Hi Is a preliminary notice any use if there was no contract written up and nothing signed ? My concrete supplier/installer is trying to charge me 8yards extra over the amount that actually went into the foundations , and he won’t come over to the site and measure up what actually went in ! Now he has sent me a preliminary notice, but we never had a contract written up neither so has he got a leg to stand on ? Thanks Mickey
If the preliminary notice was sent within 20 days of providing the work, assuming it was properly prepared, it is valid to protect the subs lien rights whether or not there was a written contract.
A preliminary notice only secures lien rights for work performed up to 20 days prior to sending the preliminary notice, and ay anypoint there after. A preliminary notice also has to be served on the owner and construction lender (if any) in order to be valid. Here it would be important to know if the concrete vendor served the notice within 20 days after performing the work, and whether it was serve on the owner and lender, in order to determine if the vendor had lien rights.
As to the contract issue: Verbal contracts are binding, and even when the subcontactor does not preserve its lien rights, it can still bring a claim for breach of contract against the contractor for up to four years after the breach. Here, the issues seems to be that the subcontactor mistakenly believes it delivered more material than was paid for. I would recommend retaining a qualified construction attorney to write a letter to the vendor explaining the facts and warning that ay further attempts to collect will be met with appropriate legal action.