Contractors will find this article which summarizes the requirements and deadlines for mechanic’s liens very useful.
There are three basic requirements to preserve, maintain, and enforce mechanic’s lien rights for California projects. Following is an outline of those three requirements.
Requirement Number 1: Preserving your lien rights by serving a California 20-day preliminary notice
The California 20-Day Preliminary Notice form (aka “preliminary notice”) preserves a lien claimant’s (the person or entity who claims the mechanic’s lien) lien rights on a construction project when the notice is timely served by the lien claimant.
The notice MUST be served by the lien claimant (unless the lien claimant was hired directly by the property owner, in which case the contract between the claimant and the property owner serves as the notice) or the lien claimant will not have any lien rights.
The notice should be served no later than 20 days after the lien claimant first provides any benefit to the property, because the notice preserves lien rights for no more than 20 days prior to the date the notice is served through the completion of the contract.
If this deadline is not met, the preliminary notice should still be served as soon as possible thereafter, as the preliminary notice will still preserve lien rights for all benefits provided starting with the day that fell 20 days prior to the date of service of the preliminary notice. Read More→