Real Estate Law

Course Description

PLA2610 – Real Estate Law is a 3-credit course covering the law of real property and the transactions that transfer it. Santa Fe College titles it Real Estate Law & Property Transactions, which better reflects the practical, document-centred content.

Real estate is a substantial Florida legal practice area — the state's construction volume, in-migration, second-home market, and condominium stock generate continuous transactional work — and much of that work is performed by paralegals. Title examination, closing preparation, and document drafting are paralegal functions in most Florida real estate practices.

Content covers estates in land and forms of ownership including Florida's tenancy by the entireties; deeds — warranty, special warranty, and quitclaim, and the requirements for valid execution and recording; the recording system and how Florida's race-notice statute determines priority; title examination — searching the chain of title, identifying encumbrances, and reading a title commitment; title insurance, which in Florida does most of the work that attorney opinions do elsewhere; contracts for sale and the standard Florida forms; financing — mortgages, notes, and Florida's judicial foreclosure process; closings — the settlement statement, prorations, documentary stamp tax and intangible tax, and disbursement; and landlord-tenant law under Chapter 83, F.S.

Condominium and homeowners association law receives real attention, as it should: Florida has an enormous condominium stock, Chapters 718 and 720 govern it in detail, and post-Surfside legislative changes to structural inspection and reserve requirements have made this an active area.

Offered at approximately 15 Florida institutions with paralegal programs.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe estates in land and the forms of concurrent ownership recognized in Florida.
• Explain tenancy by the entireties and its creditor-protection consequences.
• Distinguish deed types and describe the warranties each conveys.
• Prepare a deed meeting Florida execution and recording requirements.
• Explain the recording system and apply Florida's race-notice priority rule.
• Conduct a title search and construct a chain of title.
• Identify encumbrances including liens, easements, and restrictions.
• Read and interpret a title commitment and identify requirements and exceptions.
• Describe title insurance, owner's and lender's policies, and what each covers.
• Prepare and review a Florida contract for sale and purchase.
• Describe mortgages, promissory notes, and the mortgagor-mortgagee relationship.
• Describe Florida's judicial foreclosure process.
• Prepare closing documents and a settlement statement with correct prorations.
• Calculate documentary stamp tax and intangible tax on a Florida transaction.
• Describe landlord-tenant rights and eviction procedure under Chapter 83, F.S.
• Describe condominium and homeowners association law under Chapters 718 and 720, F.S.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe construction liens under Chapter 713, F.S.
• Describe commercial leasing and its differences from residential.
• Describe land use, zoning, and permitting.
• Describe environmental issues affecting real property.
• Describe quiet title and partition actions.
• Describe post-Surfside condominium structural and reserve requirements.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Real property concepts — real versus personal property, fixtures, and legal descriptions.
• Estates in land — fee simple, life estates, and future interests.
• Concurrent ownership — tenancy in common, joint tenancy, and tenancy by the entireties.
• Deeds — types, required elements, execution, delivery, and recording.
• The recording system — official records, constructive notice, and race-notice priority.
• Title examination — chain of title, search method, and defect identification.
• Encumbrances — mortgages, judgment liens, tax liens, easements, and restrictive covenants.
• Title insurance — commitments, policies, requirements, exceptions, and endorsements.
• Contracts for sale — the Florida standard forms, contingencies, and disclosures.
• Financing — notes, mortgages, and lender requirements.
• Foreclosure — Florida's judicial process, timeline, and deficiency judgments.
• Closings — settlement statements, prorations, escrow, and disbursement.
• Taxes and fees — documentary stamp tax on deeds and notes, and intangible tax on mortgages.
• Landlord-tenant — Chapter 83, F.S.; leases, deposits, and eviction procedure.
• Community associations — condominium (Chapter 718) and homeowners association (Chapter 720) law.

Optional Topics

• Construction liens under Chapter 713, F.S.
• Commercial leasing.
• Land use, zoning, and permitting.
• Environmental issues in real property.
• Quiet title and partition.
• Post-Surfside condominium requirements.

Resources & Tools

• Real Estate Law (Aalberts) or Practical Real Estate Law (Hinkel), Cengage — common national texts.
• Florida practice materials — Florida real estate transaction guides; most programs supplement a national text because Florida procedure differs substantially.
• Florida Statutes — Chapter 689 (conveyances), Chapter 695 (recording), Chapter 83 (landlord-tenant), Chapter 718 (condominium), Chapter 720 (homeowners associations), Chapter 713 (liens), Chapter 201 (documentary stamp tax).
• Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contract forms — the standard residential contract used across the state.
• County official records — most Florida counties provide free online access to recorded documents, which makes title search exercises practical.
• Florida property appraiser sites — free parcel data by county.
• Florida Department of Revenue — documentary stamp and intangible tax guidance.
• The Florida Bar Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section.

Career Pathways

• Real Estate Paralegal (SOC 23-2011) — a substantial and well-established Florida specialty.
• Title Examiner and Title Processor — title companies and agencies; often the highest-volume entry point.
• Closing Agent / Settlement Processor — preparing and conducting closings.
• Foreclosure Paralegal — a cyclical but persistent Florida practice area.
• Community Association Paralegal — condominium and HOA practice, unusually large in Florida.
• Commercial Real Estate Paralegal — development and leasing.
• Escrow Officer and roles in lending and development.

Florida SouthWestern offers a dedicated Real Estate Paralegal certificate, which indicates how distinct and employable this specialization is in the state. Title and closing work in particular hires steadily and rewards accuracy over credentials.

Special Information

Florida is a title insurance state, and that shapes the paralegal's job

In Florida, marketability is established through title insurance rather than through an attorney's title opinion, which is the practice in some other states. That means the working documents are the title commitment — with its Schedule B-I requirements and B-II exceptions — and the resulting policy. A paralegal in a Florida real estate practice reads commitments constantly, and clearing requirements before closing is core daily work.

Tenancy by the entireties is a Florida creditor-protection feature

Property held by a married couple as tenants by the entireties is generally protected from the creditors of only one spouse. Florida recognizes it for both real and personal property, and it is a routine planning consideration. Students should not assume national textbook treatment describes Florida's.

Documentary stamp and intangible taxes are calculated on nearly every transaction

Florida imposes documentary stamp tax on deeds and on promissory notes, and intangible tax on mortgages, at rates set by Chapter 201, F.S. Calculating them correctly is a routine closing task, they appear on the settlement statement, and errors are caught at recording. This is the kind of concrete Florida-specific competence that makes a graduate immediately useful.

Condominium law has changed substantially since Surfside

The 2021 Surfside condominium collapse led to significant Florida legislation imposing milestone structural inspections and mandatory reserve funding on condominium associations, with substantial financial consequences for owners. This is an active area, the requirements have been amended more than once, and any course or textbook material predating the changes is out of date. Students should work from current statute.

Prerequisites and scheduling

Prerequisites vary; verify locally. Santa Fe College requires PLA1003, and most programs also require the legal research sequence. Santa Fe offers this course fall only, and single-term offerings are common across paralegal practice courses — students should plan sequencing accordingly or risk adding a year.