October 27, 2017 | Admin Staff
In Free v. Free, 936 So.2d 699 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006) the Court made the following statements concerning Agreements for Deed (sometimes referred to as installment sales contracts): (1) an Agreement for Deed is typically defined as an agreement in which the seller is to convey legal title to the buyer after the buyer pays all of the installments of the purchase price; (2) an Agreement for Deed is primarily used as a security device and to avoid immediate conveyance of title to the buyer with a purchase money mortgage back to the seller; (3) the Legislature and the courts have declared that such agreements are essentially mortgages with attendant rights and remedies provided to mortgagors and mortgagees, which include the seller’s remedy of foreclosure if the buyer defaults and the buyer’s right of redemption; and (4) because an Agreement for Deed is essentially a mortgage, it conveys no legal title to the real property and the instrument itself need not meet the requirements of F.S. §689.01 (two witnesses are not required).
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