A Florida title commitment is the document a title insurance company issues before closing that spells out what its final policy will cover, what conditions must be satisfied first, and what risks will stay excluded even after the policy is issued. If you’re buying property or refinancing in Florida, it’s your first real look at whether the title is clean and what it will take to make it insurable.
Read it carefully. Every problem the insurer wants fixed, every risk it refuses to insure, and every dollar of coverage you’re paying for is described somewhere in this document.
What Each Schedule Tells You
A Florida title commitment is organized into schedules, and each one answers a different question.
Schedule A: The Basic Facts
Schedule A shows the effective date of the commitment, the names of the proposed insured parties, the amount of coverage, and the legal description of the property. The effective date matters more than most buyers realize. It marks the point in time through which the title company has searched the public records, and anything recorded after that date falls into the gap period discussed below.
Schedule B-I: Requirements to Clear
Schedule B-I is your to-do list. It sets out every condition that must be met before the final policy will issue: paying off outstanding property taxes, satisfying existing mortgages or judgment liens, recording a new deed, obtaining releases from prior lienholders. Florida law requires the insurer to base these requirements on a reasonable title search and a formal determination of insurability before it can issue the commitment at all.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.7845 – Determination of Insurability Required; Preservation of Evidence of Title Search and Examination Every item on this list has to be resolved before closing.
Schedule B-II: Exceptions to Coverage
Schedule B-II lists what the policy will not cover, even once the requirements are satisfied. Standard exceptions typically include easements shown in the public records, restrictive covenants that run with the land, rights of parties in possession, and survey matters such as encroachments or boundary overlaps. Some exceptions can be removed by providing a current survey or other documentation, but many will remain on the final policy. Anything listed here is a risk you carry yourself, so this is the section that often deserves the closest read.
Owner’s Policy and Lender’s Policy
A Florida title commitment can produce two separate policies at closing, and the distinction trips up a lot of buyers.
A lender’s policy protects the mortgage company’s financial interest up to the outstanding loan balance. Nearly every lender requires it as a condition of funding. An owner’s policy protects your equity and legal ownership. It covers losses from problems like undisclosed heirs, forged documents in the chain of title, or recording errors that predate your purchase. An owner’s policy isn’t legally required, but without one you absorb the full financial risk of any hidden defect yourself. The premium is a one-time charge, and the coverage lasts as long as you or your heirs own the property.
When both policies are issued together, Florida’s promulgated rate rules give you a significant break. The owner’s policy is charged at the full rate, and the lender’s policy drops to a minimum of just $25 so long as the loan amount doesn’t exceed the owner’s policy amount.2Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 69O-186.003 – Title Insurance Rates If the mortgage is larger than the purchase price, the excess is charged at the regular rate.
What the Title Search Actually Covers
Before issuing the commitment, the title insurer or its agent must conduct a reasonable search of the public records and make a formal determination that the title is insurable, evaluating the search results along with any other information needed under sound underwriting practices.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.7845 – Determination of Insurability Required; Preservation of Evidence of Title Search and Examination The statute defines a title search as compiling title information from official or public records.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.7711 – Definitions
In practice, the searcher traces the ownership chain through decades of recorded deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments, and other instruments, looking for anything that could cloud title: an unsatisfied mortgage from a prior owner, a tax lien, a judgment against someone in the chain, an improperly executed deed, or a missing heir.
Here’s the limitation buyers most often miss. The standard title search covers only instruments recorded in the county’s official records. Unpaid utility bills, code enforcement fines, and municipal special assessment liens frequently don’t appear there. Florida buyers commonly order a separate municipal lien search to catch these. Costs vary by municipality but typically run between roughly $35 and $125. If the property sits within city limits, skipping this search is one of the more common ways closings go sideways.
