Do Deed Restrictions Expire in Florida Under MRTA?

Yes, deed restrictions can expire in Florida. Under the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA), restrictive covenants older than 30 years become unenforceable unless the HOA has formally preserved them or a specific statutory exception applies.¹ The catch is that expiration happens lot by lot, so one house in a subdivision may still be bound while the neighbor’s covenants have lapsed entirely.

How the 30-Year MRTA Clock Works

MRTA, codified in Chapter 712 of the Florida Statutes, automatically extinguishes most interests and encumbrances that predate a property’s “root of title” by more than 30 years.¹ Florida courts have confirmed that HOA covenants — paint colors, fencing, landscaping rules, building modifications — fall within its reach.

Your root of title is the most recent deed or title transaction in your property’s history that was recorded at least 30 years ago. Once that 30-year mark passes, any deed restriction recorded before your root of title is wiped out unless an exception saves it.

Because every home has its own chain of title tied to its own sales history, the result is a patchwork. Say a subdivision recorded its covenants in 1988. A home sold in 1994 has that 1994 deed as its root of title, and in 2024 the 30-year clock ran out on the 1988 covenants for that lot. A neighboring home that last sold in 2002 will not hit the same cutoff until 2032. The HOA may retain full enforcement authority over some lots and none over others.

Exceptions That Keep Restrictions Alive

MRTA carves out several categories of interests that survive the 30-year cutoff even without a preservation filing. The ones that matter most for homeowners are:

Specific reference in the chain of title. If a deed recorded at or after the root of title identifies the original covenants by their official records book and page number or instrument number, those covenants stay enforceable. Vague boilerplate like “subject to easements and restrictions of record” does not qualify. The reference has to point to the specific recorded document.²
Interests recorded after the root of title. A restriction recorded after your root of title’s effective date is not subject to MRTA extinguishment yet, because its own 30-year clock has not run.²
Environmental restrictions. Restrictions recorded under Florida’s environmental cleanup or pollution control statutes (Chapters 376 and 403) are permanently exempt.²
Government and utility easements. These survive as long as any portion of the easement remains in use.²

The chain-of-title exception is the one most homeowners encounter. Many older Florida deeds used only generic “subject to restrictions of record” language, which does not meet the standard. If you are buying into a community with aging covenants, ask your title company whether any deed in your chain of title specifically references the covenants by book and page.

How HOAs Preserve or Revive Their Covenants

The straightforward way an HOA keeps covenants alive is to record a preservation notice in the county’s official records before the 30-year window closes. Filing resets the clock for another 30 years.¹ Section 712.06 sets out what the notice must include: the association’s name and mailing address, either a copy of the covenants or their book-and-page reference, and a specific legal description of the affected land.³

If an association misses the deadline, the covenants are gone — but not necessarily forever. Florida law provides a revitalization process under Sections 720.403 through 720.407 that lets a community reinstate lapsed covenants. It starts with at least three property owners proposing revitalization, requires distribution of the proposed governing documents to all members, a meeting with certified notice, a majority membership vote, and state review of the submitted documents within 60 days.

Revitalized covenants cannot be stricter than the original. They can, however, carry a longer term, govern fewer lots, remove restrictions from the old version, and add new amendments. Because revitalization is far more involved than preservation, experienced HOA attorneys treat the 30-year preservation filing as a hard deadline on the association’s calendar.

Other Ways Restrictions Can Become Unenforceable

MRTA is not the only way a covenant loses its bite. Even a restriction well inside the 30-year window can fail in court if the HOA has been inconsistent about enforcement.

Florida courts recognize the defense of laches: the HOA knew about a violation, unreasonably delayed acting, and the homeowner was harmed by that delay. Both elements are required. If your HOA ignored a nonconforming fence for five years and you spent significant money landscaping around it, a court may refuse to order removal. Time alone is not enough — the homeowner has to show actual prejudice.

Related defenses are abandonment and waiver. If an association has selectively enforced a restriction for years, letting some violations slide while punishing others, a court may find the restriction abandoned or waived community-wide. A handful of missed violations will not do it. Widespread, long-standing non-enforcement can.

Checking Whether Your Restrictions Have Expired

Working out whether your specific property is still bound takes a walk through the public records. Start with your own deed and title insurance policy; both should reference any applicable covenants. From there:

Identify your root of title. Find the most recent deed or title transaction recorded at least 30 years ago.¹
Search for a preservation notice. Check the county’s official records for any notice of preservation filed by the HOA before the 30-year deadline.
Trace the chain of title. Review every deed from the root of title forward to see whether any specifically references the original covenants by book and page or instrument number.²
Look for post-root recordings. Check whether the covenants, or amended versions, were re-recorded after your root of title.

The analysis is genuinely complex, and mistakes are costly on both sides. Homeowners who assume their restrictions have lapsed and proceed with a prohibited renovation can end up defending a lawsuit. Associations that assume their restrictions are intact may discover mid-enforcement that they lost authority years earlier. A Florida real estate attorney familiar with MRTA can run a title analysis for your specific lot and give you a definitive answer.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code Chapter 712 – Marketable Record Titles to Real Property
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 712.03 – Exceptions to Marketability
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 712.06 – Contents of Notice Recording and Indexing