I have an updated prelim notice which was originally emailed on 1-6-2020. I am not sure where is was emailed. There is a slight change in the owner address.
1 reply
Mar 3, 2020
Any time a preliminary notice is sent to the wrong address or doesn't make its way to the recipient, that could potentially cause issues. However, slight issues or discrepancies won't always create large problems - especially when the required recipients actually receive notice. However, if the sender is still within their deadline to send notice (20 days of their first furnishing date), then there's little harm in trying to correct notice since a new notice wouldn't curb lien rights.
As for how, exactly, to send a revised notice - keep in mind that sending revised notice might not be a great idea if the required parties actually received the notice that was sent to them, even if there was some minor issue with the address. Sending an updated or revised notice may well reset the date on which the notice is considered effective. So, if avoidable, it's usually a good idea to refrain from sending updated notice. Of course, late notice is better than no notice - a late California preliminary notice will at least result in partial mechanics lien protection, in most instances.
If a new or updated notice must be sent - it might be valuable to simply mail the previously-created notice (envelope and all) to the new address and/or to explain that the notice had been sent beforehand to an outdated or flawed address. That way, at least it's obvious that all attempts to send timely notice were made.
Finally, considering the project's GC must make the owner's contact information available to those attempting to send notice under California Civil Code § 8208, that contractor's failure could result in additional leniency, too.