In Florida the answer splits on one question: is there a mortgage on it?

The Florida Exemption, and the Conditions That Void It

The administrative rules are where this gets settled and they are unusually explicit. Rule 12B-4.013(22), F.A.C. provides that "when computing the tax under Section 201.02, F.S., on a deed of conveyance, the total consideration includes any mortgages encumbering the property being transferred." A nominal recital does not rescue an unencumbered gift entirely either: Rule 12B-4.014(2)(b) provides that a deed reciting "love and affection and $1" or "$1 and other valuable consideration" "requires at least the minimum tax." And nothing turns on whether the LLC formally assumes the loan or merely takes the property subject to it, because § 201.02(1)(a) reaches the encumbrance "whether or not the underlying indebtedness is assumed."

So sort your own property into one of two boxes before anything else. Unencumbered and gifted to an entity you own: not taxable under Rule 12B-4.014(2)(a), subject to the minimum-tax point above. Mortgaged: the balance on the day of transfer is the measure, your equity is irrelevant, and the tax follows the debt rather than the value. A landlord with a nearly paid-off rental and a landlord who refinanced last year are in the same box and not on the same bill.

Then there is the part almost nobody tells you about, which is what happens next. Fla. Stat. § 201.02(1)(b) defines a "conduit entity" as "a legal entity to which real property is conveyed without full consideration by a grantor who owns a direct or indirect interest in the entity, or a successor entity." An LLC formed to receive a rental deed for no consideration is a conduit entity by definition, not by election, not by aggressive interpretation.

The statute then provides that "when real property is conveyed to a conduit entity and all or a portion of the grantor's direct or indirect ownership interest in the conduit entity is subsequently transferred for consideration within 3 years of such conveyance, tax is imposed on each such transfer of an interest in the conduit entity for consideration." Sell a slice of the LLC to an investor eighteen months after you put the house in it and you have a second taxable event. Florida has no general controlling-interest transfer tax, so this provision is narrow, but it is aimed at exactly the sequence a landlord reading this page is contemplating.

The deed is recorded and the tax paid through the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. Rates are not uniform statewide: the county surtax structure differs in Miami-Dade, and a single-family residence is treated differently there from other property. The figures are in the table above rather than in this paragraph, so they stay in one place.

Whatever the state does, counties and municipalities in Florida can levy transfer tax of their own on the same deed. Whether a local exemption follows the state one varies, and it is not safe to assume either way. Check with the recorder for the county the property sits in before you assume the total.

Florida also taxes transfers of a controlling interest in an entity that owns real property, which is aimed at the obvious workaround, selling the LLC rather than the building. How far it reaches varies: some states apply it to any realty-holding entity, others only above an ownership threshold or only to commercial property, so whether it touches a residential rental is a question for the state’s own rules rather than something to assume in either direction.

Authority: Rule 12B-4.014(2)(a), F.A.C.. flsenate.gov

Does the Transfer Reset Your Property Tax in Florida?

This is the Florida section that surprises people who did their homework, because the homework usually stops at Save Our Homes. Save Our Homes is a homestead benefit, so a property that has always been a rental never had it. Florida separately caps non-homestead residential property, and that cap is what the LLC deed breaks.

Fla. Stat. § 193.1554 applies to "residential real property that contains nine or fewer dwelling units, including vacant property zoned and platted for residential use," which covers essentially the whole small-landlord universe. It provides that "the property shall be reassessed annually on January 1" and that "any change resulting from such reassessment may not exceed 10 percent" of the prior year's assessed value. If you have held a rental through a period of rising values, the gap between your assessed value and the market has been accumulating quietly in your favour.

Subsection (5) resets it: "except as provided in this subsection, property assessed under this section shall be assessed at just value as of January 1 of the year following a change of ownership or control." And a change of ownership or control "means any sale, foreclosure, transfer of legal title or beneficial title in equity to any person, or the cumulative transfer of control or of more than 50 percent of the ownership of the legal entity that owned the property when it was most recently assessed at just value." There are four exceptions and we read every one: a transfer to correct an error, a transfer between legal and equitable title, a transfer between spouses including on death or dissolution of marriage, and share turnover in a publicly traded company. There is no exception for a transfer to an entity the grantor owns. A deed of your rental to your own LLC is a transfer of legal title to a person, the cap resets, and the property is assessed at just value the following January 1. The accrued benefit is lost, not deferred.

One boundary on this answer. We verified § 193.1554, which is the nine-or-fewer-units section. A larger building falls under § 193.1555 instead, which carries a parallel cap and its own change-of-ownership-or-control reset. We did not separately verify that section, so if your property has ten or more units, the answer here is not the one that governs you.

