Florida Seller's Title Insurance: Who Pays, How Much, and What It Actually Covers

Section 01Two policies, two beneficiaries

Florida real estate closings can produce two title insurance policies, and Canadians often confuse them because the names are similar. The owner's policy insures the buyer's title to the real property. If, after closing, a third party turns up with a recorded claim that predates the sale (an undisclosed lien, an unreleased mortgage, a missing heir from a prior estate, a forged signature in the chain of title, a recording error at the clerk of court), the policy responds: the title insurer defends the new owner and indemnifies them for covered losses up to the face amount of the policy. The face amount is normally set equal to the purchase price.

The lender's policy is structurally separate. It protects only the lender's mortgage interest, in the amount of the loan, and only for as long as the loan is outstanding. It does not protect the buyer. If a Canadian seller is selling to a cash buyer, no lender's policy is issued. If the buyer is taking out a mortgage, almost every Florida lender will require a lender's policy as a condition of funding.

The two policies are typically issued together at closing and the issuance is referred to as "simultaneous issue." The premium structure rewards this: when both policies are issued at the same time on the same property by the same title insurer, the lender's policy is rated at a flat 25 USD up to the amount of the owner's policy, with any excess loan amount priced at the regular schedule.

Section 02The Florida system in plain terms

Title insurance is the dominant mechanism by which American real estate buyers are protected against defects in the chain of title. The mechanism evolved in jurisdictions where land records are decentralized (county clerk of court offices), where the conveyance is handled by a closing agent or attorney rather than a civil-law notary, and where there is no statutory warranty of title comparable to the one in the Civil Code of Quebec. In that environment, the title insurer steps in: it searches the public records, issues a title commitment listing what it will and will not insure, and then, at closing, issues the policy.

The fact that rates are promulgated has an important consequence: the price of the policy itself is not where a seller can save money. The price is set. The negotiation is over who pays it.

Section 03Who pays in Florida: county custom and the FAR/BAR contract

Florida statute is silent on who must pay for the owner's title insurance. The question is decided by local custom and, ultimately, by the purchase contract. Custom in most of Florida (including Palm Beach, Orange, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Lee, Brevard, Duval, Manatee, and the rest) places the burden on the seller, who also typically selects the closing agent. Custom in four counties flips this:

The cross-county dimension matters: a Canadian who owns a Naples condo (Collier) and is selling to a Toronto-based buyer is operating under a buyer-pays custom. A Canadian who owns a Boca Raton villa (Palm Beach) is in seller-pays territory. A Canadian who owns properties in both Sarasota and Manatee, neighbouring counties separated by a 15-minute drive, is in different customs on either side of the line.

Section 04How the premium is calculated

The promulgated rate schedule for original owner's policies is tiered. The basis is the policy face amount, which for a purchase transaction is the purchase price. Each tier is computed independently and added together.

The schedule produces premiums that scale with property value but at a decreasing marginal rate. A small condo and a luxury beachfront home are on the same curve, with the higher-priced property paying a lower effective rate per thousand dollars of coverage.

Section 05Worked examples

The examples below show the original owner's policy premium for three sale prices that bracket the typical Canadian-owned residential price range in Florida. They assume an original (not reissue) policy, no endorsements, simultaneous issue with a lender's policy in an amount equal to or below the purchase price, and a sale priced in US dollars.

Example 1: Condo sale at 250,000 USD.

• First 100,000 USD: 100 × 5.75 = 575 USD
• Next 150,000 USD: 150 × 5.00 = 750 USD
• Owner's policy premium: 1,325 USD
• Simultaneous lender's policy (if a buyer's loan): 25 USD
• Total title insurance line at closing: 1,350 USD

Example 2: Single-family home sale at 600,000 USD.

• First 100,000 USD: 100 × 5.75 = 575 USD
• Next 500,000 USD: 500 × 5.00 = 2,500 USD
• Owner's policy premium: 3,075 USD
• Simultaneous lender's policy (if a buyer's loan): 25 USD
• Total title insurance line at closing: 3,100 USD

Example 3: Luxury home sale at 1,500,000 USD.

• First 100,000 USD: 100 × 5.75 = 575 USD
• Next 900,000 USD: 900 × 5.00 = 4,500 USD
• Next 500,000 USD: 500 × 2.50 = 1,250 USD
• Owner's policy premium: 6,325 USD
• Simultaneous lender's policy (if a buyer's loan): 25 USD
• Total title insurance line at closing: 6,350 USD

Section 06Reissue and other discounts

A seller does not always pay the full original-rate premium. Florida rules provide a reissue rate when the prior owner's policy on the same property is recent enough.

Practical consequence: a Canadian who bought a Florida condo three or fewer years ago and is now reselling can present the title agent with their existing owner's policy and trigger the reissue rate for the buyer's new policy. Whether that saving accrues to the seller or the buyer depends on which party is paying for the policy under the contract.

