Florida

Florida Property Records: How to Find Out Who Owns a Property (2026)

By Recording Law Editorial TeamPublished July 16, 202610 min read

Key Takeaways

1Florida has no single state recording office. Each of the 67 counties' Clerk of the Circuit Court, often styled "Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller," is the official custodian of deeds, mortgages, and liens recorded in that county.
2MyFloridaCounty.com Official Records Search, jointly run by the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers association, lets you search participating counties' records from one statewide interface, even though each county still legally owns its own records.
3The county Property Appraiser, not the Clerk, runs the fastest free "who owns this" lookup by owner name, address, or parcel number; the Florida Department of Revenue also compiles a statewide parcel map from all 67 county appraisers.
4A certified copy of a recorded deed typically costs about $1 per page plus a $2 to $8 certification or service fee, depending on the county.
5The Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers maintain a directory of county-level free property fraud alert programs; Clay, Bay, Palm Beach, and Orange counties are confirmed examples that let owners register to be notified when a document is recorded against their name.
6Mailers offering to sell a "certified copy of your deed" for $80 to $95 are a documented nationwide scam. Homeowners typically received their original deed for free at closing and can order an actual certified copy from the county Clerk for a few dollars.
7A free deed or ownership lookup is useful research, but it is not a substitute for a licensed title company's professional title search before buying property.

Florida's official real property records are recorded and archived at the county level by each of the state's 67 Clerks of the Circuit Court, but a free, association-run search tool lets you look up recorded deeds from any Florida county through one statewide interface.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Property Records Work in Florida

Each of Florida's 67 counties keeps its own official record of deeds, mortgages, liens, plats, and other recorded instruments through the Clerk of the Circuit Court, an elected county office that many counties now style "Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller" (Miami-Dade and Palm Beach are two examples). There is no single state agency that records real estate documents; recording remains a county function, as it does in most states. Nearly all 67 Clerks provide a free online Official Records search where anyone can view and print uncertified copies at no charge, with digital images commonly reaching back to 1968. Certified copies, needed for court filings, loan payoffs, or estate matters, require an added per-page and certification fee paid to the specific county Clerk that holds the document, since custody never left that office even though the record can often be found through a shared search screen.

What makes Florida distinctive is not the recording structure itself, which mirrors most of the country, but the search layer built on top of it. The Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, the statewide association of the 67 elected Clerks, jointly operates MyFloridaCounty.com Official Records Search, a cross-county interface that lets a user search by county, judicial circuit, region, or the entire state from one screen (Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts, "Official Records"). Each Clerk remains the legal custodian of its own county's documents, but a researcher no longer needs to know in advance which county holds a document before starting a search.

How to Find Out Who Owns a Property in Florida

The fastest free way to find a Florida property's current owner of record is the county Property Appraiser's website, not the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Every county's Property Appraiser runs a public parcel search by owner name, situs address, or parcel and folio number, and most pair it with an interactive GIS map. Hillsborough County's Property Appraiser, for example, runs a free parcel search and map tool, and the Florida Department of Revenue compiles all 67 counties' appraiser data into one statewide aggregated parcel map for cross-county research (Florida Department of Revenue, "Florida Statewide Parcels"). A recent sale can show up in the Clerk's recorded-document index before the Property Appraiser's "current owner" field updates, so check both sources for a very recent transaction rather than relying on just one.

a brass magnifying glass lying on a printed map with small parcel outlines, warm desk light

Three steps cover almost every research need:

Search the county Property Appraiser by address, owner name, or parcel number for free ownership and assessed-value information. This is the right starting point for most people.
Search MyFloridaCounty.com Official Records Search, or the specific county Clerk's own Official Records search, to find the actual recorded deed, mortgage, or lien and to trace prior owners through the grantor-grantee name index.
Order a certified copy directly from the county Clerk that holds the document if you need one for a legal or financial purpose. Fees vary by county: Miami-Dade charges roughly $1 per page plus a $2 certification fee; Palm Beach County charges a flat $8 per document; Lee County charges $8 per certified copy (Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts, civil certified copies page).

For how this compares to other states, see Property Records by State; Florida's decentralized custody paired with a shared search interface sits between the county-only model most states use and the true statewide indexes Georgia and Hawaii run.

Florida's Statewide Search Layer: MyFloridaCounty.com

Florida's Clerks built something most states have not: a shared, jointly funded statewide search front end, even though the underlying records stayed fully decentralized. MyFloridaCounty.com Official Records Search covers participating counties statewide, and a search can be scoped to one county, a judicial circuit, a region, or the whole state in a single query.

