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Oklahoma House Bill 1087 (OK-HB-1087 Full Text) becomes law today, November 1st, to explicitly allow mechanics lien claimants to include overhead and profits in their claim amount, and potentially other costs as well. We’ve followed the status of this bill from introduction to enrollment, and you can read those articles here:

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Explanation of the Change

This change in the state’s lien laws affects nothing about how contractors and suppliers must go about protecting their lien rights. The same parties are protected by the laws, and the same notices and filing time periods are in effect.

The only difference is that the new law makes it explicit that contractors may include overhead and profits when calculating their lien claim amount. This particular issue was being debated by Oklahoma courts, and the legislative change restricts the courts from excluding these amounts from a contractor’s claim.

The only difficulty with the law is just how broad it will be interpreted. Under some readings of the law, contractors may be able to include contractual damage amounts, like delay damages and consequential damages, within the lien claim. This is not explicit, and it will be left to the Oklahoma courts to decide.

Measures We’ve Taken To Accommodate The Changes And Maximize Lien Protections

Now that the legislative changes are in effect, we’ve taken measures at Levelset to accommodate them to maximize our user’s legal protections.

Further, we’ve updated our online resources to note the changes. The statutory text is updated on our Oklahoma Mechanics Lien Statute page, and we’ve also updated the answer to our Oklahoma lien law FAQs: Can I include attorney’s fees, collection costs, or other amounts in the lien total?