Applying for and renewing exemptions without losing a year
Which renew automatically, which do not, and the calendar that keeps them.
Most exemption losses are administrative rather than substantive: the person still qualifies, the paperwork lapsed.
Generally automatic once granted
The general homestead exemption usually renews itself while ownership and occupancy are unchanged.
Generally requiring renewal
The senior assessment freeze, which needs annual income documentation. The persons with disabilities exemption, which needs current proof. The senior homestead exemption in some counties. Practice varies, and it has changed in several counties in recent years.
Build a calendar
Note when renewal forms usually arrive and set a reminder two weeks earlier. If a form has not arrived by then, call — a form that got lost in the post costs a full year.
After any change
Sale, marriage, death, trust transfer, refinance, moving out and renting: tell the assessor. Every one of these can end an exemption automatically without anyone telling you.
If you already missed one
Ask about a certificate of error. Wrongly omitted exemptions are among the clearest cases for retroactive correction, and counties routinely grant them for more than one prior year.