Who pays for the owner’s policy in Tampa?
The seller customarily pays for the owner’s policy in Tampa.
That is the custom in Hillsborough County, and so in Tampa. 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.
That is the custom as we see it on our own files, confirmed on September 24, 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.
What title insurance costs on a Tampa 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 Tampa 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 Tampa address off the Hillsborough 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 Tampa sale
Taxed by the state, at the rate that applies in Hillsborough 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 Tampa deed is recorded
Tampa is in Hillsborough County, so the deed records with the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court, 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).
Recording in person is the ONLY option to guarantee same-day service.
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 Tampa
A title search reads Hillsborough County’s records. What the City of Tampa 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 Tampa publishes it: lien search, code enforcement and permit records.
- Lien search
- The City’s lien search has a $25 non-refundable fee and is provided within 7 business days. The payoff settlement letter is valid for 45 days from the date of issuance. Source: Lien search
- Open permits
- The report from the city’s online lien portal covers utilities, code enforcement, and legal liens and release fees. Permits are not among the items it lists. Source: Open permits
- Before a sale
- Under the City Code, an owner who transfers a property during a pending code enforcement case must disclose the proceedings to the buyer in writing and file notice of the transfer within 5 days of closing. Failing to disclose creates a rebuttable presumption of fraud. Source: Before a sale
- New owners
- Under the City Code, a sale does not cancel or diminish a property maintenance order of the director. A buyer who acquires the property while it is subject to one must comply as if they had owned it when the order was issued. Source: New owners
- Tax deeds
- The City says that, under Executive Order 2022-16, properties sold at a tax deed sale are not eligible for negotiated code lien settlements. A tax deed buyer can let the tax deed process finish or pay the existing liens in full. Source: Tax deeds
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?
Community associations in Tampa 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 Tampa. 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 Tampa Palms villagesTampa Palms
No master transfer fee or approval, a 180-day rental minimum in the single-family villages, a lien that relates back to 1986, and the first question on every file: which recorded instrument brought the lot under the declaration.
Tampa Palms Neighborhoods in Tampa
How a signing happens in Tampa
At our office, wherever the signer is in Tampa, or online.
A Tampa 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 Tampa 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
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.