Judicial Liens A judicial lien is involuntarily placed against the real
property of a debtor and a final judgment must be entered for an auction
to occur. The final judgment is entered in the county which the debtors
property resides and the most common types of judicial liens are those
held by Home Owners Associations for none payment of dues, contractors
who have performed work and county code violations.Once the debtor fails
to make payment the Creditor can enter a Claim Of Lien in the county and
from there the process of foreclosing on the lien begins. Judicial
property liens, after final judgment is entered, are auctioned by the
Clerk of Courts and the resulting conveyance to the winning auction
bidder is a certificate of title. This conveyance has the same rights and
title as a property purchased at a mortgage foreclosure auction (all
mortgage foreclosures in Florida are judicial). The property purchased at
this auction is conveyed without warranty but no additional steps are
necessary to secure a marketable title. Having a marketable title does
not necessarily mean that title insurance is available. You will still
have to satisfy any mortgages and superior liens before insurance can be
issued.Furthermore, judicial liens have a different order of superiority
than that of other judicial property auctions. In a judicial lien
foreclosure all mortgages are superior and Federal liens trump all, in a
mortgage foreclosure only mortgages that were entered into and recorded
earlier are superior (2nd mortgage forecloses then 1st mortgage is
superior). While there are extreme and rare exceptions to the rule, these
are the guidelines we use in analysing a perspective property.Tax Liens A
tax lien is a non judicial lien involuntarily placed against the real
property of a debtor and is the result of the non payment of annual
property taxes and a final judgement does not need be entered. Tax liens
are sold by the County Tax Collector and an annual auction is held for
those parcels and properties residing within the county for which the
taxes remain unpaid. Tax liens encumber the property of debtor but carry
no right or title to the property. Once the property tax lien is held for
22 months an application for tax deed can be made.The result of this
application is a tax deed auction commonly called a "tax lien
foreclosure". or "tax deed auction". The conveyance resulting from the
tax deed auction is a tax deed. A tax deed issuance offers immediate
possession unlike a judicial foreclosure that is privy to the 10 day
redemption period after the auction (This 10 day window after the
judicial auction is for the sale to be reviewed and if the highest
auction bid amount is found to be unjust, by a judge, the sale may be
voided).Also, a tax deed is not an insurable conveyance. The title to the
property is clouded by the prior owners and parties of interest who have
titled and untitled recorded interest in the property. To remove these
clouds of title it is required that the conveyed interest "tax deed" be
held for 4 years while paying taxes unchallenged or complete a quiet
title action. The tax deed owner may also decide to transfer that
interest in the property to an unsuspecting person via Special Warranty
Deed or Quit Claim Deed and offers limited or no warranty of title
whereby the title will not be defended against adverse parties.