Arizona 20 day Preliminary Notice
Don't Miss the Deadline!
If you mail the Arizona 20 Day Preliminary Notice (prelien) form within the time-frame allowed then you can usually lien for 100% of what is owed to you.
Miss the Arizona 20 day Preliminary Notice Deadline and You'll Probably Lose Some if not all of Your lien rights!
Except for a person performing actual labor for wages, every person (claimant) who furnishes labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools for which a mechanic's lien otherwise may be claimed under Arizona Revised Statutes 33-992.01 shall, as a necessary requirement to protect those mechanic's lien rights, serve the owner or reputed owner, the original contractor or reputed contractor, the construction lender, if any, or reputed construction lender, if any, and the person with whom the claimant has contracted for the purchase of those items with a written preliminary twenty day notice no later than 20 days after the claimant has furnished those items.
What this means is, when you serve your Arizona 20 day preliminary notice you're lien rights are protected for up to 20 days back, and every day forward. If you serve the preliminary notice up to no later than 20 days after furnishing your items (it can be before you furnish or it can be on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. through 20th day after you furnish) then you'll most likely have mechanic's lien rights for everything you do on the project. If you serve it later than 20 days after you furnish or start furnishing to the project then you won't be 100% protected.
For example, say you've been working on a job for 30 days straight, March 1 through March 30 and you're just now doing the preliminary notice today March 30. You probably won't have lien rights for the first 10 days on the job (but you'll probably have lien rights for March 11 through March 30 because this time frame falls into the "20 days back").
Or, if you supplied material to the project on March 1 but didn't remember to do the Arizona 20 day Preliminary Notice until March 22, you probably do not have lien rights for that material supplied on the 1st (but if you supply more material to the project, as long as you do the preliminary notice no later than 20 days after supplying that next round of material then you'll probably have lien rights on that material).
Or, if you worked on a project March 5 through March 10 but didn't do the preliminary notice until April 2, then you probably won't have lien rights (but if you go back and do more work on the project and serve the preliminary notice no later than 20 days after this next round of work then you'll probably have lien rights on that work).
I found that the best habit to get into was to serve my preliminary notice the very day we started work on the project. Once it's done you're good to go, unless as you're going along the actual estimated total price for the items you furnish exceeds the amount on your Arizona 20 day preliminary notice by twenty percent or more. If that should happen then a new notice will be required for the additional amount.
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Additional must-know information about Arizona 20-Day Preliminary Notice Forms -
1. Arizona Preliminary 20-Day Lien Notices and conforming to the law
If your Arizona preliminary 20-day lien notice form doesn't have the correct text and/or isn't mailed per Arizona law, you may end up without lien rights
2. Arizona preliminary 20-day lien notices protect your lien rights
If you don't do an Arizona preliminary 20-day lien notice when working on or supplying material/services to a project in Arizona, you may end up without lien rights
3. Arizona 20-day preliminary notices may protect you from being "stiffed" on a construction project
A mechanic's lien may be your last chance to getting paid but if you don't do the Arizona preliminary 20-day lien notice then you'll probably not be able to file a mechanic's lien
4. Arizona Preliminary 20 Day Lien Notices and the Owner's responsibility
If the Owner paid your customer but your customer won't pay you, you'll still file a mechanic's lien on the Owner's property because ultimately it's the Owner's responsibility to make sure you get paid
5. Arizona Preliminary 20 Day Lien Notices, the 20 day mark
An explanation of what the "20 days" in the Arizona preliminary 20 day lien notice means and how it affects you (This is the page you're on right now)
6. Who gets a copy of your Arizona preliminary 20-day lien notice form?
A list of entities who are supposed to receive your preliminary 20-day lien notice and how to go about obtaining that list
Disclaimer: While every attempt has been and will be made to keep the information at this website accurate and up-to-date, we do not represent ourselves as experts. For specific legal questions and/or expert assistance we recommend that you contact an attorney.
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