I am a homeowner who hired a licensed millwork guy (not a GC) to install crown moulding, baseboard and door casing. He did not complete the work in one of my four bedrooms and wants me to pay him. He did not record a prelim notice with the San Diego county recorder before recording a mechanic's lien. Is the mechanics lien invalid because he did not file or record a prelim notice?
If the contractor had a contract with you, and you own the property, then the contractor was not required to send you a preliminary notice. He can put a lien on your property without having sent you a preliminary notice. (Note, it’s not a requirement that a preliminary notice be recorded. That’s optional.) The lien must be recorded within 90 days of substantial completion of the project. If it was recorded later than that, it’s invalid. Make sure you put your complaint in writing to the contractor, saying that he never finished his work, and demanding that he do so. Keep a copy of the letter or email for your records. You can make a complaint against the contractor with the Contractor’s State License Board and can also make a claim for abandonment against his license bond. The bond information and complaint form are both on the CSLB website.
Cathleen M. Curl, Esq.
Law Office of Cathleen M. Curl
700 El Camino Real, Suite 200
Millbrae, CA 94030
T 650-871-5955
F 650-588-7101
There is no requirement that preliminary notice be recorded. A contractor may record preliminary notice if they want the county recorder to send them notice, should a notice of completion be filed, but this is rarely done given the cost to record documents and limited benefit. Any contractor that does not have a direct contract with the owner is required to send preliminary notice to the owner so that the owner is on notice of that contractor's lien rights. In this case, you hired the millwork guy directly, so no preliminary notice is required. If this contractor did not complete the work and is claiming payment for the full contract amount in his lien, the lien is invalid as intentionally overstated. The contractor also may be in violation of licensing law rules if he is trying to collect payment for work that has not yet been performed. And for this type of work he would have needed to use a home improvement contract with a schedule of values. If your contract does not conform the rules for a home improvement contract, the contractor may be in violation of license law rules exposing his license bond. In summary, there are likely many ways you might push back against the contractor, but preliminary notice is not one of them.