The new-home purchase rate, with a 200 USD minimum, applies on the first sale of a 1-to-4-family residence with a certificate of occupancy, and may be discounted by the amount the builder paid on a prior construction loan policy. Substitution loan rates and refinance reissue rates also exist but apply to the lender's policy and are mostly irrelevant to a seller.

Section 07Title commitment, title search, and exceptions

The owner's policy is the end of a sequence that starts with the title commitment. After the buyer and seller sign the FAR/BAR contract, the closing agent (or a title agency working with the closing agent) orders a title search at the relevant county clerk of court. The search reconstructs the chain of title and lists encumbrances of record: mortgages, liens, easements, restrictive covenants, judgments. The result is delivered as a title commitment, also called a title binder, with three schedules:

• Schedule A identifies the proposed insured (typically the buyer), the property (legal description), and the proposed policy amount.
• Schedule B-I lists the requirements that must be satisfied for the policy to issue. These are tasks for the seller (or others) to complete before closing: the existing mortgage must be paid off and released, an unsigned spouse must sign, an estoppel certificate must be obtained from the HOA, a missing heir must execute a quit-claim, and so forth.
• Schedule B-II lists the exceptions: matters the policy will not insure against. Standard exceptions typically include rights of parties in possession not shown of record, encroachments and boundary discrepancies that an accurate survey would disclose, easements not in the public records, and taxes for the current year. Some standard exceptions can be removed by purchasing endorsements (most commonly a survey deletion endorsement, after the closing agent receives a current survey).

The seller's role in this is largely passive but consequential: the seller must clear any Schedule B-I requirements that fall on them, deliver a deed in the form the title agent will accept, and provide standard sworn statements (no-lien affidavit, gap affidavit, possession affidavit) at closing.

Section 08What the policy does not cover

A common Canadian misperception is that the owner's title insurance policy is a comprehensive guarantee of title. It is not. The policy is a contract that responds to defects within its coverage grant, subject to its exclusions and to the Schedule B exceptions. Open permits left by a prior owner, post-closing zoning or code-compliance disputes, latent construction defects, environmental contamination, hazard losses, and post-closing liens are not covered. They are governed by other contractual mechanisms (seller disclosures, inspections, environmental reports, hazard insurance) and by other types of insurance.

The policy also does not protect the seller. Once the deed is recorded and the funds are disbursed, the seller's interest is gone and there is nothing left for the policy to insure on the seller's side. The seller's protection runs through the warranty deed they delivered, the no-lien affidavit they signed, and the limitation period applicable to claims against them.

Section 09Florida vs Canadian provinces: how the protection regimes differ

The Canadian side does not map cleanly to a single template. Title insurance exists in Canada (FCT and Stewart Title Canada are the two principal underwriters), but its role and prevalence differ sharply between civil-law Quebec and common-law provinces. The table below uses Quebec as the reference comparator and acknowledges that province-by-province comparisons for Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and the Atlantic provinces are forthcoming.

For Canadian sellers in common-law provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and others), title insurance is more familiar: it has been routinely sold on residential transactions in those provinces since the late 1990s. The mechanics differ from Florida (the rate is not promulgated by the province, the seller does not customarily pay for the buyer's policy), but the concept of title insurance itself is not foreign.

Section 10What this means for a Canadian seller

For a Canadian listing a Florida property, the practical takeaways are limited and concrete. First, the owner's title insurance policy line on the closing disclosure is, in most counties, the seller's expense. Second, the cost of the policy is fixed by state regulation; it is not negotiable as to dollar amount. Third, the cost can shift between buyer and seller in the contract, even within a seller-pays-custom county; whether to do so is a negotiation point handled in Paragraph 9 of the FAR/BAR contract. Fourth, if the seller bought the property within the last three years, the existence of their prior owner's policy may trigger a reissue rate that reduces the premium.

Fifth, and most often overlooked: the policy does not protect the seller. It protects the buyer post-closing. The seller's protection runs through the warranty deed, the title-insurance closing affidavits, and the Florida statute of limitations. If a Canadian seller is uncertain about a chain-of-title issue (an unresolved estate, a prior divorce, a building permit irregularity, a missing former co-owner), that issue should be raised with the closing agent or the seller's Florida-licensed attorney before signing the contract, not during closing.

Section 11Common mistakes Canadian sellers make

The errors below recur in Canadian seller transactions and each carries a concrete cost or delay at closing.

