Is This Mobile Home's Title Clean? A State-by-State Lien and Tax Check
This guide shows you how to check a used mobile or manufactured home for liens and unpaid taxes before you pay for it. It covers Texas, Florida and California: which agency to ask, which number to search by, what it costs, and what a clean result looks like.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Title, lien and tax rules vary by state and change over time. Check with the agency before you rely on anything here.
Is a mobile home's title checked the same way as a house's?
No. A house is real property. Its liens sit in the county land records, and a title company searches them before closing.
A mobile home titled as personal property is different. Its title is kept by a state housing agency or the motor vehicle department, not in the county land records. A lien on that title does not show up in a standard real estate title search. It has to be cleared through the state titling agency before the sale closes.
So if you buy a home in a park from a private seller, nobody checks this for you unless you ask. We covered why the paperwork runs through a state agency in Key Differences Beginners Must Know About Mobile Homes. This article is the check itself. Treat it as one more step in your deal-screening filter, done before you make the offer.
Before you search: get the numbers
Each state searches by a different number. Get these from the seller, the current title, and the home itself:
- Serial number (searched as the VIN in Florida). Federal rules require it on the home's data plate (24 CFR §3280.5(b)) and stamped into the front cross member of the frame (24 CFR §3280.6).
- HUD label number, or the HCD insignia number in California. The data plate lists the label number for each section (24 CFR §3280.5).
- The state's own number: the Texas Seal number in Texas (for homes with no HUD label), the title number in Florida, the decal number in California.
If the home has more than one section, get the numbers for each section. California's form asks for each one.
The checklist: Texas, Florida and California
| State | Agency and tool | Search by | Cost | What clean looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | TDHCA online records: ownership search and a separate tax lien search | Serial number, or HUD label or Texas Seal number | No payment step on the search pages. $55 to have a new Statement of Ownership issued | The ownership record shows no lien, or only one the seller will pay off at closing. The tax lien search on the same number shows no active recorded tax lien |
| Florida | FLHSMV MVCheck | Title number, or VIN (serial number) | No payment step on the search page | The result shows a clear title and no lienholder. The seller also shows you a current MH or RP decal |
| California | HCD Title Search Request, form RT 491.1, sent to HCD | Decal number, serial number and HUD label or HCD insignia number | $25 informal, $35 formal | The record shows the owner you expect, no legal owner (lender) except one being paid off at closing, and no delinquent fee or tax that would block the transfer |
Fees and tools are as published by each agency as of September 2026. Each state is explained below.
Texas: TDHCA's online search
In Texas, manufactured home titles are handled by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). Its ownership records can be searched online by serial number or by HUD label or Texas Seal number (TDHCA instructions).
Run two searches, not one:
- Ownership search. The Statement of Ownership lists liens other than tax liens, with the lienholder's name and address and the date (Texas Occupations Code §1201.205).
- Tax lien search. Tax liens are kept in a separate record on the same site. Search it with the same serial or label number (TDHCA tax lien information). You can also ask the county tax office.
The search pages ask for no payment. The fee TDHCA publishes is $55 to issue a Statement of Ownership (TDHCA fee schedule, Form 1022), which is what you pay when the home is transferred to you, not to look it up.
Worked example (an example only, not a real home or sale). A buyer is looking at a 1998 single-wide in a Texas park. Before making an offer, they copy the serial number from the data plate and the label number from the outside of the home. They search both numbers in TDHCA's ownership records. No lienholder is listed. They then search the same numbers in the tax lien records. No active tax lien is listed. Neither search page asked for a payment. The $55 fee would only come later, when a new Statement of Ownership is issued in the buyer's name.
Florida: FLHSMV's MVCheck
In Florida, mobile homes are titled by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), like cars. Its MVCheck tool is an online lookup by title number or VIN, with no payment step. The result shows the title status and the lienholder's name and address, if there is one (FLHSMV flyer, October 23, 2023; FLHSMV liens and titles).
MVCheck does not tell you about taxes. For that, look at the decal. Under Florida's rules, a mobile home is taxed one of two ways (Florida Department of Revenue, Taxation of Mobile Homes, GT-800047):
- RP decal. The owner has permanently affixed the home to land they also own. Owning the land is not enough on its own; the home must be permanently affixed. The RP decal is a one-time purchase, and the home is on the county property tax roll as real property.
- MH decal. The home is not permanently affixed to land its owner owns, for example in a rental park. The decal is renewed every year.
A home that is not taxed as real property and has no current decal on January 1 is presumed to be tangible personal property and can be assessed that way for the year (Florida Department of Revenue, Tangible Personal Property Appraisal Guidelines; Florida rule 12D-6.002). Paying the decal fee after the assessment does not cancel it. An owner who bought the MH decal before January 1 and can document it may ask for relief (GT-800047; Polk County Tax Collector; Polk County, mobile home taxes). So ask the seller for the current decal and its receipt. If it has lapsed, ask the county tax collector what is owed before you buy.
