Hi, I am Pennye Putman, COO of Clear Title, and today I am going to share my 2 cents on Municipal Lien Searches.

What is a municipal lien search?

A municipal lien search helps you avoid undisclosed fees and costs after you close on a residential or commercial property. These types of fees could be an outstanding utility or tax bills, expired permits, code violations, or any other unrecorded liens on the property.

Why is it important to get a municipal lien search on a property?

If unrecorded liens or other violations are tied to the property, you could be liable to pay for any outstanding fees still attached to the property. The last thing you want when spending your hard-earned savings on a property is to pay additional for someone else’s outstanding fees!

How do I conduct a municipal lien search in order to avoid paying extra fees?

While the search isn’t a requirement, many counties across Florida require a municipal lien search as part of the closing process. Municipal liens are not covered under title insurance.

At Clear Title, we offer an additional search for the buyer to disclose in a report. This is a contractual obligation in a FARBAR contract.  There is an additional fee for this search as it is performed by a third party.  The fee starts at $85.00 and can go higher depending on where the property is located and what the third party has to search.  This search is given to the buyer for informational purposes and is not something that the title company is responsible to clear up if issues are discovered, as again these matters are not covered under your title insurance policy.

If you have questions regarding municipal lien searches, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you.

Remember, most say a Pennye for your thoughts…. I hope my thoughts gave you something to think about because these are my 2 CENTS for today.