What does a municipal lien search tell a Miami condo buyer?

A municipal lien search is a written answer from the city and the county on what they hold against a property that is not in the recorded title: open or expired building permits, code enforcement cases and their fines, unpaid water, sewer and waste balances, and special assessments levied by the municipality. A title search reads the recorded instruments at the county, and these items often are not recorded until they have grown, so a clean commitment and a municipal problem can exist on the same home. The title agent orders the search from the city, the county and a search vendor in the weeks before closing; the purchase agreement says who pays for it; and a hit is cleared, paid or credited before the buyer signs the settlement statement, because after recording it is the new owner's. On a new condo bought from the developer the search reads the building's own permits and certificates of occupancy; on a resale it reads the previous owner's.

The county's official records: deeds, mortgages, recorded liens, judgments, the declaration of condominium and its amendments. That is what the title commitment is built on, and it is thorough about what is recorded. Four things in Miami often are not. A building permit that was opened and never closed with a final inspection, which can block a later permit and can carry a fine. A code enforcement case, which starts as a notice and becomes a recorded lien only after a hearing and a period of non-compliance. A utility balance, which the city or the county may collect from the property rather than the person, and which in Miami-Dade can follow the home to its next owner. And a municipal special assessment for a street, a seawall or a service that is billed to the parcel. The municipal lien search asks each department directly and returns the answer in writing, dated. Read owner's title insurance on a new Miami condo, documents before closing on a new Miami condo and what to ask before you wire.

The building, not a previous owner, because there is none. The search reads the permits under which the tower was built and whether they are closed, the certificate of occupancy for the building and for the home, temporary or final, any code case open against the site, and any utility account the developer holds on the parcel. On a brand new building most of this is in order on closing day, and the useful finding is the exception: a temporary certificate of occupancy with conditions, an open permit for a common element still being finished, or an account the developer must settle. Those are questions for the developer's closing agent in writing before the statement is signed, and they sit beside the title commitment's own developer items: the construction lender's mortgage, which must be released from the home at closing, and the declaration's recorded exhibits. Read what a new Miami condo requires before you can move in, what a developer's construction loan tells you and condominium documents: the five sections.

On a resale the search reads the seller's history on the home: a bathroom renovated without a permit, a balcony enclosure the city cited, a water bill unpaid in a vacant year, and the city's fines that attach to the property rather than the person. The estoppel certificate is a different document from a different body: the condominium association's statement of what the seller owes it, the assessment, any special assessment, fines and the next payment due, with a short period in which the association is bound by what it said. A resale buyer wants all three, the title commitment, the municipal lien search and the estoppel, because each one answers for a different creditor, the county's records, the city's departments and the association. Read what a condo estoppel certificate tells a Miami buyer, new construction or resale and what a Miami closing costs.

The title agent orders the search as part of preparing the closing, from the city, the county and often a private vendor that collects the departments' answers; the fee is a line on the settlement statement, and the purchase agreement's closing cost clause says whether the buyer or the seller carries it. Custom differs between counties and a developer contract follows its own clause, so the clause is read, not assumed. The owner's title policy is a separate line at a rate Florida promulgates on the price, and it insures the recorded title as of recording; it does not pay for an open permit or a utility balance unless the policy has an endorsement that reaches them, which is a question for the agent. A municipal item found after closing is the new owner's to clear. Read how to read the closing statement on a new Miami condo and what closing actually costs.

Four steps, before signing. Ask the seller or the developer in writing to clear it: close the permit with a final inspection, pay the balance, settle the code case and obtain the release. Where it cannot be cleared before closing, ask for a credit on the settlement statement or an escrow holdback that pays it when it is resolved, with the amount and the release terms in a written agreement. Ask the title agent whether the item can be insured over and at what cost. And where the item is one the buyer would be inheriting with no remedy, an unpermitted alteration the city may require undone, treat it as a reason to pause, which is a conversation with counsel, not with the sales gallery. Read how to check what can be built next to a new Miami condo and closing a Miami condo during hurricane season. The desk reads the search beside the commitment and the estoppel with the buyer before the statement is signed; the remedy for a hit is counsel's.