Real Estate Lawyer in Miami

Miami-Dade has its own documentary stamp tax rate. In every other Florida county the tax on a deed is 70 cents per $100 of the price. In Miami-Dade it is 60 cents per $100, plus a surtax of 45 cents per $100 that does not apply to a deed transferring only a single-family dwelling (Florida Department of Revenue). A commercial building can therefore carry a higher deed tax than a single-family house at the same price. The purchase contract usually settles who pays which charge; see how closing costs are usually split.

Condos and HOAs add their own paperwork. Many Miami-Dade sales involve an association. Before closing, the association issues an estoppel certificate stating what the owner owes, and condominium buyers should ask about milestone inspections and the structural integrity reserve study, and about any pending special assessment. The condo and HOA guides below cover each of these.

Sellers have disclosure duties too. A Florida home seller must tell the buyer about known facts that materially affect the value of the property and are not readily observable to the buyer, a duty the Florida Supreme Court set in Johnson v. Davis (1985). Since October 1, 2024, the seller of residential real property must also give the buyer a written flood disclosure at or before the time the sales contract is signed (Florida Statutes section 689.302). Putting every disclosure in writing, and keeping a signed copy, is what settles questions after closing. Our guide explains what a Florida seller must disclose.

Selling for less than you owe. If the price will not cover the mortgage, the lender has to approve a short sale, and the other liens still have to be paid or released at closing. Property taxes are a first lien from January 1 of the tax year (Florida Statutes section 197.122), and a condominium buyer becomes jointly liable with the seller for unpaid assessments (section 718.116(1)(a)), so the association’s estoppel certificate has to be settled as well. Read the lender’s approval letter for whether it keeps the right to collect a deficiency. Our page on short sales in Miami walks through the process.

Record the deed. An unrecorded deed is not good against the seller’s creditors or a later purchaser for value who had no notice of it (section 695.01(1)), so the deed is recorded in the Official Records right after closing. The same applies to a family transfer that involves no sale; see deed preparation and transfers in Miami.

Selling a home after a death. Who can sign the deed depends on how the home was held and how it passes. A home that was the owner’s protected homestead is not an asset in the hands of the personal representative (Florida Statutes section 733.608(1)), so it passes to the heirs or devisees, who sign. For other estate property, a personal representative whose will gives a power of sale can sell without court approval, but one without that power needs the court to authorize or confirm the sale before title passes (section 733.613(1) and (2)). Title companies usually want to see how that question was answered, often through a court order determining homestead, before they will insure the buyer. Our pages on probate property sales in Miami and whether you can sell a house in probate walk through it.