Hello, I'm a general contractor in southern California for just about 14 years, I have never had any issues with clients until last month when a client decided to no longer work with me and my group of sub contractors. This was not a result of any work that was completed or any work approved by city inspectors or anything related to quality of workmanship, they simply didn't like our communication timing or time it took to provided change orders (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic subcontractors are busy and it takes some times to get bids and quotes). We have requested a notice in writing to cancel or withdrawal as required by our written contract and as of today (12.6.21) we have mailed via Certified US mail a notice of intent to lien. My question is do we need to prove the certified notice was received before being able to file a lien or attend a medication or arbitration prior to filing a lien? The thought is that they may never put anything in writing or think they can ignore the terms of the contract, the agreement outlines a fee of 25% the total contract if the agreement is broken or canceled. We have worked hard on the projects and the same goes for our subcontractors and expect to be paid for the almost six months we have spent on their property. Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated be fore we retain an attorney, thank you.
Because you had a direct contract with the owner, you do not need to give notice before recording a lien. And there is no statutory requriement that you mediate the dispute before recording the lien. In fact, even if you agreed to arbitration in your contract, you still need to record the lien to preserve your rights. Once the lien is recorded, you must file suit to foreclose within 90 days. If the owner seeks to compel arbitration, you can stay the state court litigation pending arbitration. I suggest you contact a local construction attorney to discuss preparing and recording the lien as soon as possible.