Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>Can a filed preliminary notice be released?The title company search on a client's project shows the bank as second in line due to our notice filed and so the bank won't release funds for the project.
Can a filed preliminary notice be released?The title company search on a client's project shows the bank as second in line due to our notice filed and so the bank won't release funds for the project.
The only thing filed is a Notice of Furnishing Professional Services.
1 reply
Sep 18, 2019
Generally, preliminary notices don't stake a claim in property and therefore need not be released. A Washington Notice of Furnishing Professional Services is a little different from normal prelims, though. That document, as I'm sure you know, gets filed in the property record and actually secures a high lien priority for those who perform professional services on Washington projects.
Ultimately, anything that can be filed in the public record can generally be released. So, recording a document that requests the release of the earlier-filed Notice of Furnishing Professional Services should be enough to have the notice removed from the property record. Note, though, that the Washington mechanics lien statute doesn't provide any guidance on exactly how to release the notice - so, releasing the notice may require a little bit of trial and error.