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How Do I Sign Up for My Florida County's Free Property Fraud Alert?

Use the free tool — Property Fraud Alert FL

What the free property fraud alert does

Every Florida county Clerk of Court / Comptroller offers a free alert. It emails or texts you when a document is recorded in your name in that county's official records. This can help you catch a forged deed, a fake lien, or a mortgage you never signed — often the day it happens.

Why this matters

Deed fraud is rising in Florida. Someone can record a forged deed or a fake lien against your home — even a paid-off house, a vacant lot, a parent's home, or a rental — and try to sell it or borrow against it before you find out.

Recording a forged or fraudulent deed or lien against property is a felony in Florida (Fla. Stat. 817.535). That is the law — it does not stop the fraud from happening. The alert is your early warning.

How to sign up

• Find your county's clerk through the statewide directory: Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers — Property Fraud Alert.
• Register the name(s) on your deed — your own name, a parent's name, or the name of a deceased owner if you are an heir.
• Choose email or text alerts, whichever your county offers.
• It takes about two minutes, and it is always free.

Check your deed today, too

The alert only tells you about new recordings going forward. Check what is already on record now:

• Search your address on your county property appraiser's site to see the current owner of record and the mailing address (Florida Dept. of Revenue — County Property Appraisers).
• Search the clerk's official records by owner name (as grantor and grantee) for any deed, mortgage, lien, lis pendens, or power of attorney you did not sign.
• Confirm your tax-bill mailing address has not changed without your knowledge.

Signs something is wrong

• Mail stops arriving, or the tax bill goes to a different address.
• A notice of a loan, HELOC, or sale you never made.
• A stranger asking questions about who owns the property.
• A utility transfer you did not request.
• A notice of default on a mortgage you do not have.

Unsolicited cash-offer mail is common and not itself fraud — but it is a sign the property is on lists that fraudsters also use, especially for vacant lots and inherited homes.

If a fake document shows up

1. Do not sign anything a stranger sends you.
2. Get a certified copy of the recorded document from the clerk.
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. Talk to 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.

If the property belonged to a parent or relative who has passed away, it is still worth registering that name for the alert now, and talking to a probate attorney or free legal aid (FloridaLawHelp.org) about clearing the title.

What to do next

This is general information, not legal advice, and it can be wrong. It never determines whether a document is forged — only the clerk's office or a professional can do that. Confirm every step with your county clerk or a Florida attorney.

The free tool that goes with this guide reads your own county and situation — a home you live in, a paid-off house, a parent's place, a vacant lot, a rental — and gives you the exact deed-lookup steps, the alert sign-up link for your county, and, if you have already found something suspicious, the response steps in order. Nothing you type is stored.

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.