California: HCD's paid title search (form RT 491.1)
In California, titles are kept by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). You request a search, for a fee, on form RT 491.1 (revised April 2020), listed on HCD's registration and titling forms page. You give the decal number, the serial number and the HUD label or HCD insignia number. For a multi-section home, list every section.
There are two kinds of search:
- Informal, $25. A snapshot of HCD's record on the day it is processed.
- Formal, $35. The same snapshot, plus notice of any change to the record for 120 days.
If the purchase will take weeks to close, the formal search tells you if a lien is recorded in the meantime.
Taxes matter here too. Homes first sold new on or after July 1, 1980 pay local property tax, and some older homes have been moved onto it. For a used home that pays local property tax, HCD generally needs a tax clearance certificate from the county tax collector before it transfers the title (Merced County, Mobile Home Taxes; State Controller, County Tax Collectors' Reference Manual, chapter 10, 2016). In a sale through escrow, the county can instead issue a conditional certificate that states the amount owed, which is then collected when escrow closes. If the county does not answer the escrow officer within 30 days, the law lets escrow close without it (California Revenue and Taxation Code §5832; Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector, mobile home tax FAQ). Either way, taxes owed are paid out of the sale or by the seller, so find out the amount before you agree a price. Older homes that pay a yearly license fee to HCD instead should show that fee as current. Ask the seller for it, or ask the county tax collector, before you pay.
What a clean result does not cover
A clean search tells you what is recorded with the agency on that day. It does not tell you everything:
- Texas protects buyers against unrecorded tax liens. A bona fide purchaser does not have to pay taxes on a manufactured home that were not recorded with TDHCA (Texas Tax Code §32.03). That is why the TDHCA tax lien search matters: a recorded tax lien does travel with the home.
- Florida. MVCheck shows title liens, not taxes. The decal is your tax check.
- California. An informal search is only a snapshot. Anything recorded after it is not in your result unless you ordered the formal search.
If the home has already been converted to real property
Some homes have been taken off the personal-property title system and joined to the land. Then you check the county land records, the same way you would for a house, and the state title search is no longer the right place.
- Texas. An election to treat the home as real property is only complete once a copy of the Statement of Ownership is filed in the county real property records, and TDHCA and the chief appraiser of the county appraisal district are told it was filed. The owner has 60 days from issue to do this. After that, the home is real property for all purposes and no new Statement of Ownership is needed unless it moves or the election changes (Texas Occupations Code §1201.2055; TDHCA Statement of Ownership FAQ). Check the county records, and check TDHCA too, in case the filing was never completed.
- Florida. The title can be retired once the home is permanently attached to land the owner owns, or holds under a lease of 30 years or more. After that, the home is sold by deed, not by FLHSMV title (Florida Statutes §319.261; Bay County Tax Collector).
- California. Under Health and Safety Code §18551, a home becomes real property when it is installed on a foundation system, the local building department issues a certificate of occupancy, and HCD form 433A is recorded with the county recorder. The HCD title and any decals are surrendered first, and HCD cancels its registration (California Health and Safety Code §18551; HCD, foundation system and real property; HCD form 433A). The home needs no HCD registration while it stays on that foundation. If it is lawfully removed, it becomes personal property again and must be registered with HCD (Health and Safety Code §18075.5; California Code of Regulations, title 25, §5614). So check that a recorded 433A exists, not just that the home sits on a foundation.
If you are not sure which system the home is in, check both: the state title search and the county land records.
What happens if you buy a home with an undisclosed lien
A lien recorded on a personal-property title is not cleared by a normal real estate closing. It has to be cleared through the state titling agency. If you pay the seller and the lien is still recorded, the problem comes with the home, and you may not be able to get a clean title in your name.
Texas offers some protection, but it is narrow:
- A consumer who buys a used manufactured home from a retailer in the ordinary course of business takes it free of liens created by that retailer, even recorded ones (Texas Occupations Code §1201.207(e)). It does not cover liens from earlier owners, and it does not cover a private sale between two individuals, because there is no retailer.
- As above, a bona fide purchaser does not have to pay manufactured home taxes that were not recorded with TDHCA (Texas Tax Code §32.03).
In a private sale, the search is your protection. Run it before you pay, and again just before closing.
Getting professional help
This article is general information. Rules vary by state and change over time. If the search shows a lien, if the records don't match the seller's story, or if you are unsure which system the home is in, a title company, an escrow company or a real estate attorney can run a professional search and handle the payoff at closing.