Who pays for the owner’s policy, county by county
Local custom, not law — and negotiable in the contract.
By local custom the buyer pays for the owner’s policy in 9 counties, Broward and Miami-Dade among them, and the seller in 46 counties, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange and Duval among them; in the other 12 it varies.
Documentary stamp tax, county by county
The same rate in 66 counties. Miami-Dade is the exception.
- Deed stamps, 66 counties
- 70¢ per $100
- $3,500 on a $500,000 sale
- Deed stamps, Miami-Dade
- 60¢ per $100
- Plus a 45¢ per $100 surtax unless single-family
- On a mortgage, every county
- 35¢ per $100
- Plus intangible tax, $2 per $1,000
The tax is the state’s, set by the Legislature — Fla. Stat. § 201.02(1)(a). Miami-Dade is the one county that does not pay the statewide rate: the 10-cent increase added in 1992 was never applied there, and it levies a surtax the other 66 do not — Fla. Stat. §§ 201.02(1)(a), 201.0205. Which side pays is decided by the contract, not the statute.
The Florida doc stamp tax calculator works it out for a specific price and loan.
Which office records, and how long it takes
The clerk of the circuit court, unless the county has placed the duty elsewhere.
That is the rule in Fla. Stat. § 28.222(1). The exceptions: in Broward County, the Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division; and in Orange County, the Orange County Comptroller.
- 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
What recording costs is set by statute and charged by the page, the same at every office — Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13). How long a document takes to post is each office’s own. We publish an office’s own words on turnaround, or nothing — never an industry average. 22 of the 67 offices publish one, and its county page quotes it.
How the property appraiser publishes its records
It decides what an address estimate can read.
How the property appraiser and tax collector publish their records is each county’s own. In 20 counties the estimate finds the property from its address and reads its value off the published roll: Bay, Brevard, Broward, Columbia, Miami-Dade, Dixie, Flagler, Hamilton, Hendry, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lafayette, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Palm Beach, Suwannee, Volusia and Wakulla. Everywhere else it still names the county from the address, links to the appraiser’s record, and asks you to type the value in.
Each of those services was checked on September 22, 2026. They are other offices’ services, and they move.