Winning a Florida foreclosure auction transfers the deed - but not a blank slate. Some liens against the property are wiped out by the sale; others survive and attach to whoever owns the property next. Knowing which is which, before you bid, is the difference between a clean acquisition and an expensive surprise.
| Liens junior to the foreclosing mortgage | Extinguished - wiped out by the sale |
|---|---|
| Liens senior to the foreclosing mortgage | Survive - the new owner takes the property subject to them |
| Property taxes | Always survive, regardless of priority |
| HOA/condo assessments | The lien is usually wiped out, but the new owner can still be personally liable for a capped amount of the previous owner’s unpaid assessments |
| Municipal code-enforcement and certain federal liens | Can survive even when other liens are wiped out |
Priority - whether it was recorded before or after the mortgage being foreclosed. A senior lien keeps its full interest in the property regardless of who forecloses on a junior lien; the new owner is not personally liable for that debt, but the property itself stays subject to it, and the senior lienholder retains the right to foreclose later if it is never resolved.
Notably, the senior lienholder has no claim on any surplus the junior sale generates - Florida courts have settled that specific question. See our guide on senior liens and foreclosure surplus for the full explanation.
The association’s lien is typically wiped out when a senior first mortgage forecloses - but Florida Statutes 720.3085 (HOAs) and 718.116(1) (condos) make the new owner personally liable, separately from that lien, for the previous owner’s unpaid assessments up to the transfer date, capped at 12 months of assessments or 1% of the original mortgage balance, whichever is less.
These survive the sale regardless of lien priority. A buyer becomes responsible for delinquent taxes even though a mortgage foreclosure wiped out every other junior lien.
Only for liens properly named and served in the foreclosure lawsuit. A lien belonging to someone who was not correctly served can survive by mistake - a real reason bidders research the docket, not just the listing.
A title search on the property, done before the auction, is the standard way investors surface this. It will not catch everything with certainty, but it is the closest thing to knowing before you commit funds.
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