How to read a notice of application for tax deed

A Florida notice of application for tax deed follows a form set by statute, so once you know the form you can read any county's -- even though every clerk sets the type differently. This site reads 91,666 of them.

The heading and the holder

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that KEYS FUNDING LLC - 2024, the holder of the following certificate, has filed said certificate for a tax deed to be issued thereon.

The name here is the certificate holder: the investor who bought the tax lien and is now forcing the sale. Funds buy under several series names ("- 2024", "- 5024"), through custodians ("WSFS CF ...") or on behalf of others ("FBO ..."), so the same holder is typed many ways. It is not the buyer of the property and does not own it.

Some counties -- Hillsborough is one -- do not name the holder at all.

The certificate

Certificate Number: 2024-4251 Year of Issuance: 2024

The certificate number is the one identifier every notice prints, and the clerk's auction site lists the sale under it. The year of issuance tells you how old the debt is: a 2024 certificate covers taxes that came due in 2023. A notice may also print a tax deed file number, the clerk's number for the application.

The property

Description of Property: LOT 28 DO-RAY VILLAS SUB ... Parcel ID Number 5164220757

The legal description identifies the land by survey: lot, block, subdivision and plat book, or section, township and range. The parcel number -- called a parcel ID, folio, strap or account number depending on the county -- is what finds the property on the county appraiser's site.

Most clerks print it. Some print it inside the description, some on a line of its own, and some -- Duval, Citrus, Alachua -- not at all. A street address is rare.

The owner

Name in which assessed: NORTH MANATEE PROPERTIES LLC

The owner of record is the name on the tax roll when the notice was prepared. It can be out of date -- an estate, a sold property, a trust -- but it is the person entitled to notice and to redeem.

The sale

...shall be sold to the highest bidder at www.manatee.realforeclose.com on the 28th day of September, 2026 at 10:00 AM

The sale clause gives the date, the start time and the venue. For an online sale the venue is the county's auction site, where the clerk's terms -- deposit, registration, payment -- are published. A later notice for the same certificate with a new date means the sale was rescheduled; this site shows the newer date.

What a notice does not tell you

• The opening bid, in most counties. Charlotte and Hernando print it; most do not. The clerk's auction site shows it before the sale.
• Whether the owner has paid. Redemptions are not published.
• Title. Nothing in the notice says what liens survive the deed or whether the title is insurable.

See it on real notices

Every county page lists the parcels its notices describe; with a plan, each record shows the holder, owner, legal description and links to every notice it was read from.