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Buyer closing costs in Florida

The short answer

A Florida buyer’s closing costs come in three kinds. The statute sets the taxes and recording on the mortgage. The Office of Insurance Regulation sets the title premium. Nothing sets the rest — the lender’s charges, the settlement fee, survey, appraisal, association fees and prorations. Which side pays each line is decided by the purchase contract, with local custom as the starting point.

2 items we have not published yetThese are not stated anywhere on this page. We publish a figure once it is tied to a source we are willing to stand behind, and none of these is there yet — an invented closing cost is worse than a missing one. Ask us on a specific file and we will tell you what we are seeing.
  • Bayit Title’s settlement fee and search fee on the buyer’s side, which are not promulgated
  • How the standard Florida contract forms allocate each line by default

The other side of the same closing statement is on the seller closing costs page.

What the statute sets, on a financed purchase

Three charges attach to the mortgage rather than to the sale, so a buyer paying cash has none of them. Each is set by the Legislature and is the same in all 67 counties:

Documentary stamp tax on the mortgage
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. Fla. Stat. § 201.08(1)(b)
Nonrecurring intangible tax
2 mills on each dollar secured — $2 per $1,000 One time, on the obligation the mortgage secures. Fla. Stat. § 199.133(1)

Recording the mortgage is charged by the page, at a rate every clerk in Florida applies:

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)

On a $400,000 loan that is $1,400 in mortgage stamps, $800 in intangible tax, and $214 to record a 25-page mortgage: $2,414 before anyone’s fee.

The title insurance premium

The premium is not a Bayit Title price. It comes off the schedule in Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003, promulgated under Fla. Stat. § 627.782, and is the same figure at every agency in the state for the same coverage. Per $1,000 of liability:

First $100,000 of liability
$5.75 per $1,000 Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)
$100,000 to $1,000,000
$5.00 per $1,000 Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)
$1,000,000 to $5,000,000
$2.50 per $1,000 Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)
$5,000,000 to $10,000,000
$2.25 per $1,000 Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)
Over $10,000,000
$2.00 per $1,000 Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)

An owner’s policy on a $500,000 purchase is $2,575. For a lender’s policy issued at the same time on the same land, the rule sets $25 as the least it can be for coverage up to the owner’s amount. 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. The estimate page works both out for any price and loan.

Who pays for the owner’s policy

Custom varies by county. In Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Collier County and Sarasota County the buyer customarily pays for the owner’s policy. In Duval County, Hillsborough County, Orange County, Palm Beach County, Brevard County, Charlotte County, Lee County, Manatee County, Marion County, Osceola County, Pasco County, Pinellas County and St. Lucie County it is customarily the seller. Custom is not law: the contract decides, and either side can end up paying. The county pages state the custom only where we have confirmed it — the county pages say which.

The lender’s policy is a condition of the loan, protects the lender, and is ordinarily on the borrower’s side of the statement.

What nothing sets

The rest of the buyer’s side is priced by whoever provides it, and this page gives no figure for any of it because no rule does:

  • The lender’s charges — origination, underwriting, points, appraisal, credit report, flood certification, prepaid interest, and the initial deposit into the escrow account for taxes and insurance. They are on the lender’s Loan Estimate, not ours.
  • The settlement fee and the title search — the title agency’s own charges. Ours are not promulgated and are quoted on the file: request a quote.
  • Survey and inspections — ordered by the buyer, priced by the surveyor and the inspector.
  • Association charges — an application or transfer fee to a condominium or homeowners’ association, and the first assessment, where the property is in one.
  • Prorations — property taxes and association dues divided between the parties as of the closing date, as the contract provides. A credit, not a fee.
  • Homeowner’s insurance — the first year’s premium, where a lender requires it paid at closing.

Common questions

Does the buyer pay for title insurance in Florida?

It depends on the county and, above all, on the contract. Who pays for the owner’s policy is local custom, and the purchase contract can put it on either side. The lender’s policy protects the lender and is ordinarily on the borrower’s side of the statement.

Are buyer closing costs the same in every Florida county?

The title premium is promulgated statewide and the mortgage taxes and recording charges are set by statute, so those are the same everywhere. What changes by county is custom — who pays for the owner’s policy — and, in Miami-Dade only, the deed stamp rate and surtax, which fall on whichever side the contract says.

Can a buyer shop for a lower title insurance premium?

Not in Florida. The premium comes off a schedule the Office of Insurance Regulation promulgates by rule, so it is the same figure at every agency for the same coverage. What differs between agencies is the settlement fee, the search and the work.

What does a cash buyer not pay?

A cash buyer has no mortgage, so there is no documentary stamp tax on a mortgage, no intangible tax, no lender’s policy and no mortgage to record. The owner’s policy, the deed stamps and the recording of the deed still fall where the contract puts them.

Does the buyer pay the documentary stamp tax on the deed?

The statute taxes the deed; it does not say who pays. The purchase contract allocates it, and the standard Florida contract forms do so in a specific paragraph. Read yours rather than assuming.

Premium read from Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003 on September 14, 2026. Taxes and recording charges read from the statutes on September 14, 2026 and linked line by line above. These pages describe how closing costs generally work in Florida and are not legal or tax advice.