Florida does not promise market value. Article X section 6 requires full compensation, and the difference matters most where a project takes part of a property and leaves the rest behind.
Compensation in a Florida case is usually built from several components. The value of what is taken is only the first. Harm to the remainder, the effect on access, and in Florida the damage to an established business, are each separate questions.
The short answer
Start with the value of the interest acquired, then ask what the project does to everything you keep. On partial takings the second question is frequently worth more than the first.
The base measure and the assumptions inside it.
In preparationWhere a strip or corner is acquired and the rest remains.
In preparationThe reduction in value of the land left behind.
In preparationHow the remainder is valued before and after.
In preparationDriveways, medians and turning movements.
In preparationDamage to an established business, which Florida allows.
In preparationFee, permanent easement or temporary construction easement. Each carries a different value.
The single assumption that moves the number most.
Market evidence applied to the interest acquired.
The whole property as it stood.
The same land with the take made and the project built.
The difference between those two figures, where there is one.
Section 73.071(3)(b), subject to its conditions including the period the business has been established.
Sections 73.091 and 73.092 place these on the condemning authority.
An appraisal that assumes circulation is unaffected, against plans that relocate a driveway or close a median, understates the loss.
Severance damages require a before and after view of the land you keep. Where that analysis is thin, so is the offer.
Florida is one of the few states where this is available at all. It is easy to miss and hard to add late.
Appraisals sometimes assume a fix, such as re-striping a car park, which is not practical on the ground.
Not in Florida. Article X section 6 requires full compensation, which on a partial taking reaches the effect on the property you keep as well as the value of what is acquired.
They measure the reduction in value of the remaining property caused by the taking and the project, usually established through a before and after valuation.
Section 73.071(3)(b) allows business damages in defined circumstances, including conditions on how long the business has been established. Most states allow nothing for this.
Section 73.091 makes the condemning authority responsible for reasonable costs of the defence, and section 73.092 governs attorney fees, calculated on the benefit obtained for the owner.
Explore Florida resources matched to your property type, the project affecting it, and the stage you have reached.
Get Help