Who pays for the owner’s policy in Boca Raton?
The seller customarily pays for the owner’s policy in Boca Raton.
That is the custom in Palm Beach County, and so in Boca Raton. Custom is not law. The purchase contract decides it, and in a negotiated deal either side can end up paying. Read the contract before assuming which line it falls on.
Who chooses the title company. The seller customarily chooses the closing agent, the title company, in Palm Beach County, and so in Boca Raton. That is a custom of its own: the side that pays for the owner’s policy usually brings the closing agent, and the contract can put either on either side.
That is the custom as we see it on our own files, confirmed on November 3, 2026. It is a report of what is usual, not a rule, and not a promise about your contract.
How the custom runs in the other counties is on who pays for title insurance in Florida, and what each side can insist on is on who chooses the title company.
What title insurance costs on a Boca Raton purchase
The same as anywhere in Florida — the premium is promulgated.
- Owner’s policy, $500,000
- $2,575
- Original rate, R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)
- At the reissue rate
- $1,530
- Where the prior title was insured and conditions are met
- Lender’s policy alongside
- $125
- Our charge; the rule’s minimum is $25
The Office of Insurance Regulation sets it by rule under Fla. Stat. § 627.782, so the premium on a Boca Raton policy is the figure it would be anywhere in the state. The Florida title insurance rates are printed in full on the calculator, with the rule beside them, and the closing cost calculator prices a specific Boca Raton address off the Palm Beach County property appraiser’s record.
More detail on what title insurance costs
The reissue rate applies where the owner’s or the seller’s own title was insured and the rule’s conditions are met. The rule sets $25 as the least a lender’s policy issued at the same time can be. That $25 is a minimum, not a price: Bayit Title charges $125 to issue the policy alongside the owner’s, and that is the figure the estimate prints. Where the loan is larger than the owner’s amount, the coverage above it adds the difference between the original rate at the loan amount and at the owner’s amount.
Read from Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003 on September 14, 2026. The rule was last amended January 27, 2002. Tell us if a figure here does not match what you are quoted and we will check it against the rule again.
Documentary stamp tax on a Boca Raton sale
Taxed by the state, at the rate that applies in Palm Beach County.
This is the rate in 66 of the 67 counties; Miami-Dade is the exception. The stamps are charged on each part of $100, so they round up. Which side pays each is decided by the purchase contract.
A cash purchase carries neither mortgage tax. The Florida doc stamp tax calculator works it out for a specific price and loan.
More detail on documentary stamp tax
Deed stamps. 70¢ per $100 of consideration, or part of $100. Charged on each part of $100, so the figure rounds up, not down.
Mortgage stamps. 35¢ per $100 of the amount secured, or part of $100. The $2,450 cap in § 201.08(1)(a) is on the tax on a note or other written obligation to pay money. There is no cap on the tax on a mortgage recorded against Florida property.
Intangible tax. 2 mills on each dollar secured — $2 per $1,000. One time, on the obligation the mortgage secures.
Each figure was read from the statute that sets it on September 14, 2026 and is linked to its section. Which county ch. 83-220 describes comes from the Department of Revenue’s documentary stamp tax guidance. Rates change by act of the Legislature — if one of these no longer matches what you are being charged, tell us and we will correct it.
Where a Boca Raton deed is recorded
Boca Raton is in Palm Beach County, so the deed records with the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, not with the city.
- First page
- $10.00
- Then $8.50 a page
- A 3-page deed
- $27
- Same at every office
- A 25-page mortgage
- $214
- Same at every office
Charged by the page, at a rate the statute sets for every office in Florida — Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13).
"We cannot guarantee documents will be recorded on the same day that we receive them." "Notices of Commencement are normally recorded within one business day when submitted electronically." Walk-in recording appears under the heading "Same Day Recording": "Except for designated holidays. Present documents in person at the following locations, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m." (five locations listed).
More detail on recording
Recording, first page: $10.00. $5.00 service charge, plus $1.00 to the Public Records Modernization Trust Fund, plus $4.00. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(a), (d)1., (e)
Recording, each page after the first: $8.50. $4.00 service charge, plus 50¢ to the trust fund, plus $4.00. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(b), (d)2., (e)
Indexing, per name over four: $1.00. Reached by a deed with several grantors, or by a mortgage naming a trust. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(c)
The office’s own fee schedule covers the other things it does — certified copies, searches, its own e-recording arrangements — and a third-party e-recording vendor may add a fee of its own, which is not the office’s charge and not this.
The turnaround above is the office’s own published statement, not a commitment it makes to us or a time we can promise you. Offices change these pages without notice. On a file where the recording date matters, ask us and we will check what the office is actually doing that week.
Read from the statute on September 14, 2026. If a charge here no longer matches what you are being charged, tell us and we will correct it.
