Florida Statutes

Fla. Stat. § 712.01 (2025)

Definitions.

✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session

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712.01 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term:

(1) “Community covenant or restriction” means any agreement or limitation contained in a document recorded in the public records of the county in which a parcel is located which:

(a) Subjects the parcel to any use restriction that may be enforced by a property owners’ association; or

(b) Authorizes a property owners’ association to impose a charge or assessment against the parcel or the parcel owner.

(2) “Covenant or restriction” means any agreement or limitation contained in a document recorded in the public records of the county in which a parcel is located which subjects the parcel to any use or other restriction or obligation.

(3) “Parcel” means any real property that is subject to any covenant or restriction of a property owners’ association.

(4) “Person” includes the singular or plural, natural or corporate, private or governmental, including the state and any political subdivision or agency thereof as the context for the use thereof requires or denotes and including any property owners’ association.

(5) “Property owners’ association” means a homeowners’ association as defined in s. 720.301, a corporation or other entity responsible for the operation of property in which the voting membership is made up of the owners of the property or their agents, or a combination thereof, and in which membership is a mandatory condition of property ownership, or an association of parcel owners which is authorized to enforce a community covenant or restriction that is imposed on the parcels.

(6) “Root of title” means any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least 30 years before the time when marketability is being determined. The effective date of the root of title is the date on which it was recorded.

(7) “Title transaction” means any recorded instrument or court proceeding that affects title to any estate or interest in land and that describes the land sufficiently to identify its location and boundaries.

History.—s. 1, ch. 63-133; s. 11, ch. 65-420; s. 1, ch. 81-242; s. 1, ch. 97-202; s. 56, ch. 2000-258; s. 16, ch. 2000-317; s. 2, ch. 2018-55.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 45 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1969–2025 · leading case: Holland v. Hattaway, 438 So. 2d 456 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983).

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Holland v. Hattaway, 438 So. 2d 456 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). · cites it 12× “" § 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (1981). [9] We have carefully considered whether an easement for access appurtenant to a parcel of land is an "estate in land" as that term is used in section 712.”

Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 2004). · cites it 2× “§ 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (2003). Stated differently, the root of title is "the most recent deed or other title transaction recorded in the unbroken chain of title at least [thirty years] in the past.”

Cirelli v. Ent, 885 So. 2d 423 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004). · cites it 4× “" § 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (2002). The courts that have interpreted and applied section 712.”

Sara Watts v. Joggers Run Prop. Owners Ass'n, Inc., 133 F.4th 1032 (11th Cir. 2025). · cites it 2× “in which member- ship is a mandatory condition of parcel ownership”), with Fla Stat. § 712.01(5) (deﬁning a property owners’ association as “a homeowners’ association as de- ﬁned in [Section] 702.”

City of Miami v. St. Joe Paper Co., 364 So. 2d 439 (Fla. 1978). · cites it 3× “The term agency (as contained in this section) does not include municipalities for Section 712.01(1) Florida Statutes, defining terms used in the act, contains the following: "The term person as used herein denotes singular or plural, natural or corporate, private or…”

Cunningham v. Haley, 501 So. 2d 649 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986). · cites it 6× “NOTES [1] "Root of title" is defined by section 712.01(2) and "means any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person and which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least 30 years prior to the time when marketability is…”

STATE, ETC. v. Contemporary Land Sales, Inc., 400 So. 2d 488 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). · cites it 4× “This case involves the application of the Marketable Record Title Act (§ 712.01 et seq., Fla. Stat. (1963)) to the title to land exposed by the lowering of the water level of a freshwater lake by a state water control agency.”

Wilson v. Kelley, 226 So. 2d 123 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). · cites it 6× “[2] The Act defines a "root of title" as "any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person and which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least thirty years prior to the time when marketability is being determined.”

Nourachi v. United States, 632 F. Supp. 2d 1101 (M.D. Fla. 2009). · cites it 4× “The Marketable Record Title Act In the event the Court determines that the 1937 deed conveyed to the United States the property Nourachi purchased at the December 2002 tax sale, Nourachi alternatively argues that title should be divested from the United States pursuant to…”

Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., 224 So. 2d 743 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969). · cites it 4× “The Florida Marketable Title Act, Section 712.01, F.S. 1967, F.S.A., was enacted in 1963 and became effective September 1, 1963.”

H & F Land v. Panama City-Bay Co. Airport, 736 So. 2d 1167 (Fla. 1999). · cites it 3× “For this exception to apply in the instant case, the 1947 deed from Bay County to the Panama City Airport Board would have had to disclose on its face the common law way of necessity, or the common law way of necessity would have had to constitute a defect in that title, which…”

Florida Dep't of Transp. v. Clipper Bay Investments, LLC, 160 So. 3d 858 (Fla. 2015). · cites it 2× “The MRTA defines “root of title” as: any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person and which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least 30 years prior to the time when marketability is being determined.”

Show all 45 citing cases →

— 712.01(1) — 1 case

City of Miami v. St. Joe Paper Co., 364 So. 2d 439 (Fla. 1978). “The term agency (as contained in this section) does not include municipalities for Section 712.01(1) Florida Statutes, defining terms used in the act, contains the following: "The term person as used herein denotes singular or plural, natural or corporate, private or…”

— 712.01(2) — 27 cases

Holland v. Hattaway, 438 So. 2d 456 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). “" § 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (1981). [9] We have carefully considered whether an easement for access appurtenant to a parcel of land is an "estate in land" as that term is used in section 712.”

Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 2004). “§ 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (2003). Stated differently, the root of title is "the most recent deed or other title transaction recorded in the unbroken chain of title at least [thirty years] in the past.”

Cirelli v. Ent, 885 So. 2d 423 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004). “" § 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (2002). The courts that have interpreted and applied section 712.”

H & F Land v. Panama City-Bay Co. Airport, 736 So. 2d 1167 (Fla. 1999). “For this exception to apply in the instant case, the 1947 deed from Bay County to the Panama City Airport Board would have had to disclose on its face the common law way of necessity, or the common law way of necessity would have had to constitute a defect in that title, which…”

Florida Dep't of Transp. v. Clipper Bay Investments, LLC, 160 So. 3d 858 (Fla. 2015). “The MRTA defines “root of title” as: any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person and which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least 30 years prior to the time when marketability is being determined.”

— 712.01(3) — 17 cases

Cunningham v. Haley, 501 So. 2d 649 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986). “NOTES [1] "Root of title" is defined by section 712.01(2) and "means any title transaction purporting to create or transfer the estate claimed by any person and which is the last title transaction to have been recorded at least 30 years prior to the time when marketability is…”

Kittrell v. Clark, 363 So. 2d 373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978).

BD OF Trs., ETC. v. Paradise Fruit Co., 414 So. 2d 10 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982).

— 712.01(4) — 1 case

Eastwood Shores Prop. Owners Ass'n, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Econ. Opportunity, 264 So. 3d 264 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019).

— 712.01(5) — 2 cases

Sara Watts v. Joggers Run Prop. Owners Ass'n, Inc., 133 F.4th 1032 (11th Cir. 2025). “in which member- ship is a mandatory condition of parcel ownership”), with Fla Stat. § 712.01(5) (deﬁning a property owners’ association as “a homeowners’ association as de- ﬁned in [Section] 702.”

Eastwood Shores Prop. Owners Ass'n, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Econ. Opportunity, 264 So. 3d 264 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019).

— 712.01(6) — 1 case

Amber Perrin v. State of Florida, Dep't of Transp. (Fla. 3d DCA 2025).

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