Who chooses the title company in Florida?

The rule: whoever pays picks, and the lender approves

The Department of Financial Services’ consumer page on title insurance puts it in one sentence: the person paying the premium gets the first choice of closing agent, and the lender must approve it. The contract forms are written the same way. Who pays for the owner’s policy is local custom, and it differs by county, so who chooses differs with it: who pays for title insurance in Florida has the custom for every county, and the list below has who chooses.

Custom is the starting point, not a rule. The purchase contract decides who designates the closing agent, and in a negotiated deal either side can be written in: a buyer who wants their own title company in a seller-pay county can ask for it, and a seller can agree, or agree to it in exchange for the buyer paying the premium. Nothing about the premium changes with the choice; it is promulgated statewide.

What a seller cannot require

On a sale financed with a mortgage, federal law draws one line. Section 9 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C. § 2608, says:

No seller of property that will be purchased with the assistance of a federally related mortgage loan shall require directly or indirectly, as a condition to selling the property, that title insurance covering the property be purchased by the buyer from any particular title company.

A seller who does “shall be liable to the buyer in an amount equal to three times all charges made for such title insurance” (subsection (b)), and Regulation X repeats the prohibition at 12 CFR § 1024.16. So where the buyer is paying for the title insurance, the buyer picks, and the seller cannot make the sale conditional on the seller’s title company. Where the seller pays for the owner’s policy, the seller naming the closing agent is the seller’s own purchase, not a requirement imposed on the buyer. The section reaches only a sale with a federally related mortgage loan: on a cash sale, the contract alone decides. Read at the source on November 3, 2026.

Where the contract says it

On the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contract, the form most Florida home sales are written on, who designates the closing agent follows the box checked in paragraph 9(c). The form has three and no default, so one should be checked:

• Box 9(c)(i)Seller chooses the closing agent and pays for the owner’s policy and the search. The buyer pays for any lender’s policy.
• Box 9(c)(ii)Buyer chooses the closing agent and pays for the owner’s policy, the search and any lender’s policy.
• Box 9(c)(iii)Buyer chooses: the Miami-Dade/Broward provision The buyer pays both premiums; the seller pays the title search (up to $200 if left blank), the tax search and the municipal lien search.

Standard I says the party paying for the owner’s policy designates the closing agent. Every other cost the contract allocates, line by line, is in Understanding the FAR/BAR contract: every deadline, and who pays what.

Who chooses, county by county

What we see on our own files, confirmed county by county, with the side that customarily names the title company. In the counties where who pays has no settled custom, who chooses follows the sale’s payer. Each county links to its page, which has who pays, the deed stamp rate and the recording office there.

• 9 countiesThe buyer chooses Broward, Collier, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Miami-Dade, Santa Rosa, Sarasota and Wakulla
• 46 countiesThe seller chooses Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Franklin, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Indian River, Jackson, Lake, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Union, Volusia and Washington
• 12 countiesIt follows who pays, which varies Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Hamilton, Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, Martin, Monroe, Suwannee, Taylor and Walton
  • In Columbia County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Dixie County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Escambia County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Hamilton County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Lafayette County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Liberty County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Madison County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Martin County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Monroe County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, which depends on where in the Keys the property is: the buyer in Islamorada and the Upper Keys, the seller in Marathon and the Middle Keys, and either in Key West and the Lower Keys.
  • In Suwannee County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Taylor County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.
  • In Walton County who chooses the closing agent follows who pays for the owner’s policy, and there is no settled custom for that: the buyer on some sales and the seller on others.

On a file in any of these counties, ask us and we will tell you what we are seeing. The table, with who pays beside who chooses, is a CSV download.

Common questions