A quiet title action is a lawsuit in which the plaintiff asks the court to declare that the plaintiff has sole legal title to a piece of property. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff should name any person or entity that might possibly have an ownership claim to the property as a defendant. Here are some common reasons for bringing a quiet title action:
1. Tax Deeds and Title Insurance
Florida title insurance companies will not insure title to land that a buyer purchased in a tax sale until the deed to the land has been on record for least four years. To shorten this time frame, however, the buyer can bring a quiet title action to settle all potential claims of ownership to the property. If the defendants are all previous title owners of record and all previous mortgagees of the property, the buyer can purchase title insurance and have marketable title as soon as the court awards judgment in favor of the buyer in the quiet title action.
