The Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA) is the Florida statute most HOA boards have never heard of and the one that can quietly extinguish their entire declaration. Chapter 712 operates on a 30-year rolling window: covenants and restrictions that are not preserved by a specific notice become legally unenforceable against subsequent purchasers. For communities platted in the 1990s, the preservation deadline is now. For 1980s communities, the deadline already passed; most are operating on covenants a court would refuse to enforce.
What the statute says
The core sunset provision lives in F.S. 712.02:
Any person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with his or her predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claims except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in s. 712.03.
And the cure mechanism in F.S. 712.05:
A person claiming an interest in land may preserve and protect the same from extinguishment by the operation of this act by filing for record ... a notice ... within the 30-year period immediately following the effective date of the root of title of the person whose interest is to be affected.
"What does this actually mean for our HOA?"
The rule: covenants recorded more than 30 years ago are automatically extinguished as to subsequent purchasers UNLESS the association recorded a Notice of Preservation under F.S. 712.05 within the 30-year window. Three consequences:
- Owners who purchased after the 30-year mark are not bound by un-preserved covenants. An enforcement action against a post-sunset purchaser fails on an MRTA defense. Pre-sunset owners remain bound.
- The covenant is not "void" in the abstract. It is unenforceable against specific owners. The covenant still exists in the chain of title; it just cannot be enforced.
- Associations can re-preserve after the 30-year window. F.S. 712.05(3) permits a late preservation, but it only binds owners who take title AFTER the late filing. Owners who took title during the extinguished window are permanently free of the covenant.
"What does a preservation notice look like?"
F.S. 712.06 sets the content requirements. The notice must:
- Be signed by a majority of the association's directors.
- Cite the specific recorded instrument(s) being preserved (the declaration + any amendments).
- Describe the land the covenants burden.
- Be recorded in the public records of the county where the land is located.
- Include a statement that the association elects to preserve the covenants pursuant to F.S. 712.05.
Standard language is available from most Florida real-estate attorneys who handle HOA work. A DIY filing that omits a required element is ineffective and the 30-year clock keeps running.
"How do we know if we've been preserved?"
Three-step check:
- Pull the recorded declaration from the county clerk. Note the recording date.
- Search the public records for a Notice of Preservation referencing the declaration. If the community is over 30 years from the recording date, this notice is load-bearing for any enforcement action.
- If no preservation notice exists and the 30-year window is closed, STOP enforcement actions pending attorney review. Running enforcement against a post-sunset purchaser under an unpreserved declaration invites the fee-shift loss.
"Our declaration is from 1998. When does the clock run out?"
A 1998 declaration needs a preservation notice recorded before 2028. Most FL HOAs in this window have not filed. A CAM team should treat a pre-2000 community as a P0 audit: read the declaration, read the amendments, check the county records for a preservation notice, and if absent, put the board on notice that preservation filing is urgent.
"What about amendments?"
F.S. 712.05(4) says an amendment recorded within the 30-year window before expiration RESETS the clock as to the elements changed. It does NOT reset the clock for unamended elements of the original declaration. Most 1990s HOAs have amended provisions that reset piecemeal while the core declaration sunsets. Boards that treat "we amended recently" as an MRTA cure are usually wrong.
Why this post exists
HOAStream surfaces F.S. 712 alongside the declaration's recording date + any amendment history in under 500 milliseconds, so the CAM team has the MRTA analysis ready before any covenant-enforcement memo leaves the board packet for a pre-2000 community. Nothing in this post or in the product is legal advice. For a specific MRTA preservation filing, a retained Florida real-estate attorney is the right call; this is not a DIY filing.
If you want the full MRTA statute stack alongside your community's declaration and amendment history, sign up at /cam or /board.