CopyCited 4 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2013 WL 5288863, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 14968
...The final judgment quiets title as to Regions Bank and Sun-trust Bank but does not quiet title as to any lien Nassau Pointe at Heritage Isles Homeowners Association may have had for unpaid assessments. We reverse because, under sections
197.552 and
197.573(2), Florida Statutes (2011), any lien for unpaid assessments did not survive the issuance of the tax deed....
...s that came due up to the time of transfer of title” under section
720.3085(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2011). 1 Cricket filed a motion to strike this affirmative defense in which it argued that section
720.3085(2)(b) was inapplicable and that, under section
197.573(2), tax deed purchasers acquire property free and clear of liens for assessments....
...d to summary judgment quieting title against Nassau and the two banks. In response to Nassau’s third affirmative defense, Cricket reasserted its argument that it acquired the property free and clear of any liens for unpaid assessments by virtue of section
197.573(2). The issue before the trial court on Nassau’s third affirmative defense was whether section
720.3085(2)(b) or section
197.573(2) controlled. The court ultimately concluded that section
720.3085(2)(b) supersedes the provision in section
197.573(2)....
...ore the Court the issue of whether any association assessments were actually owed to [Nassau] at the time of the tax deed sale.” On appeal, Cricket argues that the trial court erred in ruling that section
720.3085(2)(b) supersedes the provision in section
197.573(2) and therefore controls the issue of whether any lien for assessments survives the issuance of the tax deed....
...county governmental unit, special district, or community development district, when such lien is not satisfied as of the disbursement of proceeds of sale under the provisions of s.
197.582, shall survive the issuance of a tax deed. (Emphasis added.) Section
197.573 is the provision of chapter 197 that specifically describes the restrictions and covenants that survive a tax deed and those that do not....
...by a municipal or county governmental unit, or requiring the grantee to expend money for any purpose, except one that may require that the premises be kept in a sanitary or sightly condition or one to abate nuisances or undesirable conditions. *305 §
197.573 (emphasis added). Thus, under sections
197.552 and
197.573(2), neither covenants governing assessments nor liens for unpaid assessments survive the issuance of a tax deed....
...ediately before the delivery of the tax deed or master’s deed or immediately before the foreclosure. (Emphasis added.) Section
720.312 acts as a “safeguard” for covenants governing assessments which would otherwise have been extinguished under section
197.573(2) by the issuance of a tax deed....
...meowners associations to assess liens against property “purchased pursuant to a tax deed, in futuro”). However, section
720.312 omits any mention of hens and therefore does not safeguard liens for unpaid assessments from being extinguished under section
197.573(2) by the issuance of a tax deed....
...And section
720.3085(2)(b) imposes liability for unpaid assessments that were due at the time title was transferred. The primary question before the trial court was whether subsection (2)(b) acts as a “safeguard” for liens for unpaid *306 assessments which would otherwise have been extinguished under section
197.573(2) by the issuance of a tax deed....
...mary question in the affirmative and implicitly answered the related question in the affirmative. The court construed section
720.3085(2)(b) as providing that liens for unpaid assessments survive the' issuance of a tax deed. The court concluded that section
197.573(2) was superseded by section
720.3085(2)(b) because section
720.3085(2)(b) was enacted later in time....
...on a new parcel owner who acquires property by transfer of title. As with section
720.312, section
720.3085(2)(b) omits any mention of the survival of liens and therefore does not safeguard liens for unpaid assessments from being extinguished under section
197.573(2) by the issuance of a tax deed....
...Accordingly, the trial court erred in determining that section
720.3085(2)(b) provides that liens for unpaid assessments survive the issuance of a tax deed. Furthermore, the trial court erred in concluding that section
720.3085(2)(b) supersedes sections
197.552 and
197.573(2). First of all, these related statutory provisions can be harmonized so that all three are given effect. Under sections
197.552 and
197.573(2), liens for unpaid homeowners assessments do not survive the issuance of a tax deed and are extinguished....
...Section
720.3085(2)(b) does not save such liens from extinguishment when parcel owners acquire title by tax deed. Instead, parcel owners who acquire title by transfer, rather than by tax deed, remain liable for unpaid assessments. Second, even if the statutes were in conflict, sections
197.552 and
197.573(2) control because they are the more specific statutes....
...nt and several liability for unpaid assessments that came due up to the time that title is transferred. But these sections do not address whether unpaid assessments survive the issuance of a tax deed in the first place. Instead, sections
197.552 and
197.573(2) specifically address the survival or extin-guishment of liens and encumbrances after issuance of a tax deed. This is the precise factual setting the trial court was required to consider. Sections
197.552 and
197.573(2) are therefore the more specific statutes as to the key issue, and any conflict must be resolved in their favor....
