A Florida foreclosure sale removes only the liens junior to the one being foreclosed, and only when their holders were named in the lawsuit. Senior mortgages, property taxes and municipal special assessments stay attached, and the buyer also owes unpaid association assessments. That is the whole reason a title check comes before a bid.
Reviewed November 3, 2026 by New Level Investment RE, a Florida real estate brokerage.
- Survives
A mortgage senior to the one being foreclosed
You take the property subject to it
Only the foreclosed lien and the interests junior to it are cut off. A first mortgage is untouched by the foreclosure of a second.
- Wiped out
A mortgage junior to the one being foreclosed
Removed, if the holder was named and served
The lawsuit has to name the junior lienholder. A junior lien whose holder was left out of the case is not cut off by the sale.
Fla. Stat. §45.031
- Survives
Unpaid property taxes and tax certificates
You pay them
Property taxes are a superior lien. They stay with the property, and an outstanding tax certificate can lead to a tax deed sale later.
Fla. Stat. ch. 197
- Depends
HOA or condominium assessments
Usually you pay, and the amount can be large
A buyer at a foreclosure sale is jointly liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments. The statutory limit on a first mortgagee's liability does not protect a third-party bidder. Get an estoppel figure before you bid.
Fla. Stat. §720.3085, §718.116
- Survives
The first mortgage, when the association is foreclosing
This is the expensive mistake
An association foreclosing its own lien cannot wipe out a first mortgage recorded before it. Winning a $10,000 association sale can leave you owning a house with a $280,000 mortgage still attached.
- Depends
Code enforcement and municipal liens
Usually cut off by a mortgage foreclosure; special assessments are not
A code enforcement lien recorded after the mortgage is junior to it, and the sale removes it if the local government was named in the case, or if the lien came after the lis pendens and the government did not intervene. Municipal special assessments rank with property taxes and survive.
Fla. Stat. §162.09, §48.23, §170.09
- Depends
A federal tax lien (IRS)
Cut off if the United States was named, but with a catch
When the federal government is properly joined, its lien is removed by the sale. The IRS then has 120 days to redeem the property by paying you. Plan your rehab spending around that window.
26 U.S.C. §7425
- Wiped out
Judgment liens against the former owner
Removed if named, otherwise not
A recorded judgment junior to the foreclosed mortgage is cut off when its holder is a defendant. Check the docket against the recorded judgments.
- Depends
Municipal utility balances
Varies by city
Some utilities refuse new service until an old balance is cleared, which makes it your problem whether or not it is technically a lien.
Do code enforcement liens survive a Florida foreclosure?
Usually not, when a mortgage recorded before the lien is being foreclosed. A code enforcement lien arises when a certified copy of a fine order is recorded under Florida Statute 162.09(3), and that statute gives it no special priority. In City of Palm Bay v. Wells Fargo (2013) the Florida Supreme Court held that a city cannot give its code enforcement liens priority over a mortgage recorded first, so the lien is junior to that mortgage.
Junior does not mean gone. A lien recorded before the lis pendens is cut off only if the local government was named as a defendant: the standard judgment forecloses the defendants and anyone claiming after the lis pendens, so a city left out of the case keeps its lien. A lien recorded after the lis pendens is cut off by the sale unless the government moved to intervene within 30 days of the lis pendens being recorded, under section 48.23(1)(d). In Ober v. Town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (2017) the Fourth District Court of Appeal applied that rule to code liens recorded between the final judgment and the sale, and held them discharged.
Special assessments are different. A city that levies a special assessment under chapter 170 for paving, drainage or water mains gets a lien that section 170.09 makes coequal with property taxes and superior to all other liens until paid. Like taxes, it survives a mortgage foreclosure. A code fine and a special assessment can come from the same city and behave in opposite ways, so read what each lien actually is.
Two more checks. A fine becomes a lien only once its order is recorded, and the fine keeps accruing until the violation is corrected or a court enters judgment on it, so search the city's open code cases as well as the official records. And the sale removes a lien, not the condition behind it: if the violation is still open when you take title, budget to fix it.
What this section relies on
- Fla. Stat. §162.09(3) (code enforcement fines and liens)
- Fla. Stat. §48.23(1)(d) (lis pendens bar on later liens)
- Fla. Stat. §170.09 (priority of municipal special assessment liens)
- City of Palm Bay v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 114 So. 3d 924 (Fla. 2013)
- Ober v. Town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, 218 So. 3d 952 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017)
- Fla. R. Civ. P. Form 1.996(a), Final Judgment of Foreclosure, in the Florida Bar's edition of October 1, 2026
The check we run before every bid
- 1Read the final judgment firstFind out who is foreclosing. A first mortgage, a second mortgage and an HOA lien give you three different outcomes for the same house.
- 2Search official records for anything seniorEvery mortgage or lien recorded before the one being foreclosed stays on the property after you buy it.
- 3Confirm every junior lienholder was named and servedA junior lien that was left out of the lawsuit is not wiped out. Compare the defendants list with the recorded liens.
- 4Pull the tax collector's recordUnpaid property taxes and outstanding tax certificates survive the sale and come out of your pocket.
- 5Order a municipal lien searchCode enforcement fines, utility balances and open permits often do not appear in the official records at all.
- 6Get the association ledgerIn an HOA or condo, the buyer at the sale is liable for the unpaid assessments. Ask for an estoppel figure before you bid.
- 7Look for a federal tax lienIf the IRS was a defendant, it has 120 days after the sale to redeem the property. Plan your rehab spending around that.
- 8Drive by, the day beforeOccupied or vacant, roof, windows, water line on the wall. It is the only inspection you will get.
- 9Check the docket the morning of the saleBankruptcies, payoffs and motions to cancel land at the last minute. Confirm the sale is still on before money moves.
Every surviving lien above is found in the records before the sale, not after it. The Complete System includes title and lien search walk-throughs on live cases.
Education, not legal advice. Lien priority turns on the specific records in a specific case. Have a Florida attorney or title company review a property before you commit money to it.