Buying Land in Davie, FL: 5 Rules Before You Buy

What should you check before buying land in Davie, FL?

Buying land in Davie, FL comes down to five things worth checking before you make an offer. Your zoning district, not the ZIP code or the neighborhood name, decides what you can keep and build. Lot size opens or closes the livestock allowance. Setbacks decide whether the plan fits. Recorded deed restrictions can control even when a listing says no HOA. And a hobby farm determination can carry protection to a new owner.

I grew up here and I have lived in Davie for the majority of my whole life. I have watched people move here for the horses without ever checking what land uses their property actually allows. So before you write an offer on land in Davie, here is what I would tell you to run through first.

Why Davie is two markets, not one

Davie is a strange town for its size, sitting in the middle of Broward County. In March of 2001 the people of Davie voted on a charter amendment to preserve the town’s rural character and its equestrian lifestyle, and it passed with close to ninety percent support, per the Town’s own Davie Farm Guide. Can you think about that number? You cannot even get ninety percent of a town to agree on anything. That vote is why the Agricultural and Environmental Committee exists, and Davie was one of the first local governments in Florida to write agricultural protection directly into its own code.

So Davie has a suburban side and a rural side. The farm and equestrian land sits mostly in western and central Davie, mixed in with gated subdivisions, and the code protects it parcel by parcel. You can drive not even ten minutes but across the street and go from a gated subdivision to a cow pasture. I see buyers skip the one step that matters here. It is not the ZIP code and it is not how big the lot looks. It is the zoning district, and it changes parcel by parcel.

Rule 1: The chicken rule is simple, the district rule behind it is not

The Davie Land Development Code says up to three poultry, one two three, can be considered pets in all residential zoning designations, but that line sits inside the 35,000 square foot livestock paragraph, so confirm with Davie Planning and Zoning that it applies to your lot size. It reads as a pet carveout, so on paper it does not turn on which exact residential district you are in. Three birds as pets looks open almost anywhere residential, as long as the Town confirms it for your lot.

The fourth bird is where it changes. At four or more you are no longer keeping pets. You are keeping poultry, and that lives in a different part of the code. Among Davie’s residential districts, raising poultry along with horses, cattle, goats, sheep, and rabbits is only permitted in RR, AG, A-1, and R-1. Some nonresidential districts and grandfathered farms have their own rules. If your parcel is a residential district outside those four, and no farm exemption or older grandfathered use applies, three pet birds is where it ends.

If you are in one of those four districts, more opens up on a larger lot, but the exact counts vary by district and the code sets them. In the agricultural districts the code describes a livestock allowance on lots of 35,000 square feet or greater, which is about eight tenths of an acre, plus separate limits for rabbits and poultry kept in a fully penned area. R-1 is tighter on type: it allows cattle or horses only, and five poultry rather than twenty five. I am not going to pin a number on your parcel from a blog post, because the figures move with the district and with code amendments. Pull the current limits from the Land Development Code on Municode and confirm them for your exact address with Davie Planning and Zoning before you count on anything.

One more that applies everywhere in town. Swine of any type are prohibited in every district inside Davie, with one written exception for a single Vietnamese potbellied pig kept as a household pet.

Rule 2: The rule that actually decides it is geometry

This is the section buyers tend to skip, and on a smaller lot it can end the plan. Right before the chicken rule, in the same section of the code, the Town covers animal shelters, and it requires aviaries, roofed hutches, dog houses, and dog runs to sit a minimum of forty feet from any property line in the RR, AG, A-1, R-1, R-2, and MH districts, along with several commercial districts. That is forty feet from every property line. Not the front, not just the side. All the way around. Other districts follow their own yard requirements, and aviaries are not permitted in the R-3, R-4, or R-5 districts.

