Where Lakeland and Polk County legal notices are published: FloridaPublicNotices.com, the city clerk's legal notices, the Polk clerk and the School Board.

Last checked Oct. 9, 2026. This page is an index, not an official publication. It points to where Lakeland and Polk County legal notices are published. A notice has legal effect only where the law requires it to be published.

Florida requires governments, courts and some private parties to publish notice of public hearings, budgets, rezonings, foreclosures, tax deed sales, name changes and more. Most of those notices still run in a newspaper of general circulation, and newspaper notices are collected on a statewide website. Lakeland’s city government also posts its own legal notices online.

Where to look first

The statewide site

FloridaPublicNotices.com collects the legal notices that Florida newspapers publish. Search by county (Polk) and by keyword, such as a street name, a case number or “Lakeland.”

Online-only notices

Under section 50.0311, Florida Statutes, a county, city, school board or other local government may publish legally required notices on a “publicly accessible website”: the county’s official website or a private website the county designates. For real property notices from the clerk of court, the clerk’s own website also qualifies. Notices published that way must be searchable and show the date they were first posted. Check both the newspaper notices and the county’s designated site.

City of Lakeland

  • Legal notices: the city posts proposed ordinances, public hearing notices and purchasing notices (requests for proposals and selection committee meetings) in the Legal Notices category of its news page. Recent examples include a notice of proposed ordinance 26-032 in September.
  • City Commission agendas: on the City Clerk’s City Commission Agendas page.
  • Board agendas: Planning & Zoning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals, Historic Preservation Board and others are on the clerk’s Board Meetings & Agendas page and the municipal board calendar.
  • City records: search ordinances, resolutions and other documents in the city’s public records search, and the City Code on Municode.
  • Purchasing: bids and requests for proposals are posted by the city’s Purchasing Division in the Purchasing category.

Polk County courts and property

  • Tax deed sales: the Clerk holds them online through polk.realtaxdeed.com on the third Thursday of each month at 9:30 a.m. (the third Wednesday if Thursday is a holiday). Bidders must register online and deposit funds before the sale. Details are on the clerk’s tax deeds page.
  • Tax certificates: unpaid property taxes lead to a tax certificate sale run by the Tax Collector, advertised in a local newspaper for three weeks beforehand. See Polk County property taxes.
  • Deed fraud alerts: the Clerk offers a free Property Fraud Alert service. The Property Appraiser recommends that owners sign up, warning that deed fraud is rising across Florida.

Polk County schools and elections

What this means for you

  • Rezoning near you? Watch the Planning & Zoning Board agendas and the city’s legal notices.
  • Own property? Sign up for the Clerk’s free fraud alert.
  • Search FloridaPublicNotices.com for your street name to catch notices that affect you.

Related: building permits and zoning and who to call at City Hall.

Frequently asked questions

Where are public notices published in Polk County?

Most legally required notices run in a newspaper of general circulation and are collected on FloridaPublicNotices.com, searchable by county. Florida law also lets local governments publish on a county-designated website.

Where does the City of Lakeland post legal notices?

The city posts legal notices, such as proposed ordinances and purchasing meetings, in the Legal Notices category of its news page. The City Clerk is at 863-834-6210.

When are Polk County tax deed sales?

The Polk County Clerk holds tax deed sales online on the third Thursday of each month at 9:30 a.m. Bidders must register in advance.

Is this page an official legal notice?

No. This page is an index of where notices are published. A notice has legal effect only where the law requires it to be published.