HB 247 is a broad housing package aimed at reducing barriers to rental housing, expanding accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and encouraging additional affordable housing options. It creates a new state law allowing landlords to accept reusable tenant screening reports, which are recent consumer reports prepared at the applicant’s expense and shared directly with landlords or through approved third-party platforms. If a landlord accepts such a report, the landlord may not charge the applicant a fee to access the report or an application screening fee. The bill also sets out required contents for these reports, including identity, contact information, employment verification, last known address, eviction history, and the report date.
The bill significantly revises Florida’s ADU law. It requires local governments, by December 1, 2025, to adopt ordinances allowing ADUs in single-family residential areas, subject to limits on local regulation. The bill bars local governments from requiring owner occupancy in the primary dwelling, from adding parking requirements in certain circumstances, and from requiring replacement parking when a garage or similar structure is converted. It also requires ADU permit applicants to attest that the unit will be rented at an affordable rate to income-qualified tenants, counts affordable ADUs toward a local government’s comprehensive-plan affordable housing component, protects homestead exemption eligibility for the owner’s primary residence, and requires rented ADUs to be separately assessed and taxed. At the same time, it prohibits ADU ordinances in areas of critical state concern.
Beyond ADUs, the bill expands an existing density-bonus incentive for land donated to support affordable housing by expressly including housing affordable to military families receiving the basic allowance for housing. It also directs OPPAGA to study mezzanine finance as a tool for owner-occupied affordable housing and to evaluate the potential of tiny homes, with a report due to legislative leaders by December 31, 2026. In addition, the bill clarifies that certain single-family or two-family dwellings converted into recovery residences or specified mental-health-related residences are not deemed to have a change of occupancy under the Florida Building Code and are not reclassified for fire code enforcement solely because of that use.
The bill’s impact on state law is substantial because it creates a new landlord-tenant screening framework, mandates statewide ADU ordinance adoption in many areas, and changes how ADUs interact with homestead exemption, property tax assessment, and local comprehensive planning. It also affects local land-use authority, building and fire code administration, and affordable-housing incentive programs. The bill would primarily affect landlords, rental applicants, local governments, property owners considering ADUs, affordable housing providers, and organizations operating recovery or mental-health residences.
The general sentiment reflected in committee votes appears favorable, with the bill advancing through three committees by comfortable margins. The strongest support likely comes from members interested in increasing housing supply, lowering rental application costs, and promoting affordable housing production. The main points of contention are likely the bill’s limits on local control, especially the requirement that local governments adopt ADU ordinances and the restrictions on parking and owner-occupancy rules, as well as the affordability affidavit requirement and the prohibition on ADUs in areas of critical state concern. The split votes in committee suggest some concern about the scope of state preemption and the practical effects on local zoning and neighborhood regulation.
HB 247 would create new section 83.471, Florida Statutes, governing reusable tenant screening reports and limiting fees when landlords accept them. It would also substantially amend section 163.31771 to require ADU ordinances in single-family residential areas, restrict local ordinance conditions, tie some ADUs to affordable-housing planning goals, protect homestead treatment for owner-occupied property with an ADU, and require separate assessment of rented ADUs. Additional changes would expand affordable-housing density bonuses, direct an OPPAGA study on mezzanine finance and tiny homes, and clarify building and fire code treatment for certain recovery residences and mental-health-related residences.
Committee action indicates the bill has generally positive momentum, with strong majority support at each stop: 15-2, 16-1, and 18-6. The pattern suggests broad agreement with the bill’s housing-affordability goals, especially increasing ADU production and reducing rental application costs. The larger no vote in the Commerce Committee suggests some members were more skeptical of the bill’s regulatory reach and local-government preemption.
The most notable contention is over state versus local control. The bill requires local governments to adopt ADU ordinances and limits what those ordinances may require, which may concern local officials and members who favor zoning flexibility. Another likely point of debate is the affordability affidavit requirement for ADU permits, which could be viewed as a useful affordability safeguard or as an added administrative burden. The prohibition on ADUs in areas of critical state concern, the separate tax assessment of rented ADUs, and the treatment of homestead exemption for properties with ADUs may also draw scrutiny from property owners, local governments, and housing advocates with differing priorities.