So on a platted subdivision lot, even once the Town confirms the pet allowance for your lot size, the thing standing between you and three backyard chickens can be geometry. On an acre with reasonable proportions the problem disappears and you never think about it again. That is the actual difference between three chickens in theory and three chickens in your own yard. The setback rule also does not use the word coop. It names aviaries and roofed hutches, and whether your enclosure reads as one of those is a call the town makes, not one you make from a video. What I would suggest is call Davie Planning and Zoning, give them the address, describe what you want to build, and just have a conversation with them. It ends up being cheap insurance on the whole project.

Rule 3: No HOA is a feature, not a hall pass

There are three things that say no to a plan, and buyers mix them up constantly because in a listing they all feel the same.

• Town code is public and applies by district, lot size, and use. You can look it up from your computer in an afternoon.
• HOA covenants are private contracts enforced by an association. They can be stricter than town code, so read yours before you count on anything.
• Recorded deed restrictions are covenants recorded against the land itself. They run with the land and generally bind new owners, with or without an active association.

Here is a trap I see often. The listing says no HOA, the zoning says A-1, and the recorded title says no livestock. All three of those can be true at the same time, and a recorded restriction can control even when the listing says no HOA. So when somebody tells me a property is perfect because there is no HOA, that is when we pump the brakes a little. No HOA means no association is enforcing rules today. It does not mean no rules exist, and the Town still enforces its code. Very old restrictions can lapse under Florida’s Marketable Record Title Act unless they were preserved, so have your title company or a real estate attorney confirm which ones are still enforceable. If this is the part you want to dig into, I wrote a full piece on how a Davie equestrian property with no HOA can still carry deed restrictions, and the chicken side of all this lives in my guide to chickens in Davie and the code and HOA rules.

There is a garden version of this too. Florida Statute 604.71 says no county, municipality, or political subdivision can regulate vegetable gardens on residential property. That law does not reach an HOA, because an association is a private corporation, not a political subdivision. A separate statute, Florida Statute 720.3045, stops an association from restricting a vegetable garden that is not visible from the frontage, an adjacent parcel, a common area, or a community golf course. A garden in plain view can still be restricted, so check your covenants. It is why no city in Broward can pass a rule aimed at your vegetable garden, and why the covenant is still the document to read.

Rule 4: The hobby farm program is worth knowing

If you are shopping for acreage in Davie right now, this one is worth knowing. Davie runs a Hobby Farm Determination and Recognition Program that is written into the code. You apply, the town reviews it, and you get a written determination. The checklist on the Town of Davie site lays out what qualifies, which generally includes agricultural use permitted in your district, identifiable farm products, a share of the parcel dedicated to the farm use, no open code cases, and involvement with an agricultural association. What you get back is a town certificate and a sign if you want to post it, and a designated hobby farm cannot be deemed a nuisance as long as you stay inside the determination and follow the water control district’s best management practices. Applications carry a fee, and this is not the agricultural tax classification, so do not read a tax break into it.

Here is the real estate part. On the sale of a property that already carries a hobby farm determination, the code allows the Town to administratively transfer it to the new owner without repeating the whole application. That transfer is permissive and takes a Town action, you still have to request it and keep meeting the criteria, and the Town can revoke a certificate on notice if you stop conforming. So when you are comparing two acreage properties, ask whether either one carries a hobby farm determination, and confirm the current transfer requirements with Davie Planning and Zoning before you count on it.

Rule 5: The checks before you write an offer

Every one of these is cheap compared to finding out after closing. This is the routine I would run on any land in Davie before an offer.

1. Get the zoning for the exact parcel. Start with the parcel on the Broward County Property Appraiser site, then call Davie Planning and Zoning with the address and ask two questions. What district is this parcel in, and what does this district let me keep and build? If you are planning an enclosure, describe it on the same call and ask how the town reads it.

2. Check the lot size on the survey, not the listing. The livestock allowance turns on lot size, so if the parcel sits anywhere near the threshold, the survey carries the number the town will actually use. The listing square footage is not it.

3. Search the county records, then read the full title before inspection ends. You can search the Broward County official records yourself before you offer to get a first read on deed restrictions. Ask your title company for the commitment and copies of the recorded exceptions early, and write the timing into your contract so you can read them before your inspection period ends. Read every covenant and easement in full when they arrive. This is where you find the restriction a developer recorded against the parcel decades ago that a no HOA listing may not mention.