How Much Title Insurance Costs in Florida
Florida is a promulgated rate state. The Financial Services Commission sets rates by rule, and no insurer can deviate from them.4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.782 – Adoption of Rates The current schedule works on a sliding scale based on the policy amount:2Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 69O-186.003 – Title Insurance Rates
- Up to $100,000: $5.75 per $1,000 of coverage, minimum premium of $100
- $100,001 to $1 million: $5.00 per $1,000
- $1,000,001 to $5 million: $2.50 per $1,000
- $5,000,001 to $10 million: $2.25 per $1,000
- Over $10 million: $2.00 per $1,000
On a $400,000 purchase, the owner’s premium works out to $575 for the first $100,000 plus $1,500 for the remaining $300,000, totaling $2,075. If a lender’s policy is issued at the same time and the loan is at or below $400,000, the lender’s policy adds only $25.2Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 69O-186.003 – Title Insurance Rates
Because premiums are uniform statewide, shopping for title insurance in Florida is really about closing fees and service quality. The premium itself is the same wherever you go.
Who Pays for the Owner’s Policy
Florida custom varies by county. In roughly two-thirds of the state’s 67 counties, the seller customarily pays for the owner’s title insurance. In the rest, the buyer pays. Parts of Monroe County follow different customs depending on the specific location.
These are customs, not legal rules. The purchase contract can assign the cost to either party regardless of local tradition, and negotiations increasingly override the default. Developer contracts and institutional lenders frequently deviate from county norms. The buyer almost always pays for the lender’s policy separately, since that coverage protects the bank.
If you’re buying in an unfamiliar county, ask your closing agent or attorney what the local custom is before signing the contract. Knowing who typically pays lets you negotiate from an informed position instead of being surprised at closing.
The Gap Period
The effective date on Schedule A creates a window of risk. The title search covers records only through that date, but closing and recording usually happen days or weeks later. During that interval, someone could record a new lien, judgment, or claim against the property. That window is the gap period.
Gap coverage protects the buyer and lender against defects that arise between the commitment’s effective date and the date the closing documents are actually recorded. Some lenders require a separate gap endorsement or an independent gap policy as a condition of funding. Whether gap coverage is included in the standard commitment or has to be added on depends on the insurer and the lender, so confirm the arrangement with your title company before closing.
Common Defects and How They Get Cleared
Florida title commitments regularly uncover problems that have to be resolved before closing. Some are routine. Others can delay a transaction by weeks.
Outstanding liens are the most common issue. Unpaid property taxes, judgment liens from lawsuits, and unsatisfied mortgages from prior owners all show up on Schedule B-I. Most are resolved by paying off the debt at closing from the seller’s proceeds, with the title company handling the payoff and recording the release. Federal tax liens require coordination with the IRS and can take longer.
Boundary disputes surface when the deed’s legal description doesn’t match what a survey shows on the ground, or when a neighbor’s fence or structure encroaches. A fresh survey often clarifies the situation. If it doesn’t, the parties may negotiate and record a boundary line agreement. Where neighbors can’t agree, Florida courts resolve the dispute through litigation.
Breaks in the chain of title happen when a deed was improperly executed, a prior owner’s name was misspelled, or an estate was never properly probated. Fixing these can require corrective deeds, affidavits, or in more serious cases a quiet title action filed in court. The title company won’t insure around a broken chain, so these have to be addressed head-on.
Unreleased mortgages are surprisingly common. A prior owner paid off a loan but the lender never recorded the satisfaction. Tracking down the release, or obtaining a new one from the lender’s successor, takes time but follows a clear path.
Why an Attorney Review Pays Off
Florida doesn’t require an attorney at closing, but the commitment stage is where having one usually pays for itself. An attorney reads Schedule B-II for exceptions that could limit how you plan to use the property. A restrictive covenant that prohibits commercial use, or an easement that runs across a planned building site, won’t always jump out at a buyer reading the document for the first time.
Attorneys also handle the Schedule B-I clearing work: negotiating with lienholders, drafting the legal documents needed to resolve problems, challenging a lien’s validity or negotiating a reduced payoff where appropriate. For more complex issues like breaks in the chain of title, attorneys prepare corrective instruments or file quiet title actions.
Once you satisfy every requirement in Schedule B-I, the commitment binds the insurer to issue the final policy on the terms stated. Getting to that point without leaving avoidable risks on Schedule B-II is where the review work happens, and it’s much cheaper to catch a problem here than to litigate it later.