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How Do I Check If Someone Recorded a Fake Deed on My House?

Use the free tool — Property Fraud Alert FL

What Is Deed Fraud?

Deed fraud happens when someone records a forged deed or a fake lien against your property with the county — sometimes without you ever knowing. They may then try to sell the home or borrow against it before you find out. This can happen to a home you live in, a paid-off house, a vacant lot, a rental, or a home inherited from a parent.

Recording a forged or fraudulent deed or lien is a felony in Florida under Fla. Stat. 817.535. A forged deed conveys nothing under the law — but clearing it from the record still requires a court action called a quiet-title action. If you have an owner's title insurance policy, it may cover the cost of that action. Confirm this with your title insurer or an attorney.

Who Is Most at Risk

• Seniors with a paid-off home
• Owners of vacant lots
• Heirs of an inherited property
• Snowbirds who are away for months at a time
• Landlords who don't visit the property often

A property still recorded in the name of a deceased owner is a prime target. If that's your situation, heirs should enroll the decedent's name in the county's free fraud alert now and consult a probate attorney or free legal aid promptly — see FloridaLawHelp.org.

How to Check Your Deed Today

• Go to your county property appraiser's site and search your address. Note the owner of record and the mailing address shown for tax bills — see the statewide directory at Florida Dept. of Revenue — County Property Appraisers.
• Go to your county clerk's official records and search by the owner's name (as grantor and as grantee). Look for any deed, mortgage, lien, lis pendens, or power of attorney the owner did not sign.
• Confirm the tax-bill mailing address hasn't quietly changed to somewhere unfamiliar.

This check doesn't prove a document is forged — only the clerk's office or a professional can make that determination.

Turn On Your County's Free Alert

Every Florida county clerk offers a free notification service that emails or texts you when a document is recorded in your name. It takes a couple of minutes to enroll. Find your county through Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers — Property Fraud Alert.

Warning Signs

• Mail stops arriving, or the tax bill starts going somewhere else
• A notice about a loan, HELOC, or sale the owner didn't make
• A wave of "cash offer" mail targeting a vacant or inherited property
• A stranger asking questions about who owns the property
• A utility transfer the owner didn't request
• A notice of default on a mortgage the owner doesn't have

Unsolicited cash-offer mail is common and not itself fraud — but it's a sign the property is on lists that fraudsters also use.

If a Fraudulent Document Was Recorded

1. Do not sign anything a stranger sends you.
2. Get a copy of the recorded document from the clerk's office.
3. File a police report and keep the report number.
4. Notify the clerk's office of the suspected fraud.
5. Notify your title insurer, if you have an owner's policy.
6. Consult a Florida real-estate attorney about a quiet-title action and a lis pendens.
7. Alert your mortgage lender, if you have one.
8. Report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Florida Attorney General's consumer-fraud line.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm every step with the clerk's office or an attorney for your situation.

What to Do Next

The free tool reads your county and your situation — a home you live in, a paid-off house, a parent's place, a vacant lot, or a rental — and walks through the deed-lookup steps, the free alert enrollment, and, if you've already found something suspicious, the response steps in order. No account. Nothing is stored. Available in English and Spanish.

Property Fraud Alert FL explains deed-fraud prevention and response in plain language from official Florida sources; it can be wrong, and it is not legal advice. County procedures differ — the clerk's and property appraiser's sites control. Nothing you type is stored.