Kendall Attorney

Why Kendall Clients Work With Arturo R. Alfonso

What Is Different About Legal Matters in Kendall

An unincorporated community. Kendall is not a city. It is a census-designated place in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, so the County, not a city hall, is the local government: building permits, zoning, and municipal services come from Miami-Dade County. When you buy or sell a Kendall home, open or expired permits are checked in the County’s records, alongside the title search and title commitment.

County taxes in place of city taxes. Because there is no city, a Kendall property tax bill carries Miami-Dade’s Unincorporated Municipal Service Area (UMSA) millage, which pays for the city-type services the County provides in unincorporated areas, such as Sheriff’s patrols, neighborhood parks, and local road and sidewalk repair. For fiscal year 2025-26 the County adopted a UMSA operating rate of 1.9090 mills, about $1.91 for each $1,000 of taxable value (Miami-Dade County FY 2025-26 Adopted Budget). When we review a Kendall purchase, the tax bill is part of the numbers we check; our guide to Florida closing costs covers the other charges at closing.

Homestead and bankruptcy. Because a Kendall home sits outside any municipality, Florida’s constitutional homestead exemption is limited to 160 acres of contiguous land rather than the one-half acre that applies inside a city (Florida Constitution, Article X, section 4(a)(1)). For most homeowners, the more important questions are the federal timing rules explained in whether you can keep your house in bankruptcy.

When a Kendall homeowner dies. The same constitutional section also decides what happens to the house at death. Florida’s probate code calls the property described in Article X, section 4(a)(1) “protected homestead” when the exemption passes to the owner’s surviving spouse or heirs (Florida Statutes section 731.201(33)), so the 160-acre limit for land outside a city applies here too. Protected homestead is not an asset the personal representative sells (section 733.608(1)); the family members entitled to it hold title and sign the deed, and a title company will usually ask for a court order determining homestead status first. A home held jointly with right of survivorship, or by spouses as tenants by the entireties, is not protected homestead under that definition and passes to the survivor. Our page on probate property sales in Miami explains who signs and what the court and title company need.

Homeowners’ associations. If your Kendall home is in a community governed by a homeowners’ association, two rules matter. When the governing documents allow it, the association has a lien on each parcel for unpaid assessments (Florida Statutes section 720.3085), and before a sale the owner or lender can request an estoppel certificate, which the association must issue within 10 business days (section 720.30851). Our guides on HOA liens and foreclosure and estoppel letters go further.

Code violation liens are County records too. With no city government, code enforcement for a Kendall property comes from Miami-Dade County, and so do the liens recorded for unpaid code penalties. The County’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources offers a violations research service for real property in unincorporated Miami-Dade. It covers unsafe structure, work without permit, expired permit, minimum housing, and neighborhood violations, the liens recorded for them, and environmental enforcement violations. The County says the research takes 10 to 20 business days, so on a Kendall purchase it should be ordered early enough to come back before closing. Our guide to how a lien affects selling your home explains how liens are cleared, and sellers can read what Florida requires a seller to disclose.

A County code case or an HOA violation? A Kendall owner can get two very different letters about the same fence or addition. A code violation comes from Miami-Dade County, and its liens are County records, as described above. A covenant violation comes from the homeowners’ association and follows Chapter 720 instead: before a fine is final, the board must give at least 14 days’ written notice and an opportunity for a hearing before a committee of at least three members who are not officers, directors, or employees of the association, and a fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien against the parcel (Florida Statutes section 720.305(2)). A dispute over enforcing the covenants also requires presuit mediation before either side can sue, though collecting an assessment or fine does not (section 720.311(2)). If you need to sell for less than you owe and are also behind on HOA dues, that balance has to be dealt with in a short sale too. Our guide to condo and HOA disputes in Miami covers each step.

Building recertification also runs through the County. Older buildings in Miami-Dade must be inspected and recertified once they are 30 years old, and in unincorporated areas such as Kendall that program is handled by the County’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources rather than a city building department, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. Single-family homes, duplexes, and non-residential farm buildings are exempt, as are other buildings with an occupant load of 10 or less and 2,000 square feet or less. That leaves mainly Kendall’s condominium, apartment, and commercial buildings. If you are buying a condo unit in an older Kendall building, ask the association for the building’s recertification status along with its other records; buildings of three or more habitable stories also have the separate state inspection explained in condo milestone inspections and SIRS.

Renovating a Kendall home. With no city building department, the permit for a new roof, an addition, or a remodel in Kendall comes from Miami-Dade County, and Florida law puts a lien warning on that permit. The issuing authority must print on the permit card that failing to record a notice of commencement may result in paying twice for the improvements, and that the notice must be recorded and posted on the site before the first inspection; when the direct contract is greater than $5,000, a copy must be filed with the permit office before that inspection (Florida Statutes section 713.135(1); repair or replacement of an existing heating or air-conditioning system under $15,000 is excepted). The notice itself is required for an improvement whose direct contract price is over $2,500, and it is recorded with the Clerk in the County’s Official Records (sections 713.02(5) and 713.13(1)(a)). Unless it states a different date, it expires 1 year after recording (section 713.13(6)). Our guide to construction liens and how to remove them explains lien releases, the Notice of Contest, and moving a lien to a bond before a sale.