As the summer days begin to fade and the cooler weather of fall comes sweeping in only means one thing. It means it is that time of year to start preparing to apply for Florida’s – young – Multifamily Middle Market (also known as “Missing Middle”) property tax exemption! 

As a refresher, the Missing Middle property tax exemption provides qualifying multifamily developments a discount equal to either (i) 75% of the assessed value of the units that provide affordable housing to persons and families with annual household incomes between 81% and 120% of the area median income (AMI), or (ii) 100% of the assessed value of the units that provide affordable housing to persons and families with annual household incomes at or below 80% AMI. The exemption requires a development to be “newly constructed” within the past five years before the date of the project owner’s first filing for the Florida Housing Finance Corporation’s (“Florida Housing”) Multifamily Middle Market (“MMM”) Certificate.

To be eligible for the Missing Middle property tax exemption, the development must contain at least 71 units for tenants with incomes no greater than 120% AMI. For a specific unit to qualify, the unit must be occupied by tenants meeting such income restriction and the gross rent must not exceed the lesser of the amount published by Florida Housing on its multifamily rental programs rent and income limit chart, or 90% of the fair market value rent as determined by a rental market study, which must be provided with the certification request.

Interested owners should be aware of the following key deadlines when pursuing the 2025 Missing Middle property tax exemption:

• FHFC confirmed in its Sept. 5 workshop that its MMM Certification portal will open and begin accepting requests on Sept. 30, 2024. Owners must submit their requests to Florida Housing no later than Dec. 19, 2024, at 3 p.m. EST; 
• Owners must have appropriate rents and tenants in place in units under consideration by Jan. 1, 2025; 
• Owners must confirm or update (as needed) the unit and rent list between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15, by 3 p.m. EST;
• Florida Housing will provide MMM Certification Notices to owners and local property appraisers by Feb. 15, 2025; and 
• If an owner receives an MMM Certification Notice, they must submit the MMM Certification Notice, the exemption application (DR-504AFH), and any other required documentation to their local property appraiser no later than March 1.

Interested owners should be aware that the MMM Certification Notice from Florida Housing is not a final determination of the ad valorem tax exemption. Whether the Missing Middle property tax exemption is ultimately granted to such project owner is at the purview of the local property appraiser. 

Moreover, simply because you received the Missing Middle property tax exemption in 2024 does not mean you automatically receive the exemption in 2025. A project owner that received the Missing Middle property tax exemption in 2024 must file and apply annually for the MMM Certification Notice with Florida Housing and the Missing Middle property tax exemption application with the applicable county property appraiser’s office.

Lastly, Florida Housing mentioned during its workshop that the qualifying units that received an exemption the previous year would be considered “floating” units. This means the initial units that qualified for the exemption should not be fixed to a particular unit but may “float”/change over time.