...In summary, the trial court erred in concluding that section
720.3085(2)(b) provides that liens for unpaid assessments survive the issuance of a tax deed. And the court erred in concluding that section
720.3085(2)(b) supersedes the provisions in sections
197.552 and
197.573(2). Under sections
197.552 and
197.573(2), any lien Nassau may have had for unpaid homeowners association assessments did not survive the issuance of the tax deed....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2014 WL 1031407, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 3923
...Chapter 197 of the Florida Statutes governs tax collections, sales, and liens. Section
197.552 states in relevant part: “Except as specifically provided in this chapter, no right, interest, restriction, or other covenant shall survive the issuance of a tax deed .... ” §
197.552, Fla. Stat. (2010). Section
197.573, in turn, addresses the survival of restrictions and covenants after a tax sale. Generally, when a deed in the chain of title contains restrictions and covenants running with the land, the restrictions and covenants shall survive and be enforceable after the issuance of a tax deed. See §
197.573(1), Fla. Stat. (2010). However, while section
197.573 applies to the “usual restrictions and convenants” limiting the use of the property, “this section shall not protect covenants creating any debt or lien against or upon the property ... or requiring the grantee to expend money for any purpose.... ” §
197.573(2), Fla. Stat. (2010). “Thus, under sections
197.552 and
197.573(2), neither covenants governing assessments nor liens for unpaid assessments survive the issuance of a tax deed.” Cricket Props., LLC v....
...atutes so that the specific statute is given effect and the general statute is given effect only to the extent that it does not contradict the specific statute.” Lunohah Invs., — So.3d at —, 39 Fla. L. Weekly at D41. Thus, sections
197.552 and
197.573(2) control over section
718.116(l)(a), because they are “the more specific statutes as to the key issue, and any conflict must be resolved in their favor.” Cricket Props.,
124 So.3d at 307 . In the present case, we follow the well-reasoned opinions of our sister courts on this issue. As the Fifth District explained: “Sections
197.552 and
197.573(2) extinguish any covenant that creates a lien or requires a grantee to ‘expend money for any purpose’ for debts that precede the issuance of the tax deed....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 2000 Fla. App. LEXIS 12250
...l or county governmental unit, when such lien is not satisfied as of the disbursement of proceeds of sale ... shall survive the issuance of a tax deed .... (emphasis added) Ch. 79-334, § 1, Laws of Fla. In the same act, the Legislature also amended section 197.573, [4] which addresses the survival of restrictions and covenants contained in a deed in the chain of title, after a tax sale. See Ch. 79-334, § 2. Subsection two was amended to provide: 197.573....
...formal recognition and acceptance of subdivisions with provisions for restrictions and covenants in plats or declarations of record, and governance and assessment of lots for common expenses by homeowners associations, it became necessary to refine section 197.573(2)....
...(emphasis added) The intent of this statute was obviously to safeguard residential homeowners associations' declarations of covenants and restrictions and provisions for assessments from being extinguished by the issuance of a tax deed. They were clearly in jeopardy, pursuant to section 197.573....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 1998 Fla. App. LEXIS 3149, 1998 WL 145042
...Gainer purchased a tax deed for a lot in Fiddlesticks. Thereafter, the homeowners' association demanded that Mr. Gainer buy a membership in the country club, and filed a claim of lien when no membership was purchased. In the trial court, Mr. Gainer argued that, pursuant to section 197.573, Florida Statutes (1993), the covenant did not survive the tax sale. Section 197.573 has long provided that a covenant does not survive a tax sale if it requires "the grantee to expend money for any purpose, except one that may require that the premises be kept in a sanitary or sightly condition or one to abate nuisances or undesirable conditions." § 197.573(2), Fla....
...es that such covenants are enforceable after the issuance of a tax deed. The difficulty with this argument is that the statute was enacted in 1995, after the tax deed sale in this case. See ch. 95-274, § 62, Laws of Fla. The trial court interpreted section 197.573 in light of section 617.312, as the most recent legislative pronouncement, and entered a judgment of foreclosure on the claim of lien. Section 617.312 did not exist when Mr. Gainer purchased the tax deed. There is no ambiguity in section 197.573 that is clarified by the subsequent enactment of section 617.312....
CopyAgo (Fla. Att'y Gen. 2011).
Published | Florida Attorney General Reports
...sments, including special assessments, interest, and related costs and charges, issued in accordance with this chapter against a specific parcel of real property and becoming a first lien thereon , superior to all other liens , except as provided by s.
197.573 (2)." (e.s.) Section
197.432 (1), Florida Statutes, provides the framework to be followed for the sale of tax certificates for unpaid taxes: "On the day and approximately at the time designated in the notice of the sale, the tax collector...
...the land within each certificate, the name of the purchaser, the interest rate bid, and the amount for which the sale was made. 5 Thus, the plain language of the statute makes a tax certificate superior to all other liens, with a stated exception in section 197.573 (2), Florida Statutes, not applicable to the instant situation....
...d by Ch. 95 or 197, Fla. Stat. 2 Section
197.402 (3), Fla. Stat. 3 See also Rule 12D-13.045 , Fla. Admin. C., providing direction for the sale of tax certificates for unpaid taxes. 4 Section
197.432 (2), Fla. Stat. 5 See s.
197.432 (8), Fla. Stat. 6 Section
197.573 (2), Fla....