Separately, and this catches people converting a former home into a rental: the benefits that turn on owning and occupying the property as your residence, a homestead exemption, an owner-occupancy credit, a residential assessment rate, are not things an LLC occupies a home to earn. Where the property still carries one, the deed puts it at risk, and the bill goes up whether or not the assessment itself moves. Which benefit is at stake, and on what terms, is a question for the assessor in the county the property sits in.

Authority: Fla. Stat. § 193.1554(5), leg.state.fl.us

Moving a Property You Already Own Into the LLC in Florida

1. 1

   Get the exact mortgage payoff figure as of the intended transfer date

   In Florida this number is the tax base, so it is the first thing to establish rather than a detail for later. The statute counts "the amount of any mortgage, purchase money mortgage lien, or other encumbrance, whether or not the underlying indebtedness is assumed," measured at the time of transfer. If the property is unencumbered, say so on the record and the analysis is a different one entirely.

2. 2

   Ask the property appraiser what the just-value reset will cost you

   Under § 193.1554(5) the cap resets and the property is assessed at just value on the January 1 after the transfer. The county property appraiser can tell you the gap between your current assessed value and just value, which is the size of the increase you're agreeing to. On a property held through several years of appreciation this can dwarf the documentary stamp tax.

3. 3

   Ask your servicer in writing before you record

   The deed transfers title and a due-on-sale clause is drafted to catch that. Florida law doesn't change your loan contract, and the Garn-St Germain protection people cite covers transfers into an inter vivos trust, not into a limited liability company. Written consent obtained beforehand is a different position from a letter that arrives after the clerk has recorded.

4. 4

   Form the LLC and decide about a protected series at the same time

   The Division of Corporations files both the articles of organization and, if you want one, the protected series designation under § 605.2201. Because a Florida protected series name must begin with the company's name and carry "protected series" or "P.S.," that decision affects how the grantee is named on the deed. Get the operating agreement, the EIN and the bank account done before the conveyance.

5. 5

   Record the deed and pay the documentary stamp tax through the clerk

   The Clerk of the Circuit Court in the property's county takes the deed and collects the tax. The consideration has to be stated accurately, since a nominal recital doesn't produce a nominal tax on encumbered property. If the transfer is of unencumbered realty as a gift, that's the basis on which the instrument is presented.

6. 6

   Leave the LLC's ownership alone for three years, or price the second tax

   Your LLC is a conduit entity under § 201.02(1)(b) from the moment it takes a deed without full consideration. Transferring any part of your interest in it for consideration inside the three-year window is a separate taxable event on that transfer. If bringing in a partner or an investor is part of the plan, that timing belongs in the plan.

One LLC Per Property, or One for the Portfolio?

Florida authorises series LLCs, and a series can be filed with the state in its own right.

This part of Florida law changed on 1 July 2026 and most of what is written about it online predates the change. Florida enacted the Uniform Protected Series Act as Part II of chapter 605, at §§ 605.2101 through 605.2801, and every section in that Part carries the effective date note. Pages telling you Florida has no series LLC were correct until recently and are not correct now.

A Florida protected series is publicly filed, which distinguishes it from the older internal-only model. Section 605.2201 requires "the affirmative vote or consent of all members" and then a filing: "to establish a protected series, a limited liability company shall deliver to the department for filing a protected series designation, signed by the company, stating the name of the company and the name of the protected series to be established," with the series established when that designation takes effect.

The name has to "begin with the name of the series limited liability company" and "contain the phrase 'protected series' or the abbreviation 'P.S.' or 'PS'" under § 605.2202(2). Which means the series identity shows up on the deed and in a title search rather than living only in your operating agreement. Section 605.2103 makes a protected series "a person distinct from" the company, from every other series and from any member.

The shield is asset-record-based, and § 605.2301(2)(a) sets a standard you can actually be measured against: an asset belongs to a series "only if the protected series creates and maintains records that state the name of the protected series and describe the asset with sufficient specificity to permit a disinterested, reasonable individual to ... identify the asset and distinguish it from any other asset of the protected series, any asset of the series limited liability company, and any asset of any other protected series of the company" and "determine when and from which person the protected series acquired the asset." That is a real bookkeeping standard, and it is a permanent obligation rather than a formation step.

One thing we could not settle: what the Department of State charges to file a protected series designation. Part II sets no dedicated fee, the general fee section was not amended when the Part was added, and the Division of Corporations' published LLC fee schedule still carries no protected-series line item. There is a catch-all in the fee statute for filing any other limited liability company document, and that is the likely answer, but which category the Department will actually apply is an inference and we are not going to print an inference as a fee. Ask the Division of Corporations before you budget it.

flsenate.gov

What Creditors Can Reach, What the Florida Statute Says

The reason to hold a rental in an LLC is usually to keep a claim arising at the property from reaching everything else you own. The reverse question matters just as much and gets far less attention: if someone wins a judgment against you personally, can they reach the rental inside the LLC? That is what a state’s charging-order provision decides.

