Clearwater, FL
It is recommended to identify early on whether you’re dealing with a property owner that has a protected address and, therefore, is exempt from public records disclosure. Knowing early on and taking the appropriate steps will ensure that your/their transaction, appraisal or project is not delayed.
Effective July 1st, 2019, an amendment to Section 119.071 Florida Statues – Public Records expands information exempted from public record by further defining the term “home address”. Real estate, legal, title, lending, appraisal, construction professionals and others should be aware of how this law change will impact their business.
The defined term “home address” has been expanded to include the physical and mailing address, parcel ID number, neighborhood name and lot number, legal property description, GPS coordinates, and any other descriptive property information that could lead to the home address being revealed. As a result, the entire parcel will no longer be accessible/viewable on our website, even if you already have the parcel ID number. In addition, no exempt parcel information can be released over the phone.
As a result, transaction, valuation and construction processes that you undertake in your daily business may be delayed unless you address some of the information gathering early in the process. Beginning July 1, 2019, the protected person must submit a notarized, written request which specifies the information to be released, the party who is authorized to receive the information and its method of delivery. By law, this is the only way for us to release any exempted information related to parcels exempt from public record.
To assist in this process, we have created an Authorization for Release of Information Currently Exempted from Public Records form which is available in our office or for download online at https://www.pcpao.org/ under our Forms section. Upon receipt and verification of the notarized form, the specified information will be released only to the authorized party.
The new law, reflecting all changes, may be viewed at: http://laws.flrules.org/2019/12. This notice is provided as a courtesy. To review Florida statutes or track future legislative changes that may impact you, please visit https://www.flsenate.gov or https://www.myfloridahouse.gov.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact the Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s Office at (727) 464-3207, or email mike@pcpao.org.
