Florida · TitleFlorida lis pendens: recording, the 30-day intervention rule and one-year expiration

In Florida a pending lawsuit affects real property only if a notice of lis pendens is recorded in the county's official records and hasn't expired, been withdrawn or been discharged. The notice must give the parties, the date the action began or its case number, the court, a property description and the relief sought. A suit for specific performance, or one not based on a recorded instrument, has no effect on title except between the parties unless the notice is recorded, and without it a buyer for value during the case takes free of those claims (Fla. Stat. §48.23(1)). Once recorded, the notice bars enforcement against the property of interests and liens that were unrecorded at that time, unless their holders move to intervene within 30 days and the court grants the motion. A notice is ineffective one year after the action began unless the claim rests on a recorded instrument or a construction lien, or the court extends it for good cause; when the claim isn't based on a recorded instrument or construction lien, the court controls and discharges the notice as it would an injunction (§48.23(2)–(3)).