4. Ask whether the parcel carries a hobby farm determination. If it does, ask the Town about transferring it to you rather than assuming it comes automatically.

Run the first checks before you write your offer, and set your contract timing so you can read the full recorded title before your inspection period ends. You can even put AI to work on some of the research, probably most of it, but AI does hallucinate, so ask it to do deep research and verify every finding against the primary source.

If you want to see where this kind of land actually sits in town, I keep a full guide to Davie homes on acreage, a deeper Davie acreage no HOA buyer guide, and a rundown of no HOA acreage homes in Davie. Most of this land is in western and central Davie, and the zoning changes parcel by parcel, so confirm each one on its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you have chickens on any property in Davie, FL?

The code says up to three poultry can be considered pets in all residential zoning designations, but that line sits inside the 35,000 square foot livestock paragraph, so confirm with Davie Planning and Zoning that it applies to your lot size. The fourth bird moves you into keeping poultry, which among residential districts is only allowed in RR, AG, A-1, and R-1. Where you can physically keep the birds is a separate rule: enclosures that count as aviaries or roofed hutches face a forty foot setback in many districts, and aviaries are not permitted in the R-3, R-4, or R-5 districts. A recorded deed restriction or an HOA covenant can still prohibit even the three pet birds.

Does buying land with no HOA in Davie mean there are no rules?

No. No HOA means no association is enforcing rules today. It does not mean no rules exist, and the Town still enforces its code. Recorded deed restrictions run with the land and generally bind new owners with or without an association, though very old ones can lapse under Florida’s Marketable Record Title Act unless they were preserved. Ask your title company for copies of the recorded exceptions, read them, and have a real estate attorney confirm which restrictions are still enforceable.

What zoning districts allow livestock in Davie?

Among Davie’s residential districts, livestock is allowed in RR, AG, A-1, and R-1, on lots of 35,000 square feet or greater, which is about eight tenths of an acre. Several nonresidential districts also allow livestock on that lot size. The exact animal counts vary by district and are set by the code, so confirm your parcel’s district and the current limits with Davie Planning and Zoning before you buy.

What is a Davie hobby farm determination and does it transfer?

A hobby farm determination is a written recognition from the Town of Davie that your parcel qualifies as a hobby farm, which protects it from being treated as a nuisance when you stay inside the determination and follow the water control district’s best management practices. The code allows the Town to administratively transfer an existing determination to a new owner on sale without a new application, but it is permissive, you still have to request it and keep meeting the criteria, and the Town can revoke it. Confirm the transfer requirements with Davie Planning and Zoning.

How do I check what I can build on a parcel of land in Davie?

Start with the Broward County Property Appraiser to pull the parcel, then call Davie Planning and Zoning with the address and ask what district it is in and what that district allows. Check the lot size on the survey rather than the listing, and search the county records for deed restrictions. Ask your title company for the commitment and copies of the recorded exceptions early, and write the timing into your contract so you can read them before your inspection period ends. Then ask whether the parcel carries a hobby farm determination. Those checks cost very little and settle it before you commit.

Talk to a Davie Real Estate Expert

If you are looking at a specific parcel of land in Davie, the way to know what it actually allows is to run it through these checks with someone who knows this side of town. You can find the listings yourself. What you cannot pull up online is whether the zoning, the survey, and the recorded title all line up with the plan you have in your head. If you are already working with another agent, an honest second read is fair game. If you are going it alone, I am happy to point you to the right questions. Schedule a strategy call at bit.ly/daviestrategycall and bring the address.

Anthony Spitaleri

Broker Associate, REALTOR® | Coldwell Banker Realty

Creator of Living in Davie, Florida

Davie, Florida | Serving Davie, Weston and surrounding Broward markets

954-235-5783

Florida License BK3281907

@livingindavieflorida

Written by Anthony Spitaleri, Broker Associate, REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Realty, raised in Davie. More about Anthony