Last reviewed: July 2026
The gap it fills
Florida municipalities can pursue code fines, open permits, and utility balances against PROPERTY, and much of that exposure lives only in city systems — unrecorded, invisible to the county search, and cheerfully inheritable by new owners. Post-closing, the buyer's remedies against a vanished seller are theoretical; the pre-closing search makes them practical.
What comes back, city by city
- Code enforcement: open cases, past violations, accrued daily fines (the six-figure lien that started as uncut grass is a real South Florida genre)
- Permits: open, expired, and failed-final permits — which also complicate insurance and future renovations
- Utilities: water/sewer/solid-waste balances that survive ownership changes in many municipalities
- Assessments: special assessments levied or pending outside the tax bill
Who should order one
Buyers: effectively always — cash buyers doubly so (no lender diligence backstop). Sellers: at LISTING, strategically — finding your own permits early converts closing-week hostage negotiations into scheduled maintenance. Investors buying as-is: it's the difference between a priced risk and a donated surprise. The cost is a rounding error against any single finding.