Selling a Florida House With Liens

The title company starts with the county’s official records. That search turns up mortgages and home equity lines, recorded money judgments, claims of lien from contractors and associations, recorded code-enforcement orders and notices of federal tax lien. Property taxes are checked separately with the tax collector; under section 197.122 they are a first lien, ahead of every other lien, from January 1 of the year they are levied.

Some of the debts that stop a closing are never recorded with the clerk. A code case with a fine still running, an unpaid city water or sewer bill, a special assessment or an open building permit lives in the city’s files, or the county’s for an unincorporated parcel. So the title company also orders a municipal lien search, which some offices call a lien letter. Each government sets its own fee and turnaround: compare the processes on our Tamarac, Dania Beach and Miramar pages.

Once every lien is known, each holder gives a written payoff figure good through the closing date. A mortgage servicer must send an estoppel letter within 10 days of a written request, itemizing principal, interest and other charges plus the daily interest after that date (section 701.04(1)). A homeowners’ association must deliver its estoppel certificate within 10 business days, and the certificate is good for 30 days, or 35 if mailed (section 720.30851). After it is paid, a mortgage lender has 60 days to record a release (section 701.04(2)), and the same 60-day rule applies to other liens and judgments (section 701.04(3)).

Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution protects a homestead from forced sale, and no judgment or decree becomes a lien on it. The protection has listed exceptions: property taxes and assessments, debts to buy, improve or repair the home, and labor performed on the property. It covers up to half an acre inside a city, or 160 acres outside one, and it protects a home you live in, not a rental or a second home.

Homestead protection blocks a creditor from forcing a sale. It does not erase a recorded lien. Florida’s Attorney General has described courts treating a code lien on a homestead as unenforceable rather than invalid, and has said it could be enforced if the property lost its homestead status. In a voluntary sale, the buyer’s title insurer reviews every recorded lien, so code liens are usually paid, reduced or released at closing even on a homestead. Recorded money judgments are different: when the title underwriter’s conditions are met, the title company may close on a homestead affidavit without paying them. Whether that applies to you is a question for the title company and a Florida attorney.