Hey Kenan, it’s not a common situation, but it does happen.

In Florida, when a mortgage is foreclosed first, it generally wipes out any junior liens, like an HOA lien (this doesn’t apply to municipal liens). So if the mortgage was recorded before the HOA lien and the foreclosure sale happened first that day, the buyer at the mortgage sale gets the title. If the HOA still goes through with its sale later that same day, it’s usually a timing or system issue, that second sale has no real legal standing because the lien was already extinguished.

Some people think HOA liens survive foreclosure because of the Safe Harbor rule, where banks or whoever takes title after a mortgage foreclosure still owe up to 12 months of assessments or 1% of the original mortgage. But that’s not because the lien survives, it’s just a statutory payment the new owner has to make.

What I can tell you is that once both Certificates of Sale are issued, things can get messy fast, with challenges between parties that might delay or block the issuance of the Certificate of Title. In cases like these, honestly, it’s better to walk away.