What is Preliminary Notice?

Unless you’ve been super lucky as a tradesman or contractor, you’ve most likely dealt with trying to get paid for your work. The realistic fact is that there are project owners that are sluggish to pay – or simply decline to pay

To safeguard contractors and other craftsman, each state provides legal refuge through a mechanic’s lien. For taking advantage of this safeguarding, however, there are steps you are required to follow, no matter where you reside. One generally, and vitally important factor in most states is providing preliminary notice.

What is Preliminary Notice?

Preliminary notices are declarations to the owner and/or general contractor of a construction project to inform them that contractors, sub-contractors, materials providers, or other parties are retaining their right for filing a mechanic’s lien should there be non-payment.

The notice on its own is not a mechanic’s lien. Rather, it is notification that is utilized to retain the right for filing a lien, if the need comes up. In states in which preliminary notice is necessitated, failure to send notice could cost you the right for filing a mechanic’s lien down the road.

Subject to where the project is carried out, a preliminary notice might also be known as a Materialman’s Notice to Owner, a Notice of Furnishing, or merely a Notice to Owner.

Are the Rules the Same in Every State?

Not every state necessitates a preliminary notice, but a lot of them do. 40 states presently require one to be filed to retain your right to file a mechanics lien down the road.

It’s vital to research for your state to comprehend what is necessitated for notice. Whereas a lot of states require notice, many requirements are distinctive in timing and implementation.

The timing of your notice is usually subject to either on when you started working or the final day you offered services to a project. You might be required to file within ten days of starting work, or up to one hundred and twenty days from your final day on the job site. It all is subject to the laws in the state in which the job is located.

For example, in Texas, when sending notice it is subject to your role on the job, and for most craftsmen, a multitude of notices are required to be sent. In California, notice needs to be filed twenty days prior to work beginning.

What if I Don’t File Notice?

When the construction project is located in a state that does not require notice, you are still able to file a lien when you don’t get paid.

But when you’re in one of the 40 states that does necessitate a notice, and you neglected to file, you more than likely have lost the right for filing a mechanic’s lien.

Nevertheless, when you’re just discovering now that you are required to provide preliminary notice and you are still offering services for the job, not all is lost. Late filing may mean you relinquish your rights for some work, but retain your lien rights for any work completed inside of the notice opportunity.