I am having push back on retainage billing. In some cases the retainage payment doesn't come for months. What order do I have to send notices and liens when it applies to retainage?
If you are a subcontractor on a commercial project, typically for retainage liens you must send notice within 30 days of the completion, termination, or abandonment of your contract with the general contractor. Or, within 30 days after the original contract was terminated.
So essentially you get 30 days from the last day you worked on the project to send notice, as long as your contract was not terminated or abandoned.
Once you have sent notice, you have until the 15th day of the 3rd month after you completed work to file your lien affidavit with the county clerk. So, to put it simply, it's the same requirements as the notice, except instead of 30 days, you have 3 months and 15 days to file your lien. Once you file the lien you need to send notice of the filed lien within 5 days of filing, to both the general contractor and the property owner.
Hopefully this answered your question. If not, I would recommend contacting an attorney as the deadlines are very strict. If you'd like, give us a call at Murphy Legal. We handle construction litigation across the state of Texas. Our phone number is (979) 690-0800. Good luck!
Thank you for the information. This does answer my question.
I will file your information and reach out if we have need for legal assistance.
James Young