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Can a tenant be listed as the Owner on Preliminary Notice?

We sent a Preliminary Notice of Right to Lien to the Owner of the property where our project is located. The owner presented a Notice of Non-Responsibility that was recorded in July, 2019. Is it legal to list the tenant as the Owner of the property on a preliminary notice? Or would listing a tenant as the owner make the preliminary notice invalid?

1 reply

Dec 13, 2019

Nevada broadly defines who's considered an "owner" under its mechanics lien statute. NRS § 108.22148(e) defines an owner to include a person "possesses less than a fee simple estate in the property." So, considering a tenant does possess some interest in the property, it would seem that a Nevada notice might be sent to the tenant as an "owner." Preliminary notices have a broad spectrum of uses and benefits beyond simply preserving mechanics lien rights - but it is also worth understanding what a Notice of Nonresponsibility entails, which Levelset discusses here: What is the Nevada Notice of Nonresponsibility? As discussed in that article, if a tenant improvement is undertaken in Nevada and an owner sends a Notice of Nonresponsibility, then that owner will generally not be liable for potential mechanics lien claims arising out of the improvement. Still, as discussed in the following article, preliminary notice should be sent on every job in order to help avoid payment issues: Why You Should Send Preliminary Notice Even If It’s Not Required.

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