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Has Your Florida Real Estate Value Decreased due to Florida Government Action

The Harris Act deals with the devaluation of property based on the action of the state but falls short of the state actually taking the property.




Has your Florida real estate been affected or decreased in value by an action of the state of Florida. Hello, my name is John Pankauski, even though we are probate litigation attorneys here in West Palm Beach, we have a state wide practice and many times it is very common that we are litigating over real estate. Many, many times, why? Because there is real estate in guardianship, estates and trusts and part of our role is sometimes to determine rights or values to that particular real estate in Florida. So, are you familiar with the Harris Act? Have you had real estate in Florida that has been effected somehow by some government action that maybe doesn’t rise to a level of a taking of that property but can you get compensation or can you get damages against the state for them doing something to your real estate. The Harris Act was enacted by the Florida legislature in the 1990’s as a mechanism to protect and compensate a Florida landowner whose property was effected by government action, not rising to the level of a taking and there is a specific statute on point. It’s section 70.001 and you can read more about the Harris Act under section 70 of Florida’s statutes but I also have a very recent March 14th 2018 Florida Appellate Court opinion that you can read if you are interested in this. The Harris Act, read Ocean Concrete Inc and George Miab vs Indian River County Board of County Commissioners 4d163210. It’s out of the 4th District Court of Appeal. You can go to the 4th DCA website, click on opinions scroll down to the date, March 14th 2018. Click on the party names, you can read the whole opinion in pdf free of charge and learn more about the Harris Act.