Reading a Florida Title Commitment: Transaction Step 18

About two weeks before a Florida closing, the title agent sends a packet called the title commitment. It is the title company's written promise to insure the home, along with the list of things that must happen first and the things it will not cover. Buyers in Winter Garden, Horizon West and Clermont often skim it because it reads like a legal index. Your contract gives you a short window to object to what it shows, so the reading matters. This is Transaction Step 18 in the Bella Trae Realty series.

When the Commitment Arrives and How Long You Have

Paragraph 9(c) of the Florida Realtors and Florida Bar AS IS contract (the ASIS-7x form, revised February 2026) sets a Title Evidence Deadline. Unless the parties write in a different number, the commitment is due at least 15 days before the Closing Date, or 5 days before closing on a cash deal where Paragraph 8(a) is checked. It must be issued by a Florida licensed title insurer and arrive with legible copies of the recorded documents it lists as exceptions.

Once it lands, Standard A of the same contract gives you 5 days to examine it and tell the seller in writing about any defect that makes title unmarketable. If you send nothing, you are deemed to have accepted title as it stands. Put the delivery date on your calendar the day it arrives.

Schedule A: Check the Basics First

Florida commitments follow the ALTA Commitment form with Florida modifications. Schedule A is the one-page summary of the deal, and most errors that slow a closing show up here. Read it against your contract and check five items:

• Commitment Date. The title search runs through this date. Anything recorded after it is not in the search yet.
• Policies to be issued. On a financed purchase you should see an owner's policy and a lender's policy, which Step 17 covered.
• Proposed Insured and amount. Your name should match how you plan to take title, and the owner's policy amount should match the purchase price.
• Current owner of record. This should be the seller who signed your contract. A different name, such as a deceased parent, a trust or an LLC, means extra paperwork is coming.
• Legal description. Compare the lot, block and subdivision with the contract and, if you order one, the survey.

Schedule B-I: The To-Do List Before Closing

Schedule B, Part I lists the Requirements. The insurer will not issue the policy until each one is met. The standard items are simple: pay the purchase price, pay the premiums, and record a proper deed and mortgage. The ones written specifically for your property tell you the most. Common Central Florida examples include payoff and satisfaction of the seller's mortgage, release of a recorded judgment or code enforcement lien, an HOA or condo estoppel letter, the seller's owner's affidavit, and proof of authority when an LLC or trust is selling.

Most of these are the seller's job, and the closing agent usually handles them with payoff letters and recorded releases. Your job is to spot anything unusual early. A probate requirement on a home in Ocoee or a lien from a contractor in Davenport can take weeks to clear, and the contract timeline keeps running while it does. The commitment form also states that it ends if the Requirements are not met within 6 months of the Commitment Date.

Schedule B-II: What the Policy Will Not Cover

Schedule B, Part II lists the Exceptions. These are matters the owner's policy will exclude from coverage. Some are standard and get removed at closing under Florida law:

• The gap. Section 627.7841, Florida Statutes, requires an insurer whose agent disburses the closing funds to insure against matters recorded between the Commitment Date and the recording of your deed, except matters you knew about.
• Survey matters. Under Section 627.7842(1)(a), a qualifying survey by a Florida surveyor completed within 90 days before closing limits this exception to what the survey actually shows.
• Parties in possession and construction liens. Sections 627.7842(1)(b) and (c) let the seller's affidavits at closing remove these, subject to what the agent already knows.

The rest are specific to the property, listed by official records book and page: the subdivision plat, the HOA declaration, utility easements and any recorded restrictions. Standard A already says your owner's policy may be subject to plat restrictions, zoning and unplatted utility easements up to 10 feet along front and rear lines and 7 1/2 feet along side lines. Anything outside those categories deserves a closer look. In a Windermere lakefront purchase, that could be a drainage or access easement across the yard where you planned a pool or dock.

What to Do If Something Looks Wrong

Send written notice to the seller within your 5 days. Standard A then gives the seller 30 days to cure the defect. If the seller cannot, you choose within 5 days after that period ends: extend the cure period by up to 120 days, accept title with the defect and close, or terminate and receive your deposit back. Read the commitment with your agent and, for anything beyond routine payoffs, a Florida real estate attorney. They can tell you whether an exception affects how you plan to use the home.

Read It With Us

When the commitment arrives on a Bella Trae Realty transaction, we go through Schedule A, B-I and B-II with you inside your 5 days and ask the title agent about anything that looks out of place. If you are buying in Minneola, St. Cloud or anywhere in between, contact Bella Trae Realty today and we will walk you through the title commitment on your deal.

This post is general education, not legal, tax or lending advice. Confirm current figures and terms with a licensed Florida professional.

Up Next: On Wednesday, Transaction Step 19 covers liens, clouds and title defects that can stop a Florida closing, and how sellers clear them.