Ordinances and zoning regulations on American Legal Publishing’s library.
Here is why an heir should care. Zoning decides what the lot can legally be, and that drives what it sells for. A duplex that can become a triplex is a different asset from one that cannot. And before you rent an inherited house out to cover the taxes, read the code first; short-term rentals in particular are regulated city by city, with registration programs in some cities, and the code office you met in the last section is the one that enforces them. When the code text is ambiguous for your plans, ask the city’s planning and zoning staff in writing before you spend money on the assumption.
When Property Meets an Estate
Everything above is about managing the property. Underneath it sits the harder question. Who legally owns it now? The offices in this guide cannot answer that. Ownership passes by deed, by trust, or by a probate case, and until it passes cleanly, the property cannot be sold, refinanced, or often even insured properly.
The prior deed you pulled from the official records tells you which road you are on. If the home was in the decedent’s sole name, it almost certainly needs probate in Broward County, where the file is opened with the Clerk in Fort Lauderdale and we handle the court work remotely for families anywhere. If a trust or a survivorship deed holds the title, the path is shorter but still has paperwork worth doing right. Our guide to inheriting a house in Florida walks the routes side by side.
And if this guide is teaching you what your own family would face someday, the cheapest moment to fix that is now. A lady bird deed passes a Florida home automatically at death, no probate, no court, for a flat $399 plus recording, while you keep full control for life. One recorded document today spares your family this entire page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Homestead Exemption Transfer When I Inherit a House in Broward County?
No. The exemption belonged to the person, not the house, and it does not ride along to you. In most cases the property is reassessed after the owner’s death, and if you plan to live there you must qualify and file for your own homestead exemption with the Broward County Property Appraiser, which you can do online at bcpa.net. The timely window for 2026 closed on March 2, 2026, but late filing stays open until September 18, 2026, and after that date state law allows no filing for the year at all. One warning. If the estate quietly keeps enjoying the old exemption, Florida law lets the appraiser lien the property for the back taxes plus a 50 percent penalty for each year and 15 percent annual interest. A surviving spouse or a dependent who already lived in the home may be able to keep protections in place, so ask the appraiser’s office about your exact situation.
How Do I Find Out if a Broward Property Has Code Liens?
Start with the county’s Official Records search at officialrecords.broward.org, where recorded documents from 1978 forward are searchable free. Search the owner’s name and the address, and look for recorded code enforcement orders and liens. Then call the code office for the city where the property sits, because fines can be accruing on open cases before anything hits the record. Hollywood’s Code Compliance unit answers at 954-921-3061 and posts case records in its online permitting portal, and Fort Lauderdale’s Community Enhancement and Compliance Division handles cases there. If you are preparing to sell, order a municipal lien search on top of the title search; it surfaces open cases, unpaid utility balances, and permit problems that a records search alone can miss.
Where Do I Record a Deed in Broward County?
Deeds are recorded with the Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division at 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 114, in Fort Lauderdale. The county’s posted schedule is $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, plus $1 for each name past four that has to be indexed, and Florida’s documentary stamp tax is collected at the same counter. The county says a deed mailed in normally records in about four to six business days. Before you record anything, make sure the deed actually does what the estate needs; recording a flawed deed creates a public problem that costs far more to unwind than it did to create.
When Are Broward Property Taxes Due After Someone Dies?
On the same schedule as everyone else’s; the bill does not pause for grief or probate. The Broward County Tax Collector mails bills in November, and the taxes are due in full by March 31 of the following year. Paying early earns a real discount, 4 percent in November, 3 percent in December, 2 percent in January, and 1 percent in February. On April 1 the taxes become delinquent, interest and advertising costs attach, and around June 1 the Tax Collector auctions a tax certificate on the unpaid balance, which is a lien investors buy. An estate or personal representative should keep the taxes current even while the court work is pending; the November discount alone can be meaningful money on a Broward bill.
How Do I Watch What Broward County Is Doing Near My Property?
The County Commission’s agendas, backup materials, and minutes live on its public legislative portal at broward.legistar.com, and agendas post before each meeting. Millage votes there set the county’s share of your November tax bill, and land purchases, zoning matters, and budget hearings all show up as agenda items. First find which of the nine districts your property sits in with the county’s online district lookup, then skim each posted agenda for your area. Your city runs its own commission with its own agendas, so for anything block-by-block, watch the city as well as the county.
What Happens if a Vacant Inherited House Gets Code Violations in Broward?
The city cites the property and gives a deadline to fix it. If nobody responds, the case goes to a special magistrate, an attorney with authority under Florida’s code-enforcement law to hold hearings, order compliance, and impose fines that can run up to $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for repeat violations. A certified copy of the order is then recorded, and it becomes a lien on the property and on other property the violator owns. Vacant inherited homes are the classic victim, because notices go to an owner who has died while the grass keeps growing. The fix is speed. Get the property into compliance fast, because compliance stops the daily accrual and puts the estate in a position to deal with the balance.
Common Situations
The vacant house in Hollywood. A personal representative in New York inherited responsibility for her mother’s Hollywood house. It sat empty for eight months while the family grieved and the probate paperwork crawled. The city cited the overgrowth and a broken fence, the notices went to her mother’s name, and by the time a realtor flagged it, a special magistrate’s order had been running daily fines for months and a lien sat on the record. The house sold, but a chunk of the estate went to resolving a bill that one phone call and a lawn service would have prevented.
The exemption that quietly stayed on. An adult son moved into his father’s Broward home after the funeral and kept paying the old, comfortable tax bill for two years without telling anyone. The roll still showed his father’s homestead exemption. When the appraiser’s office caught up, the estate faced back taxes with penalty and interest. He qualified for his own exemption the whole time; filing it in the first year would have cost him nothing but a form.
The trustee who read the deed first. A trustee managing her aunt’s Fort Lauderdale duplex spent one evening on the county’s free records search before listing it. The prior deed showed the duplex was still titled in the aunt’s sole name, never moved into the trust as everyone assumed. That discovery, made early, meant a short probate started immediately instead of surfacing as a crisis three days before closing.
Sources of Law and Official Sites
- Florida’s code-enforcement framework: Fla. Stat. ch. 162 (County or Municipal Code Enforcement), including §162.09 (fines up to $250 per day for a first violation and $500 per day for a repeat violation; a recorded certified order "shall constitute a lien against the land on which the violation exists and upon any other real or personal property owned by the violator"; no foreclosure of such a lien against constitutional homestead). (retrieved 2026-08-12)
- Improperly claimed homestead exemption: Fla. Stat. §196.161 (lien for back taxes with "a penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid taxes for each year and 15 percent interest per annum"). (retrieved 2026-08-12)
- Documentary stamp tax on deeds: Fla. Stat. §201.02. (retrieved 2026-08-12)
- Official offices relied on for this page: the Broward County Property Appraiser (2026 homestead deadlines, online filing, portability, senior exemption, TRIM), the Broward County Tax Collector (bill dates, discounts, delinquency, tax certificates), Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury (deed recording and fees) with the Official Records search, the County Commission legislative portal and district lookup, Hollywood Code Compliance, Fort Lauderdale Community Enhancement and Compliance, Broward County Code Enforcement, and the county and city code libraries on Municode and American Legal Publishing. All names, addresses, deadlines, and fees on this page were verified against these official sources on August 12, 2026. Deadlines and figures change annually; the official pages control.
Updated on August 12, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about Florida law and Broward County offices, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Offices, fees, and deadlines change; verify against the linked official sources, and bring your specific facts to a free consult.