Who pays for the owner’s policy in Delray Beach?
The seller customarily pays for the owner’s policy in Delray Beach.
That is the custom in Palm Beach County, and so in Delray Beach. 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.
How the custom runs in the other counties is on who pays for title insurance in Florida.
What title insurance costs on a Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach deed is recorded
Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach
A title search reads Palm Beach County’s records. What the City of Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach publishes it: lien search, code enforcement and permit records.
- Lien search
- Since September 1, 2019, lien search and estoppel requests have gone directly to an outside company the City partners with, through the city’s online lien portal, at $115 each. A search needs the property address, the owners’ names and the parcel ID, and covers outstanding municipal liens, code enforcement liens and utility balances. Source: Lien search
- Code liens
- The City’s code enforcement manual says a recorded order imposing a code fine is a lien on the land where the violation exists and on any other real or personal property the violator owns. The order is to be recorded within 30 business days after the Code Board or Special Magistrate issues it. Source: Code liens
- Water account at a sale
- The City’s Utility Billing Division closes an owner’s water account only once the owner has closed on the property, and typically opens it in the new owner’s name when the buyer applies for service. A seller may instead submit the warranty deed and have the account finalized with a zero balance before the buyer applies. Source: Water account at a sale
- Water bill liens
- A water bill still unpaid 30 days after it is issued is delinquent. Before filing a lien for unpaid water bills, the City mails the owner shown on the county tax roll a notice that it will file the lien if the bill is still unpaid 15 days later. Source: Water bill liens
- Owner and tenant charges
- Owners must keep paying for utility service billed to vacant units, used or not. The City may refuse to open a water account in a tenant’s name until the owner pays any delinquent account in full. Source: Owner and tenant charges
- Stormwater assessment
- The annual stormwater management assessment is a lien on the property from the first day of the year assessed, ranking with taxes. A change of ownership doesn’t affect it, a buyer who didn’t know of it is still responsible for it, and it is collected like taxes under Chapter 197, tax certificates and tax deeds included. Source: Stormwater assessment
- Landlord permits
- Renting out a residential unit, by lease or oral arrangement, requires a landlord permit, which costs $75.00 per unit a year from November 1. Anyone who acquires an interest in such a property and does not apply for the permit within 30 days pays triple fees. Source: Landlord permits
- Expired permits
- The Building Division says a permit expires and becomes void if work does not start, with an inspection requested, within 180 days, or if work is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, and a lack of inspections in that time counts as proof of it. Work started without a permit costs triple for an after-the-fact permit. Source: Expired permits
- Unsafe-structure liens
- Under the Land Development Regulations, the City’s cost of demolishing or boarding up an unsafe building, plus a ten percent administrative charge, is assessed against the parcel by City Commission resolution. Unpaid, it bears eight percent interest a year, and the lien is on a parity with City taxes, ahead of all other liens including mortgages. Source: Unsafe-structure liens
- Rehabilitation grant liens
- The City’s housing rehabilitation grants are secured by a lien agreement, and the full grant is payable to the City if the owner-occupant sells or transfers the property and no longer lives there as a primary residence, except for major healthcare expenses or inheritance at death. Source: Rehabilitation grant liens
- Workforce housing resales
- Under the Land Development Regulations, the City must be notified before closing on any sale or resale of a workforce housing unit. Its deed restriction caps the resale price at the initial price, raised as Palm Beach County median income has risen, and the restrictions last at least 40 years from first occupancy. Source: Workforce housing resales
Each line restates what the page linked beside it said when it was read, on October 16, 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?
How a signing happens in Delray Beach
At our office, wherever the signer is in Delray Beach, or online.
A Delray Beach signer can come to our office in Coral Springs, or we send a notary to them — a kitchen table, an office, wherever they are. Remote online notarization is the third way, for a signer who is not in Delray Beach on the day. The closer who prepared the file is reachable during the signing whichever way it happens.
In our office
3301 N University Drive, Suite 100, Coral Springs.
Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
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.