What Title Issues Could Delay or Kill Your Florida Home Sale?

November 10, 2025

Imagine preparing for a home purchase for months just to see things grind to a halt after getting started with the escrow process. We understand the frustration of dealing with an unexpected delay due to issues that are out of your control, whether you're a seller or a potential buyer. Depending on the situation, you can still salvage your real estate transaction and have a stress-free closing. In other cases, the best approach is to cut your losses and wait for a better deal. Here's all the information you need if you want to be ready for any problem along the way.

What Title Issues Could Delay or Kill Your Florida Home Sale?

Family members with legal interests: If a house has passed through many homeowners, you need to be extra vigilant during the title search. Undisclosed heirs, distant relatives, or even previous owners could create a legal dispute at any given moment, especially if there are faults or inaccuracies in the property title. If they make a case of having superior ownership rights, you could face the prospect of financial loss.

Unpaid liens: You can probably guess how an unpaid debt can halt the transaction. In most cases, sellers are contractually obligated to have all their property payments in order before closing. Unfortunately, there are different types of liens, and some of them can slip between the cracks until they're addressed during the real estate transaction.

To learn about each different type of lien and the ways you can deal with them, we expand on the topic in our blog What Happens if There's a Lien on the Property You're Buying?.

Encroachment issues: These issues result from faulty data involving the property's boundaries, resulting in owners operating beyond their own property lines. It entails updating the public records or reaching an agreement with the neighbors in dispute.

Forged deeds and other types of fraud: Real estate fraud is more common than people would like to believe, especially when it comes to vacant land deals. For this reason, Florida authorities have severe punishments in place, and escrow companies provide different means to recognize instances of fraud.

Fraud can occur when someone impersonates the identity of the property's legal owner in order to scam people out of their money. In other cases, the criminal may alter the property deed and other legal documents. Such issues will ultimately kill the home sale, given that you can't complete the closing with documents that are deemed void under Florida law.

Inaccurate information on public records: Unlike cases of fraud, these issues are the result of human error and can be solved without ending the real estate transaction. We already talked about boundary disputes since they represent one of the most common issues in the state's real estate market. Other errors are a bit harder to spot, like misspelled names, missing numbers, outdated data, etc. Fixing these issues is easy enough, but don't be surprised if you still have to work around some delays.

If Something Slows Down Your Real Estate Transaction, We're Here To Help

At Key Title & Escrow, Florida's most knowledgeable specialists are ready to meet your needs. This not only includes standard real estate services like escrow and insurance, but also professional assistance to deal with unexpected problems.

For one, we provide thorough title searches to recognize many of the encumbrances that usually hinder the real estate process. You can expect a thorough assessment of all relevant documents and full transparency to help you deal with specific issues like unpaid debts or hidden heirs. Here are other scenarios in which our staff can assist you:

• We can help you move things along after discovering an unresolved lien. It should be established in the escrow agreement that the current owner must make the necessary payments to the lienholder(s) before the closing date. Our representatives can ensure that these requirements are met or help you expedite negotiations if there's no resolution within a reasonable timeframe.


• If you believe there's fraudulent activity, we can help you collect all the relevant documents and offer specialized counsel so you can be prepared when it's time to take legal action.


• Our staff provides thorough closing services to ensure that all permissions and legal documentation are in order before the settlement.

Don't wait for things to get out of control before seeking specialized assistance. Key Title & Escrow is here to assist you, so you don't have to navigate the real estate process on your own. You can call (305) 235-4571 or toll-free at (800) 547-0006 to get in touch with our team. You can also send us a message via the website's contact form, and you can expect a quick response. Get a smooth closing and protect your investment. Key Title & Escrow is here to help you avoid the worst parts of Florida's real estate market.