Tag Archive for lien

Red Flag! Lien Alert!

The Notice Zone Notice to Owner Service

One of the FREE services we offer our clients is to research a property to see if there are any liens attached BEFORE they go to contract to work on the job. If you are considering beginning to work on a project and want to know if the property is currently liened, call us so we can check the public records to see if there are outstanding liens on the property. We recently had a client from Miami call us to request lien forms for a job where they had not been paid. When we looked up the property address, we found that there are four current liens on the property from contractors and subcontractors, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 each. If they had called us BEFORE they started the project, they may have decided to not get involved in the project at all. They are currently owed just under $27,000 and have to go through the hassle of liening the property themselves.You have the right to know the payment history of the customers that hire you. And don’t forget – if you are working as a subcontractor, send a Notice to Owner within 45 days of your first day on the project to ensure your lien rights.
Call us at (407)399-8997 or write to us at [email protected]

Can You Place a Lien on Public Property?

You can’t lien public property. Period. So what do you do when you are hired to work on an airport, park, school, courthouse or other type of public property? How do you protect your right to be paid for the work you do? Instead of sending a Notice to Owner (NTO), you send a Notice to Contractor. The Notice to Contractor tells the General Contractor on the project that in the event that you are not paid, you will look to the Bond to be paid. (A bond is similar to an insurance policy for a specific project. Florida Statutes Section 255.05(1)(a) states that a contractor on a pubic project must record a payment bond in the public records of the county where the project is located PRIOR to commencing work. This requirement is for state projects of $100,000.00 or more, or county, city or public authority projects of $200,000.00 or more.) The time frame for sending a Notice to Contractor is 45 days from your FIRST day of work, the same as the time limit for sending a Notice to Owner (NTO). Learn more about The Notice Zone’s Notice to Contractor service by clicking here. Have questions? Fee free to call us at (407)399-8997.

What do you do if you send your Notice to Contractor and you don’t get paid on a job? Check our next blog for the answer, or click here to learn about the Notice of Nonpayment process.