How foreclosure works in Florida

Checked against the sources at the bottom on Oct 11, 2026.

In Florida, a lender can't take a home without going to court. Every foreclosure is a lawsuit, a judge signs off on the sale, and the county clerk runs the auction. It's slower than in Texas or California, but almost every step leaves a public record.

Before the lawsuit

For most loans on someone's main home, federal rules keep the servicer from starting a foreclosure until the borrower is more than 120 days behind. Those first months are private: missed payments, letters, calls, maybe a repayment plan or a loan modification application.

Step 1: the complaint and the lis pendens

Florida law says all mortgages are foreclosed in equity, which in practice means a lawsuit in the circuit court of the county where the property is. The lender files a foreclosure complaint and records a lis pendens, a "notice of pending action," in the county's official records.

The lis pendens is usually the first public sign of trouble, and it matters to anyone dealing with the property. Someone with an unrecorded interest or lien has 30 days after it's recorded to ask to join the case, or a later sale can wipe that interest out.

The owner is served with the lawsuit and can answer and fight it. Whether they do is the biggest reason some cases move quickly and others drag on.

Step 2: the final judgment

If the lender wins, the judge signs a final judgment of foreclosure. It sets the amount owed and orders the clerk to sell the property on a specific date, which by law has to be at least 20 and no more than 35 days after the judgment. The lender can agree to a later date, and a new court order can move the sale. Sales do get moved.

The judgment also has to include a notice, in capital letters, about surplus money: if the sale brings in more than what's owed, anyone claiming the extra has to file a claim with the clerk.

Before the sale, notice of it runs for two weeks, either on a public notice website or in a newspaper once a week for two weeks.

Step 3: the clerk's sale

The clerk of court runs the auction. Florida law lets clerks hold these sales online, and many do. Duval County, for example, auctions online every weekday that isn't a holiday, starting at 11 a.m.

The winning bidder posts a deposit of 5% of the bid. The rest is due on the clerk's schedule, which in some counties is the same afternoon. If the buyer doesn't pay, the clerk puts the property back up for sale and the deposit goes toward the costs.

Often the lender is the high bidder, bidding what it's owed instead of cash. Then the property becomes REO, owned by the lender.

Step 4: certificate of sale, then certificate of title

Right after the auction, the clerk files a certificate of sale. That's also the owner's last chance: Florida lets the owner pay the judgment and keep the house until the certificate of sale is filed, or a later time if the judgment says so. After that, there's no buying it back.

Anyone who thinks the sale went wrong has 10 days after the certificate of sale to object. If nobody does, the clerk files a certificate of title, the sale stands confirmed, and title passes to the buyer without any more court steps.

Surplus money

If the auction brings in more than the judgment and costs, the extra is surplus, also called excess proceeds. Junior lienholders who file timely claims are paid first. After that, Florida presumes the owner of record on the day the lis pendens was filed is entitled to it. Surplus that hasn't been paid out a year after the sale is treated as unclaimed property and sent to the state.

How long it takes

The two ends are predictable: more than 120 days of missed payments before the case is filed, then 20 to 35 days from judgment to sale and 10 more days to the certificate of title.

The middle, from filing to judgment, is the part nobody can predict. It depends on whether the owner fights the case, how busy the court is, and whether things pause for a bankruptcy or a loan modification review.

Tax certificates and tax deed sales

Unpaid property taxes follow a separate path. Florida property taxes are due November 1 and become delinquent April 1. By June 1 (or 60 days after they become delinquent, if that's later), the county tax collector sells a tax certificate on each delinquent parcel.

A tax certificate isn't the property. It's a lien: the buyer pays the taxes and earns interest when the owner pays them back. Bidders compete by bidding the interest rate down from a maximum of 18% a year. When the owner redeems, the holder gets at least 5%, unless the certificate was bid at 0%.

Two years after April 1 of the year the certificate was issued, the holder can apply for a tax deed. The clerk then publishes notice once a week for four weeks and holds the sale at least 30 days after the first notice. The opening bid covers the certificates, taxes, interest and costs, and on a homestead it adds half of the latest assessed value. The owner can still redeem until the winning bidder has paid in full. If a holder never applies, the certificate expires seven years after it was issued.

Tax deed sales can leave surplus too. The clerk mails notice to people with an interest in the property, and they have 120 days from that notice to file a claim.

Following a Florida county

The early signal in Florida is the lis pendens and the new foreclosure case. The sale calendar comes much later and is the most crowded stage. Our guide to following a county covers how people keep up with both.

General information, not legal advice. For your own situation, talk to a lawyer.