The contractor is having a fit that I am placing a lien on the project, but I was told that I could not place a pre-lim on a job that started over 20 days ago.
1 reply
Jul 23, 2021
Under Arizona law you must first serve a preliminary 20-day notice before you can record and impose a mechanics lien on a property for labor and materials used in the improvement of the property. If you do not timely serve a preliminary 20-day notice, you do not have lien rights.
A preliminary 20-day notice will extend lien rights for all labor and materials used in the improvement of the property for the period 20 days prior to service of the preliminary notice and all subsequent labor and materials used in the improvement of the property under the contract. So, if you start work on January 1, but don't serve a preliminary notice until March 21, the preliminary notice (and your lien rights) will only cover the labor and materials used in the improvement of the property under the contract beginning March 1 and continuing through completion of the project. Although you will not have lien rights for labor and materials used in the improvement of the property between January 1 and March 1, you will preserve your rights for the time period after March 1.
Where a project is ongoing and you will have continuing work under the contract, it really is never to late to serve a preliminary 20-day notice, even if it doesn't cover all of your previous labor and materials.
You should consult an experienced construction attorney on your rights and the requirements of the law in imposing valid mechanics liens.