Florida's LLC act permits a court to foreclose on the interest of a sole member, and bars it where the company has more than one member, and most rental LLCs are single-member.

Fla. Stat. § 605.0503(3) sets the general rule: "except as provided in subsections (4) and (5), a charging order is the sole and exclusive remedy by which a judgment creditor of a member or member's transferee may satisfy a judgment from the judgment debtor's interest in a limited liability company or rights to distributions from the limited liability company."

Subsection (4) is the exception, and it is written for the exact structure most rental owners use: "in the case of a limited liability company that has only one member, if a judgment creditor ... establishes to the satisfaction of a court of competent jurisdiction that distributions under a charging order will not satisfy the judgment within a reasonable time, a charging order is not the sole and exclusive remedy ... and upon such showing, the court may order the sale of that interest in the limited liability company pursuant to a foreclosure sale." The creditor can make that showing "at any time after the entry of the judgment" and "at the same time that the judgment creditor applies for the entry of a charging order."

Subsection (5) describes what the buyer walks away with, and it is not a passive economic interest: "the purchaser at the court-ordered foreclosure sale obtains the member's entire limited liability company interest, not merely the rights of a transferee," "the purchaser at the sale becomes the member of the limited liability company," and "the person whose limited liability company interest is sold ... ceases to be a member." Subsection (6) states the opposite rule where there is more than one member: foreclosure "is not available to a judgment creditor attempting to satisfy the judgment and may not be ordered by a court."

Two further points from the same chapter. Subsection (7) preserves, among other things, "the principles of law and equity which affect fraudulent transfers" and "the availability of the equitable principles of alter ego, equitable lien, or constructive trust", so the section is not a closed system. And § 605.2403 carries these same rules into the new series regime: the provisions of § 605.0503 "providing or restricting remedies available to a judgment creditor of a member or transferee of a limited liability company apply to a judgment creditor of" a holder of a protected-series transferable interest. Adding series does not change the single-member analysis.

We are reporting what the section says, not what a court would do with your facts. Outcomes turn on how the LLC was capitalised, how it has been operated and what the creditor is owed, and none of that is something a page can assess. If the answer above is load-bearing for you, it is a question for a Florida attorney.

Authority: Fla. Stat. § 605.0503, flsenate.gov

Three Problems No State Transfer Rule Solves

These land the same way in Florida as everywhere else. One because it is federal law, two because they are contracts you signed. Which is exactly why they get left off state pages. They are also the three most likely to actually cost a landlord money, so they are here rather than buried.

The due-on-sale point is the one that generates the most bad advice. The Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act, at 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3(d), bars a lender from enforcing a due-on-sale clause on nine categories of transfer of residential property of fewer than five dwelling units. The one people cite is the eighth: a transfer into an inter vivos trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary and which does not relate to a transfer of rights of occupancy in the property. Neither that paragraph nor any of the other eight names a transfer to a limited liability company. The protection quoted for an LLC transfer is written for trusts, and the occupancy qualifier is the limb that matters most to a landlord, because a rental is occupied by someone else.

One honest caveat on that list. The ninth category is open-ended. It reaches any other transfer described in regulations issued under the Act, at 12 C.F.R. § 591.5(b), so it is a list that can be extended by regulation rather than a closed set fixed by the statute. We have not read those regulations end to end, and say so rather than describing the statute as more settled than we checked.

In practice lenders often do not call a loan when payments keep arriving, and that is genuinely what usually happens, but “usually not enforced” is a different thing from “not permitted,” and only one of them is a plan. The way to find out is to ask your servicer for written consent before you record, not after.

Which deed you use is a decision, not a formality. A quitclaim deed transfers whatever interest you happen to have and warrants nothing, which is why it is the cheap default for a transfer between yourself and your own company, and why title professionals warn against it. It can leave a gap in the chain of title that surfaces years later when you sell or refinance, and because it warrants nothing it gives the LLC no recourse against you if a defect turns up. A warranty deed carries the covenants across. Which one is appropriate depends on how the property was acquired and what your title history looks like, and it is a question worth asking before the deed is drafted rather than after it is recorded.

