California 20 Day Preliminary Notices that are outdatedThe California 20 day Preliminary Notices law changed back in January 2004, when a new requirement was enacted that called for some additional text to be added to the Notice to Property Owner section of the form. Outdated California 20-Day Preliminary Notice forms can cost you your lien rights!Here's a copy and paste from California Civil Code 3097 (the new text is in red italic but it's just regular text on the actual form :)NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER: If bills are not paid in full for the labor, services, equipment, or materials furnished or to be furnished, a mechanic's lien leading to the loss, through court foreclosure proceedings, of all or part of your property being so improved may be placed against the property even though you have paid your contractor in full. You may wish to protect yourself against this consequence by (1) requiring your contractor to furnish a signed release by the person or firm giving you this notice before making payment to your contractor, or (2) any other method or device that is appropriate under the circumstances. Other than residential homeowners of dwellings containing fewer than five units, private project owners must notify the original contractor and any lien claimant who has provided the owner with a preliminary 20-day lien notice in accordance with Section 3097 of the Civil Code that a notice of completion or notice of cessation has been recorded within 10 days of its recordation. Notice shall be by registered mail, certified mail, or first-class mail, evidenced by a certificate of mailing. Failure to notify will extend the deadlines to record a lien. Is the preliminary notice form that you're using up-to-date?
Next article in this series: California 20 day Preliminary notices protect your lien rights Learn how preliminary notices protect your lien rights California Preliminary Notices can protect against being "stiffed" Read on, you'll be shocked at how easy it is to get "stiffed" when you don't protect your right to lien... 20 Day Preliminary Notices and mechanics liens Important: Even if the Owner has paid YOUR customer in full, if you haven't been paid you STILL file your lien. Here's why... California 20 Day Preliminary Notices, the 20 day mark What the 20 days means... Getting the California 20 day Preliminary Notice info from your customer Don't be nervous about getting the prelim info from your customer Additional Articles: Certified Preliminary Notice mailings that are refused California civil code protects you against refused certified mailings of 20-day preliminary notices Photo-Copied Signatures on California 20-Day Preliminary Notice Forms The preliminary notice form itself can be a photocopy but the signature must be original or "wet" Amending Preliminary Notices You've issued your preliminary notice and now your customer is increasing the amount of work he wants done. Should you amend your preliminary notice by sending another one? Preliminary Notices and Non-Responsibility Forms The Owner filed a Notice of Non-Responsibility. Should the contractor/supplier still send the Owner a preliminary notice? Dollar Amounts on Preliminary Notice Forms Do you need to include a dollar amount on preliminary notices or can you send it without a dollar amount?
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