Who pays for the owner’s policy in Fort Lauderdale?
The buyer customarily pays for the owner’s policy in Fort Lauderdale.
That is the custom in Broward County, and so in Fort Lauderdale. 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 Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale address off the Broward 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 Fort Lauderdale sale
Taxed by the state, at the rate that applies in Broward 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 Fort Lauderdale deed is recorded
Fort Lauderdale is in Broward County, so the deed records with the Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, 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).
This office does not publish a statement about how long recording takes, so we do not print one. On a file with a tight timeline, ask us what the office is doing that week.
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.
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 Fort Lauderdale
A title search reads Broward County’s records. What the City of Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale publishes it: lien search, code enforcement and permit records.
- Lien search
- The City issues its lien reports online, through the portal linked from its Lien Search page, and takes lien and payoff questions through messages sent from the report. Source: Lien search
- Lien amnesty
- The City’s Lien Amnesty FY 2027 program runs from 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027. It cuts eligible code liens by 50% on residential and 25% on non-residential property, if every Fort Lauderdale property with the same owner is in full compliance. Source: Lien amnesty
- Amnesty terms
- An amnesty application costs $175, non-refundable. Administrative fees, hard costs, demolition costs, utility liens and recording fees are not reduced, and everything owed must be paid within 90 days of approval. Source: Amnesty terms
- Partial releases
- Properties with cross-attaching or foreclosed liens may qualify for an administrative partial release of lien, reviewed by the Community Enhancement and Compliance supervisors and then the City Attorney’s office. An approved release costs $500 per case, and the request may be rejected if the property is not in full compliance. Source: Partial releases
- Water accounts
- Since 1 March 2026 only property owners can open new City utility accounts. A new owner provides the executed settlement statement, signed by buyer and seller, or the warranty deed, unless the Property Appraiser already shows the new owner. Source: Water accounts
Each line restates what the page linked beside it said when it was read, on October 7, 2026: the City’s own page, or a portal it links to. 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 Fort Lauderdale
At our office, wherever the signer is in Fort Lauderdale, or online.
A Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale 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 Plantation
261 N University Drive, Suite 500, Plantation.
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 →
Everything we handle is on title, escrow and closing services in Florida.
Title problems we have written about in Broward County
What tends to hold up a Broward closing, and what it takes to clear.