I have a property management company that did not compensate us(the general contractor) for our services, but at the time we did not know about 20-day notices. We are well past the deadline, but i was wondering if I can send a notice of intent to lien to possible urge them to pay their balance after we have requested for payment to no avail or to maybe get someone to get them to due their do diligence with out any real backlash legally on our end. We work in Arizona.
You can try, but unless they are clueless and won't do basic research or ask any attorney, you can expect this to fail. If you file the lien you risk multiple claims.
Make sure to follow the lien process to the letter and pay for the assistance of an attorney as needed. The cost of an attorney is a small fraction of the mistakes that are often made, like this. I hope it works out.