Lanai Room Clarity
 

When you glass in a lanai, what has to be done to make that square footage part of the overall square footage???? thanks, there are many different opinions?

Rich, I am not sure what you are asking, but if you are in Sumter county, there are five (5) classes of lanai enclosures. Classes 1, 2, and 3 cannot be heated or air conditioned, classes 4 and 5 can be. There are increasing requirements for each class. This can get very confusing, so I suggest you stop by the building department and ask for the above document(s), then discuss with whomever you are thinking about using for your project.
NOTE: you cannot do a class 3 project, and then later go to have HVAC installed, so you need to get this right the first time.
Please feel free to send me a PM with your phone number if you would like to discuss further, we just completed our project about 4 months ago.

If I understand you correctly you will get to pay more in real estate taxes if you do this.

Hello there. There shouldn’t be different opinions, villagetinker is correct, as usual, there are county building requirements that determine the classes of your room. They also need to be permitted in an appropriate order so I would follow his guidance. The reason your taxes could/will (?) as well as your sales price, go up is that you are legally adding square footage to the size of your home, pulling out your sliding door between them and creating a room with air/heat. I am sure you are aware it is a construction project with several tradesmen involved because of this.

I have heard that there is a difference between putting in an air conditioner to cool the lanai (creates additional taxable space), and putting in an air conditioner to remove humidity (no new taxes).

That could be false, but I am not sure either way. I'm sure someone here can add good info.

They install a heat pump for heating and cooling, and refer to it as a dehumidifier to deceptively define the real purpose of the heat pump. Does this fool anyone? I doubt it, but who knows?

Also, the county appraiser's job is to estimate the actual market value of property for tax purposes. They often use square footage as one factor to assess the value. But, I don't think there is any law that constrains the appraiser on how they determine the market value.

We just had our lanai glassed in and if we wanted to add a split air to it, we would have had to bring the lanai floor up to the same level as our inside floor by pouring cement into it. We’re in Lake Denham but the best thing to do is call your city hall and ask them directly as the laws absolutely do differ according to where you live. We’ll use a little space heater which so far works great, and in the summer we’ll open the doors and use misters/a swamp cooler like we did in Las Vegas. Works beautifully!

Not accurate info. There are 5 classes of a lanai enclosure but you can put in a mini-split in any 1 of them by classifying the unit as a dehumidifier. It’s the same mini-split heat pump but with a dehumidifier switch.
I glassed in my lanai with double pane windows, raised the concrete floor to match the height of the house floor, installed electrical, Ethernet, and rg6 cable in the floor and in the corner posts, insulated the attic above the lanai, laid the same tile that is in the house, installed Mitsubishi mini-split dehumidifier, and my taxes didn’t increase a penny. Added almost 400 sq ft to the house.

Gracelane, Florida summer humidity is way different than Las Vegas. Adding misters/swamp cooling in a semi-confined area is likely to lead to mold/midew issues in that area. Just something to consider.

I lived in Vegas and the swamp cooler worked great. However with all our humidity it is not nearly as efficient here.

The key factor is the sliding doors to the house. If you remove them then the extra square footage is included, leave them in and it is not.

It does not matter if you raise the floor or add a mini split just leave in the doors.

If you add square footage they can reappraise your house to market value negating your homestead exemption of no more than 3% per year.

I just got finished doing the same thing, I also removed the sliders. The appraiser was here a couple days ago. I guess I will find out in October if my taxes go up, or if I’m lucky like you, and they don’t.

At age 74 when we moved into our Foxglove Courtyard villa we did not want to invest any crazy amount into the lanai. We enclosed the lanai with double insulated sliding glass windows atop concrete block kneewalls, removed the sliding glass doors into the bedroom to add another insulated bedroom wall, insulated the lanai ceiling, installed sun blocking window shades. We simply leave the sliding door between the living room and lanai open. Works just fine.

Please reference where this came from.

If true one should buy a bigger house and keep their homestead benefit by applying it to the new house - called homestead portability.

It would be considered below grade and not be considered part of the sq footage.

Contact County Appraiser for Re Improvements and effect on Save our Home Appraisal
 

Looking at Sumter County Property Appraiser Site see reference for improvements below.


Contact your Appraisal Authority directly
My interpretation is that the improvement appraisal is added at 100% to the previous property assessment with the limit of SOH say 3%. After the first year the improvement appraisal is limited by the SOH rules. It does not state that you lose your previous SOH benefit.

"Amendment 10 – Save our Homes
Please contact our office if you have any questions regarding Amendment 10 – Save Our Homes

What is the Save Our Homes amendment?
Section 193.155(1) of the Florida Statutes was enacted to implement an amendment to the state constitution to limit annual increases in property value assessments on real property qualifying for and receiving homestead exemption.

How does the amendment limitation apply?
Real property shall be assessed at full market value (just value) as of January 1 of the year in which the property first receives the homestead exemption. The following year the property is reassessed and any changes from the prior year’s assessed value is not to exceed the lesser of 3% of that prior year assessed value or the Consumer Price Index percentage change, (except capital improvements, additions or improvements)

How is my property affected?
The year following the granting of homestead exemption, the property is subject to the limitation.

What about any changes, additions or improvements to the homestead property?
New construction or additions shall be assessed at full market value as of the first January 1 after the changes are substantially completed. In these circumstances, it is possible that the assessed value may exceed the amendment limitations. However, after the first year that the changes are assessed at full market value, they are also subject to the amendment limitations."

Let this be an example of the accuracy of free social media advice.

I am not aware of any law that requires the appraiser to use square footage to value the property. See Post No. 17, which discusses the Florida law. It doesn't say anything about square footage.

I live in Sumter County and enclosed my Lanai. We insulated over the former lanai, added electrical outlets and a Mini Split with humidity control. We did not remove the sliding doors. The Mini Split has cooling and heating capability. At that time several years ago, we were told that the Sumter county regs said that if the minisplit had Humidity control, and the doors to the main house were left in place, it did not count as added living area. No tax impact.

We added to and enclosed lanai, glassed, raised floor, removed sliders and kitchen window, added a/c vents & returns, upgraded home a/c from 3.5 up to 4.0 tons to handle extra 425 Sq ft of new living area. It's a beautiful new space that we use all the time. Our taxes went up $1,000 this year! You got to pay the piper...

What Sumter County regulation says that?

Yes, listen to this guy.

1.Simply lift the doors out of the frame and store them in the garage. 2. Don't let the assessor into the garage. 3. Reinstall the doors and measure the dog's IQ quotient.

Leave the sliders in place until the assessor visits. Then lift them out.

The door(s) used for exit and entry to the lanai, sliding or other types such as French or double French, must be exterior rated.

We enclosed ours in 2015.....did not heat or cool will not unless my wife determines we should. Had no tax impact. :). Last year during my insurance review it was determined that my house was insured with the lanai that originally came with the house, and in the event of loss would only be covered as the screened lanai. I needed to take the drawings (T&D did the work) to the county office, they reviewed and certified and then I gave the drawings and the new certification to the insurance company who then adjusted my policy to reflect what I had. Never gave it a thought that enclosing the lanai (raised floor, knee wall, major electrical, multi layer windows, insulation etc) would not be insured, then of course, how would they know? Anyway, just my experience.