This does not make Florida a "statewide recording" state in the way Hawaii or Georgia are. Each of the 67 Clerks is still the sole legal custodian of the documents recorded in that county, and the site is a search convenience layer, not a merger of the underlying offices. For most practical research, though, it functions closer to a true statewide portal than the tools available in most other states, where a researcher normally has to know the correct county before beginning a search.

Deed Scam Mailers and Florida's Property Fraud Alert Programs

Florida homeowners are a frequent target of a well-documented nationwide scam: companies mail official-looking solicitations offering to sell a "certified copy of your deed" for a fee that consumer-protection warnings have placed in the $82 to $95 range (Minnesota Attorney General, "Real Estate Deed Solicitation"). These mailers use words like "official" and "certified," pull the real property address, parcel number, and purchase date from public records to look legitimate, and add a manufactured deadline, while a disclaimer buried in small print admits it is not a government bill and there is no obligation to pay. Most homeowners already received their deed for free at closing, and an actual certified copy costs only a few dollars per page directly from the county Clerk (Orange County Comptroller, "Recording Fees"). Report one of these mailers to the Florida Attorney General's consumer protection division, the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint, or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

A separate, more serious risk is deed or title fraud, where someone records a forged deed to claim ownership of a property that is not theirs, often targeting vacant land, rental property, or homes without a mortgage. The Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers maintain a directory of county-level property fraud alert programs that email or text an owner the moment a document is recorded against their name (Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, "Property Alert Services"). Clay, Bay, Palm Beach, and Orange counties all run free versions, and an owner with real estate in more than one county typically has to register separately in each.

A Property Records Search Is Not a Title Search

A free county records or Property Appraiser lookup is useful for identifying a current owner or signing up for a fraud alert, but it is not a professional title search. A licensed title company or closing attorney searches recorded deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments, and relevant court records together and evaluates them for risk before a purchase closes, a materially more thorough process than a self-directed lookup. Anyone planning an actual purchase, sale, or refinance in Florida should engage a licensed title company or real estate attorney rather than relying on a DIY search alone.

a pair of reading glasses resting on a printed legal document with the text softly out of focus, a fountain pen beside i

Frequently asked questions

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how property records and deed lookups work in Florida as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for a licensed title company's title search or title insurance before a real estate purchase. Fees, tools, and program availability change and vary by county; verify current details directly with the relevant county Clerk or Property Appraiser before relying on any figure here.

a close crop of hands typing on a laptop keyboard with a simple blank search bar visible on the screen, shallow depth of

Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and program details reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Florida's MyFloridaCounty.com search really free?

Yes. Searching participating counties' Official Records through MyFloridaCounty.com is free. Some counties charge extra for certified copies or added services, but the search itself carries no fee or login requirement.

How do I find out who owns a property in Florida for free?

Start with the county Property Appraiser's website and search by address, owner name, or parcel number. It is typically faster and more current for ownership purposes than the Clerk's recorded-documents index.

What does a certified copy of a Florida deed cost?

It varies by county, but a common pattern is about $1 per page plus a $2 certification fee. Some counties, like Palm Beach and Lee, charge a flat fee of around $8 per certified document instead.

Does Florida have one central deed database?

Not legally. Each county's Clerk of the Circuit Court remains the official custodian of its own recorded documents. MyFloridaCounty.com is a shared search interface built by the Clerks' association, not a single legal record.

What is a Florida property fraud alert?

A free notification service, offered by many counties and indexed by the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, that emails or texts a property owner when a document is recorded against their name in that county.

Is a mailer offering to sell me a copy of my deed for $85 legitimate?

No. This is a documented solicitation scam. A genuine certified copy costs only a few dollars per page directly from the county Clerk, and most homeowners already received their original deed for free at closing.

Can I use a property records search instead of a title search before buying a home in Florida?

No. A free county lookup is useful for general research, but it does not replace a licensed title company's full title search and title insurance, which cover risks a public records search alone cannot rule out.

Sources and References

Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts, "Official Records"(miamidadeclerk.gov).gov
Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, MyFloridaCounty.com Official Records Search(myfloridacounty.com)
Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, Property Search / GIS(hcpafl.org).gov
Florida Department of Revenue, "Florida Statewide Parcels" geodata(floridagio.gov).gov
Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, "Property Alert Services"(flclerks.com)
Orange County Comptroller, "Recording Fees"(occompt.com).gov
Minnesota Attorney General, "Real Estate Deed Solicitation"(ag.state.mn.us).gov

Property Records Public Records

Florida Laws