The municipal lien search in Boca Raton
A title search reads Palm Beach County’s records. What the City of Boca Raton knows takes a search of its own.
None of these is in the official records. They are found by a separate municipal lien search directed to the city itself, and we order one on every file. What it turns up goes to you in writing, with what clearing it would take, as soon as it comes back.
Where the City of Boca Raton publishes it: lien search, code enforcement and permit records.
- Lien search
- The City’s Financial Services Department searches its records for outstanding bills, special assessments and pending or certified liens. The search costs $150.00 and does not include open building or other permits. Source: Lien search
- Open permits
- The Building Department runs a separate search for outstanding code violations and open or expired building permits, by property control number and address, with written results by email. The City says this search does not include financial liens. Source: Open permits
- City or County
- The City says to check a property’s annexation date to see whether its search for code violations and open permits goes through Boca Raton or Palm Beach County. Source: City or County
- Water beyond city limits
- The City provides water to about 6,500 unincorporated residents of Boca Raton, as well as to its 28,000 city residents. Source: Water beyond city limits
- Utility liens
- Unpaid water, reclaimed water, sewer and stormwater charges are a lien on the property served, ranking with taxes and ahead of all other liens. These liens need not be recorded. Source: Utility liens
- Code liens
- A recorded order imposing a code fine is a lien on the land in violation and on the violator’s other property in the county. The fine keeps accruing until the violator complies or a judgment is entered. Source: Code liens
- Before a sale
- An owner whose property is in an unsafe-structure proceeding before the special magistrate must make the disclosures required by Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, and the City Code before transferring it. Failing to make them creates a presumption of fraud. Source: Before a sale
- Lot clearing liens
- Lot clearing costs the owner leaves unpaid for 30 days become a lien bearing 12 percent a year. Only county and state taxes come ahead of it, and the City can foreclose it like a special assessment. Source: Lot clearing liens
- Condo recertification
- Condo and co-op buildings of 3 stories or more, and threshold buildings, need an engineers’ recertification at 30 years, or 25 for a condo or co-op within 3 miles of the coast. It repeats every 10 years, and the reports are public. Source: Condo recertification
- Unity of title
- A recorded unity of title joining lots to meet the code runs with the land. No part may be sold off if that would leave the property out of compliance, and only the City Manager can release the declaration. Source: Unity of title
- Final water bill
- Whoever closes a water account pays for water used through the date of notice and 3 business days after, while the City reads the meter for the final bill. Source: Final water bill
- Assessments on the water bill
- The City may let a special assessment lien for improvements be paid in monthly or bimonthly installments, and those installments can be billed with the regular water and sewer bill. Source: Assessments on the water bill
Each line restates what the page linked beside it said when it was read, on October 7, 2026: the City’s own page, a portal it links to, or its code. Offices change these pages without notice; on a file where one of them matters, ask us and we will check it again.
What an open permit does to a closing: What happens if there's an open permit on the property before closing?
Community associations in Boca Raton we have written about
Some things are set by the community, not the city.
The premium, the taxes and the recording office on this page apply everywhere in Boca Raton. A community association’s recorded documents add their own: which estoppels to order, what is paid to the association at closing, and whether a sale or a lease needs its approval. We have written up these communities so far, each from its recorded documents.
- Chapter 720 master association of the Village associationsBoca West
HOA fees, mandatory Country Club membership and its Joining Fee, the master's capital contribution and Certificate of Compliance, the leasing limits, and the 56 Villages.
- Chapter 720 master association of the Neighborhood (Parcel) associationsWoodfield Country Club
Mandatory Club membership, the master's Certificate of Compliance and six-month working capital contribution, the leasing rules, and the 20 Neighborhoods.
How a signing happens in Boca Raton
In a closing room here in Boca Raton, wherever the signer is, or online.
We book a private conference room at 7284 W Palmetto Park Road, Suite 101 for the signing, by appointment, so a Boca Raton signer does not have to drive to Coral Springs. Or we send a notary to them. Remote online notarization is the third way, for a signer who is not in Boca Raton on the day. The closer who prepared the file is reachable during the signing whichever way it happens.
Closing room in Boca Raton
7284 W Palmetto Park Road, Suite 101, Boca Raton.
By appointment, booked for your signing.
Directions →Closing room in West Palm Beach
1501 Belvedere Road, Suite 500, West Palm Beach.
By appointment, booked for your signing.
Directions →Wherever the signer is
We send a notary to the signer, including outside office hours.
About mobile notary signings →Remote online
Signed online with a Florida-commissioned online notary.
How remote online notarization works →
Each kind of file has a page of its own: home purchases and sales, refinances and commercial title. Everything we handle is on title, escrow and closing services in Florida.
Title problems we have written about in Palm Beach County
What tends to hold up a Palm Beach closing, and what it takes to clear.