Pinellas County deeds are recorded by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, whose Recording Services office is at the Clearwater courthouse on Court Street. Evictions are filed in county court in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, which serves Pinellas and Pasco. We handle St. Petersburg and Clearwater real estate matters by phone or video.
Pinellas is the most densely built county in the Tampa Bay area, a peninsula of beach towns, older neighborhoods and condominium towers. That shapes the real estate questions we hear from here. Buyers want to know what a condo association owes under the state's milestone inspection law, landlords want the right notice, and owners in St. Petersburg want to know whether they have to drive to Clearwater to get a deed recorded. This page answers those questions using the county's own offices as the guide.
Communities we serve in Pinellas County
- St. Petersburg
- Clearwater
- Largo
- Dunedin
- Pinellas Park
- Seminole and the gulf beach towns
The Pinellas offices that handle real estate
Pinellas shares the Sixth Judicial Circuit with Pasco County, but each county has its own Clerk and Property Appraiser.
| Office | What it handles |
|---|---|
| Clerk Recording Services, Clearwater courthouse, 315 Court St. | Deeds, mortgages, liens, documentary stamp tax |
| Clerk, St. Petersburg Judicial Building, 545 First Ave. N. | Civil filings, including evictions, in south county |
| Pinellas County Property Appraiser | Homestead exemption and portability |
| Pinellas County building official | Condo milestone inspection reports for unincorporated areas and seven towns |
Recording by mail goes to Recording Services at the Clearwater courthouse, and the Clerk's online fee calculator estimates the recording fee and the documentary stamp tax for a deed based on the price, page count and number of names. Documentary stamp tax on a Florida deed is 70 cents per $100 of consideration. Deeds must also show two witnesses with their names and post office addresses under section 695.26, a requirement that catches many older forms.
Condo milestone inspections in Pinellas
Section 553.899 requires a milestone inspection for condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or more in height. The first inspection is due by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, and every 10 years after that, although a local building official may set 25 years based on conditions such as closeness to salt water. A licensed architect or engineer does a visual phase one inspection, and a more detailed phase two follows only if phase one finds substantial structural deterioration.
Pinellas County acts as building official for unincorporated Pinellas and seven municipalities: Belleair Beach, Belleair Bluffs, Belleair Shore, Indian Rocks Beach, Oldsmar, Safety Harbor and Kenneth City. For those buildings, the county uses the 30 year trigger, has adopted Ordinance No. 24-18 to administer the process, and asks associations to register on its Access Portal. Buildings in other cities report to that city's building official.
Homestead and portability
The Pinellas County Property Appraiser accepts homestead applications online, and the deadline is March 1 under section 196.011. You must own the home and live in it as your permanent residence on January 1. If you are moving from one Florida homestead to another, section 193.155(8) lets you carry up to $500,000 of your Save Our Homes benefit, as long as the prior home had the exemption in one of the three preceding years. See our Florida homestead page for the creditor and inheritance rules.
Watching for deed fraud
Under section 28.47, the Pinellas Clerk, like every Florida clerk, must run a free notification service that emails you within 24 hours when a land record is recorded under a name or parcel number you monitor. Owners who live part of the year elsewhere and landlords with several units benefit most.
Evictions in Pinellas County
Possession cases are heard in county court. The Clerk publishes an Eviction, Ejectment and Unlawful Detainer Quick Reference Guide and offers its forms free to download, and its Self Help Center serves both north and south county. Pinellas County's Housing and Community Development department also publishes landlord and tenant information and points renters and owners to the Pinellas County Law Library at 324 S. Ft. Harrison Ave. in Clearwater.
One caution: some older local handouts still say a month to month tenancy ends on 15 days' notice. Section 83.57 now requires at least 30 days before the end of a monthly rental period, so check any form before you rely on it. The core steps are the same countywide:
- Deliver the correct notice, such as a three day notice for unpaid rent, which excludes weekends and legal holidays.
- File the complaint for possession in county court after the notice expires.
- The tenant has five days, excluding weekends and holidays, to respond and deposit rent into the court registry.
- After judgment, the Clerk issues a writ of possession to the Sheriff, who gives 24 hours' notice.
Our eviction and landlord and tenant pages walk through the statute.
Closings, commercial leases and title problems
We review purchase contracts, title commitments and deeds for Pinellas closings, including condo and association resale documents. For storefronts and offices in downtown St. Petersburg or Clearwater, we draft and negotiate commercial leases, which under part I of chapter 83 depend mostly on their own terms. When title is clouded or co owners disagree, we explain the options for quiet title and partition.
How we work with Pinellas County clients
We handle Pinellas real estate matters by phone or video, and you can meet at any of our Florida offices if you prefer. We coordinate signings with witnesses and a notary near you and make sure documents are recorded correctly. Your first consultation is free, and because the firm limits its caseload, you work directly with an attorney. For planning around the same property, see our Pinellas estate planning, Pinellas probate and Pinellas elder law pages, or contact us.
More help in Pinellas County
We also help Pinellas County clients with:
