All tools · Property Fraud Alert FL

Can Someone Steal the Deed to My Vacant Lot or Inherited Property?

Use the free tool — Property Fraud Alert FL

Why vacant lots and inherited property are targets

Deed fraud is rising in Florida. Someone can record a forged deed or a fake lien against property — even a paid-off home, a vacant lot, a parent's house, or a rental — and try to sell it or borrow against it before the real owner knows. Vacant and inherited properties are especially attractive to fraudsters because no one is watching the mail or the record day to day, and the owner of record may have passed away. Recording a forged or fraudulent deed or lien is a felony under Fla. Stat. 817.535 — but the law being broken doesn't stop it from happening. A forged deed conveys nothing in law, but clearing the record still takes a court action.

Check the deed right now

• Go to your county property appraiser's site to see the current owner of record and the mailing address for tax bills. Find your county through the Florida Dept. of Revenue's directory of county property appraisers.
• Search your county clerk's official records by the owner's name (as grantor and as grantee) for any deed, mortgage, lien, lis pendens, or power of attorney that wasn't signed by the real owner.
• Confirm the tax-bill mailing address hasn't quietly changed.

This tool can't tell you for certain whether a document is forged — that determination belongs to the clerk's office or a professional.

Turn on the free alert

Every Florida county clerk offers a free property-fraud alert. You register your name (or a deceased relative's name) once, and the clerk emails or texts you when a document is recorded in that name. Sign up directly through your county at Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers — Property Fraud Alert. If the owner has passed away, heirs can still enroll the decedent's name in the alert now, before probate is settled.

Signs something is already wrong

• Mail stops arriving, or the tax bill starts going to a different address.
• A notice arrives about a loan, HELOC, or sale the owner never made.
• A stranger contacts you asking about ownership of the property.
• A utility transfer happens that the owner didn't request.
• A notice of default arrives on a mortgage the owner doesn't have.

Unsolicited cash-offer mail on a vacant or inherited property is common and is not itself fraud — but it's a sign the property is on the same lists that fraudsters also use, so it's worth checking the deed.

If a fraudulent document appears

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. If there is an owner's title insurance policy, notify the insurer.
6. Consult a Florida real-estate attorney about a quiet-title action and a lis pendens.
7. Alert the mortgage lender, if there is one.
8. Report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Florida Attorney General's consumer-fraud line.

This is not legal advice, and it isn't a substitute for a Florida attorney. County procedures can differ — confirm each step with your clerk's office or a professional.

If the owner has passed away

A property still in a deceased person's name is a prime target for this kind of fraud. 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 to sort out title — see FloridaLawHelp.org for free help by county if you qualify. This tool doesn't handle probate; confirm next steps with a professional or legal aid in your county.

What to do next

Say your county and what you own — a vacant lot, a parent's house, a rental, or your own home — and this free tool walks through the deed-check steps and the alert enrollment for your situation, in English or Spanish. If you already have a suspicious document, type in what it says and get the response steps in order. Nothing you type is stored, and this is not legal advice — always confirm with the clerk's office or a professional.

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.