1. Treating the owner's policy as protection for the seller. It is the buyer's policy. The seller pays for it (in seller-pays counties) but does not benefit from its coverage. A seller who has a title concern about their own property must address it before closing through the title commitment process, not through the policy.
2. Assuming county custom applies regardless of the contract. Custom is a default that the contract can override. The actual allocation is set by the FAR/BAR Paragraph 9 checkboxes. A seller who fails to verify those boxes can find themselves paying in a buyer-pays county, or vice versa.
3. Confusing owner's policy with property/hazard insurance. Hazard insurance (homeowners' insurance) is a separate annual policy that protects against fire, wind, water damage, and liability. The seller cancels their hazard insurance after closing. The owner's title insurance is a one-time premium paid at closing, transfers no benefit to the seller, and continues for the buyer.
4. Not flagging a recent prior policy and missing the reissue rate. A seller who purchased the property less than three years before the current sale should provide their prior owner's policy to the title agent. Failure to do so leaves the reissue rate on the table.
5. Assuming Florida title insurance is the same product as Quebec title insurance. It is structurally different. Florida's mechanism is promulgated, mandatory in practice, and central to the closing. Quebec's, when used, is voluntary, supplemental to the notary's examen des titres, and underwritten by Canadian insurers. The premium calculation, the exclusions, and the role of the policy in the closing are all different.
6. Negotiating the premium itself. The premium is fixed by state regulation. A title agent who promises to "discount" the premium is offering something they cannot legally deliver as to the risk premium itself. They can vary the title-related service fees (search fee, settlement fee, courier, e-recording) but not the promulgated premium.
7. Forgetting that the title-insurance line is not the only title-related cost. Closing services charged by the title agent (title search, title examination, settlement closing, e-recording, wire fees, municipal lien search) are separate line items and are not part of the promulgated premium. A Canadian seller reviewing their closing disclosure should look for both the title insurance premium line and the bundle of title-related service fees, then compare against the FAR/BAR allocation.

Section 12Action checklist for the Canadian seller

1. Identify the county where the property is located. Confirm whether local custom places the title insurance burden on the seller or the buyer.
2. Read Paragraph 9 of the FAR/BAR Residential Contract carefully before signing. Confirm that the title-insurance allocation matches what was negotiated, regardless of custom.
3. Locate and provide the title agent with a copy of the prior owner's policy (the one issued to the seller when they bought) if the property was acquired less than three years ago. This is the trigger for the reissue rate.
4. Disclose any known title issues (unresolved estate matters, prior divorce, prior co-owners, judgments) to the closing agent and the seller's Florida-licensed attorney before the title commitment is issued. These are easier to address before the commitment is delivered than after.
5. Cross-check that the closing agent named in the contract is the closing agent the parties intended. In buyer-pays counties, the buyer customarily picks. In seller-pays counties, the seller customarily picks. Custom can be overridden.
6. On the day of closing, review the closing disclosure for the title-insurance premium line and the separate title-related service fees. Verify that the premium matches the promulgated rate for the policy amount.
7. Sign the closing affidavits truthfully (no-lien, gap, possession, FIRPTA). Inaccurate affidavits expose the seller to post-closing claims that the policy will not absorb.

Section 13FAQ

Is the owner's title insurance premium the same at every Florida title company? Yes for the risk premium itself, which is set by F.A.C. 69O-186.003 and applies uniformly. Title-related service fees (search, examination, settlement) are separate and vary by closing agent.

Can the seller refuse to pay for the owner's policy in a seller-pays county? Yes, in the contract. The custom is a default. The negotiation happens in Paragraph 9 of the FAR/BAR contract. Whether refusal is accepted by the buyer is a separate question.

Does the policy expire? The owner's policy remains in force for as long as the insured (the buyer) and their heirs hold title. There is no annual renewal premium. The lender's policy ends when the mortgage is paid off or refinanced.

Does the owner's policy cover boundary disputes that come up after closing? Standard policy forms exclude matters that an accurate survey would have disclosed. A buyer who wants survey-related coverage typically pays for a survey-deletion endorsement, which removes the standard survey exception after the title agent reviews a current survey.

Will a Canadian-non-resident seller's nationality affect the title insurance premium or process? No. The promulgated premium does not vary by the seller's tax residency or citizenship. Other parts of the closing (FIRPTA withholding, ITIN documentation, deed-recording fees) are affected by the seller's status, but not the title insurance premium itself.

Should a Canadian seller buy their own title insurance for a property they already own? Not as a function of selling. Owner's title insurance is purchased once, at the time the buyer takes title. A Canadian who already owns a Florida property and is now selling does not buy a new owner's policy on the way out; the prior policy stays with them as a contract that responded during their ownership and may, in narrow circumstances, continue to respond for losses dating to that period.

Does the policy protect the buyer against fraud committed against the seller before closing? Coverage of fraud depends on the policy form (some Florida policies issue on ALTA forms, some on ALTA-derived state forms) and on whether the fraud appears in the public records. A buyer concerned about identity-related fraud should ask the title agent which form is being issued and whether enhanced coverage is available.