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We would like to file a lien on a customer for non payment

FloridaLien Deadlines

We are a business and are in direct contract with a homeowner we ordered windows and other materials and began the job. The customer was overseeing installation and stopped work stating it wasn't be done exactly how she wanted but it was up to building code which she does not have correct knowledge of. She stated she did not want the work complete by our company but has not replied in our attempts to collect the renaming money owed per contract. The owner is looking to file a lien but I think we may be out of the time frames for the Mechanics lien is there anything else we could do? There is a Notice of Commencement on file.

3 replies

Apr 3, 2020
I'm inferring you were a materials vendor to the window installer. If so, to lien the property, you would need to have filed a notice to owner within 45 days of starting work (or other trigger events as stated here): https://www.levelset.com/blog/floridas-notice-to-owner-nto-requirement/#When_Do_I_Send_an_NTO_in_Florida. If you were able to do that timely, a lien would have to be filed within 90 days of your last performance of work.
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Apr 3, 2020
In this instance, your time to record a lien is ninety days from the last date you worked on site doing anything for the completion of this project. If that time has expired, you would still have rights under your contract. I would of course need to review the contract to advise further. If yuu would like me to do so, feel free to email me at Ian@mkpalaw.com. Send me the contract and your contact information and I would be glad to provide you my two cents.
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Apr 7, 2020
Determining if you are within the deadline to record a lien is not always black and white. Also, what you can do depends heavily on the language of the contract you entered into with the owner. Even if you do not have lien rights, you may still be able to sue under the terms of the contract.
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