Lien searches — Palm Bay, Florida

A City of Palm Bay lien search is ordered online through Orange Data, the firm the city contracted on March 1, 2022, and costs $60.00 per search according to the city Lien Research page.

The Palm Bay Lien Research page sends requests to the City of Palm Bay Open Lien Search Request Portal on the Orange Data website, and an Orange Data account is required to submit one (City of Palm Bay Lien Research). The result is written confirmation of whether the property has any liens owed to the City of Palm Bay, a service the city has charged for since August 4, 2003 under Ordinance No. 2003-26, Chapter 118, Section 8, the Service Charge for Lien Search. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay Lien Research and Code Compliance pages.

The search matters because a public records check alone may not show every Palm Bay debt. The same city page says that city lien documents are recorded in the Official Records of the Brevard County Clerk of Courts, indexed by property owner name. A buyer searching those books therefore needs the seller's name, while the city request identifies the lot, address or parcel and also asks about open code violations, utility bills, permits and special assessments, as the Palm Bay request form shows in the section below.

Palm Bay Resolution 2025-35 sets the lien search charge at $60.00 for an answer within one working day, $25.00 for each added unit on the same parcel, and $30.00 for an answer in three to six working days.

The Palm Bay City Council adopted those charges in Resolution 2025-35, the miscellaneous fee schedule for fiscal year 2025-26, effective October 1, 2025 (Resolution 2025-35, page 1). The Chapter 118 lines appear on Exhibit A, page A-1, with the same amounts in the fiscal year 2025 and 2026 columns (Resolution 2025-35, Exhibit A page A-1). The Lien Research page, by contrast, lists only the single $60.00 Orange Data price and says requests are expedited, so the slower $30.00 tier in the resolution is not listed there.

An older, undated City of Palm Bay Request for Lien Information form, issued by an in-house Liens Office before searches moved to Orange Data, describes the same two speeds (Palm Bay Request for Lien Information, page 1). Next day service at $60 plus $25 per additional unit must be received no later than 3 pm on the day of the request, and the $30 option returns in 3 to 6 business days. Updates are free if performed within 30 days of the original search. The form asks for one lot per form, although combined lots may be submitted on the same form, identified by a legal description of PM unit, subdivision, lot and block, by property address, or by parcel number for vacant land, along with the seller, the buyer and the anticipated closing date.

The Palm Bay Request for Lien Information form lists code enforcement liens and open violations, nuisance liens, unpaid utility bills or utility liens, utility loan liens, permits and special assessments, with columns for amount due, payoff date and per diem.

Page 2 of the Palm Bay Request for Lien Information form is the city's reporting sheet, headed Outstanding Debt Owed to the City of Palm Bay (Palm Bay Request for Lien Information, page 2). For code enforcement it records the CEB case number and whether the property is in compliance, with the note that it must be in compliance prior to the closing date. For utilities it records which services the parcel has: water, sewer, septic, well or solid waste. Palm Bay Resolution 2025-35 separately lists a $70.00 Utility Lien Cost among the solid waste service charges (Resolution 2025-35, Exhibit A page A-2).

One kind of Palm Bay utility lien takes effect on the day an agreement is signed. Section 106.40 of the Palm Bay code lets owners of existing single-family homes pay water and wastewater capital charges by installment, and the Installment Payment Agreement becomes a lien from the date the owner and the city enter into it (Palm Bay Code, Section 106.40). That lien stands co-equal with taxes and superior to all other liens and titles, and the balance becomes immediately due on a sale, transfer of interest or refinancing.

Florida law adds a broader rule for bond-financed utilities. Section 159.17 of the Florida Statutes gives a municipality that issues revenue bonds under chapter 159 a lien on all land served by its water, sewer or gas system for service charges until paid, ahead of every other lien except state, county and municipal taxes (Florida Statutes, section 159.17). The Palm Bay sources reviewed for this page do not say whether Palm Bay Utilities relies on that section; the city search is the practical way to learn whether a Palm Bay parcel carries an unpaid utility balance.

A Palm Bay code enforcement fine becomes a lien once a certified copy of the order is recorded in the public records, under section 162.09 of the Florida Statutes.

The statute says the recorded order attaches to the land where the violation exists and to any other real or personal property the violator owns (Florida Statutes, section 162.09). It also bars foreclosure of such a lien on real property that is a homestead under the Florida Constitution, so a code lien on a Palm Bay homestead cannot be enforced by foreclosure on that home.

Palm Bay Code Compliance, a division of the Growth Management Department at 120 Malabar Road SE, takes lien payments through the iMS online portal that opened on March 6, 2023 (Palm Bay Code Compliance). Card payments carry a 2.95% convenience fee, ACH or electronic check payments a $1.50 flat fee, and checks by mail or in person cost nothing extra. Owners seeking a reduction of a Palm Bay code lien file a Petition for Relief form with Code Compliance; the office phone is (321) 952-3430.

Resolution 2025-35 itemizes the costs added to a Palm Bay nuisance lien: a $75.00 administrative fee that includes filing the lien, $10.00 for certified mail, $30.00 for registered mail, Brevard County recording at the Clerk's rate, and a release fee of $10.00 for the first page plus $8.50 for each additional page (Resolution 2025-35, Exhibit A page A-4). An optional Code Board lien release costs $200.00 when requested because of a foreclosure or a lien over 20 years old.

Recorded mortgages, judgments and other liens on Palm Bay property sit in the Brevard County Clerk's Official Records, and unpaid property taxes are handled through the county tax certificate process, both outside the city search.

The Brevard County Clerk of Court and Comptroller records deeds, mortgages, liens, contracts, subdivision plats and judgments in one general series of Official Records books, and the Official Records Department can be reached at (321) 637-2004 (Brevard County Clerk, Official Records). Those books are where a recorded Palm Bay code lien, a mortgage or a contractor's lien would appear.

Property taxes on Palm Bay parcels follow the county calendar. Brevard County real estate taxes are due each November 1 and payable through March 31 of the following year, with a 3% penalty on unpaid taxes from April 1 (Brevard County Clerk, Tax Deeds). Unpaid taxes lead to a tax certificate, which the Clerk describes as an interest-bearing lien at a rate from 0% to 18%. An owner redeems it by paying the taxes plus penalty, advertising fees and interest, and if a certificate is not redeemed within two years of issue, the holder may begin proceedings toward a tax deed auction.

Lenders on Palm Bay homes in foreclosure face one more city item: mortgagees and trustees must register online through Hera Property Registry, which administers the city Foreclosure and Vacant Property Registration program (Palm Bay Code Compliance), and Resolution 2025-35 sets a $300.00 registration fee for foreclosing residential properties under Section 99.03(B) of the Palm Bay code (Resolution 2025-35, Exhibit A page A-1).