Tell your title insurer before you record. An owner’s title policy insures the person named in it. Convey the property to an LLC and the insured owner and the record owner are no longer the same. Which is the fact pattern in which coverage gets argued about at the worst possible moment, when a claim is already live. Some insurers will endorse an existing policy across to the entity, sometimes for a modest fee; some will not, and a new policy means a new premium on the current value. Either way it is a phone call before the deed rather than a discovery afterwards, and it belongs in the same budget as the tax above.

On the fourth thing people ask about: beneficial ownership reporting. Under 31 C.F.R. § 1010.380, a “reporting company” is an entity formed outside the United States and registered to do business in a State, and paragraph (c)(2)(xxiv) separately exempts any entity created by filing with a Secretary of State. A rental LLC you form in Florida is therefore exempt and files no beneficial ownership report. Pages telling you to file within 30 days of formation are describing the rule as it stood before March 2025. The exception runs the other way: an LLC formed in another country and registered to do business in Florida does still report. More on what compliance actually requires →

Does Florida Make You Register the Rental?

Not for a long-term tenancy. Florida does run a statewide registration through the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Hotels and Restaurants, under Fla. Stat. §§ 509.241(1), 509.242(1)(c), 509.013(4)(a)1., but it is scoped to a category a conventional residential lease does not fall into. If you rent to a tenant on an ordinary lease, there is nothing to file with the state, and nothing that changes when the deed moves to the LLC. What follows sets out what the registration does cover, so you can check your own arrangement against it.

The important thing about Florida's license is that a conventional landlord is outside it, and the boundary is statutory rather than a matter of judgment. A property is a transient public lodging establishment only if it is "rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less" under § 509.013(4)(a)1.; a unit rented "for periods of at least 30 days or 1 calendar month" is nontransient and needs nothing from the division. The vacation rental class reaches houses, not just condos: § 509.242(1)(c) covers "any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is also a transient public lodging establishment but that is not a timeshare project."

DBPR draws the line from the other side too, renting "a single room or rooms other than the whole unit is not classified as a public lodging and would not require a license." So the same house with a year-lease tenant needs no state license and on Airbnb does. The fee shown above is the annual license fee for a single unit; a first-year applicant also pays an application fee and a Hospitality Education Program fee on top, and the license is discounted if you apply after the district's half-year date.

flsenate.gov

If You Rent Short-Term in Florida

A short-term let is a different tax animal from a twelve-month tenancy, and the LLC has nothing to do with it. The lodging tax follows the stay, not the owner.

Florida's escape from the transient rentals tax is not a night count, which is why converting it to a number of days gets it wrong. Section 212.03(1)(a) exempts a person "who exclusively enters into a bona fide written agreement for continuous residence for longer than 6 months in duration at such property," and § 212.03(4) repeats the point for "any person who shall have entered into a bona fide written lease for longer than 6 months in duration for continuous residence." Two conditions, both required: a written agreement, and continuous residence for longer than six months. A tenant who stays that long on a handshake has not met it.

There is also a piece of Florida machinery worth knowing if you take bookings off-platform. Florida's marketplace-provider statute, § 212.05965, does not reach lodging at all. Its definition of a marketplace is confined to media through which tangible personal property is offered for sale, and it expressly excludes a person who solely provides travel agency services, which is defined to include arranging hotel or other lodging accommodations. What actually binds Airbnb and Vrbo here is much older and much broader: § 212.03(2) applies the dealer duties to "all persons who collect or receive such rents on behalf of such owner or lessor." Whoever receives the rent has the duty. That is why a booking you take directly, in cash or by transfer, is entirely yours to report.

A platform collecting the state tax does not always cover every local tax on the same booking, and it never covers a booking taken directly. If you take reservations off-platform as well, that is where the exposure sits.

Authority: Fla. Stat. §§ 212.03(1)(a), 212.03(2), 212.03(4), flsenate.gov

Who to Ask in Florida

The Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits records the deed and collects documentary stamp tax, and is the office to ask what it expects to see on a deed between an owner and their own entity. The Florida Department of Revenue administers the tax itself and publishes the documentary stamp guidance and the administrative rules in Chapter 12B-4, F.A.C.; its taxpayer services line is the right place for a question about how a mortgage balance will be treated on a specific transfer.

The county property appraiser is who handles the § 193.1554 cap, the just-value reset and any homestead consequence. That call is worth making before the deed, not after the January 1 assessment lands. Vacation rental licensing is the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Hotels and Restaurants. Entity filings, including a protected series designation, go to the Division of Corporations at the Department of State.

Forming the LLC Itself

Nothing about the formation process changes because the LLC will hold rental property, the articles, the registered agent requirement and the annual filing are the same as for any other Florida LLC. The walkthrough lives in the formation guide rather than being repeated here.

How to start an LLC in Florida →

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