A customer is questioning my company's decision to file an Intent to Lien . We first invoiced the customer on 05/2021 and sent the intent to lien on 07/15/21.
The customer's question may stem from the fact that a formal Notice of Intent is not specifically required in Florida. While there are preliminary notice requirements in Florida for parties not hired by the property owner, that notice is a notice to owner and not a specific NOI. Accordingly, there is no time-line by which a notice of intent must be sent, provided that it will likely be ignored if it is sent after the lien deadline itself, which in Florida, is 90 days from last furnishing labor or materials to the project.
A Notice of Intent can be useful in moving payment along even in states in which it is not required by statute, but because of the fact that it's not required people may be less accustomed to seeing that particular type of notice.
It can be best practice to use an NOI or other document that escalates the collection efforts as an opportunity to open lines of communication with the customer.
A Notice of Intent to Lien isn't an actual required step under the Florida's construction lien laws. Rather, we always recommmend sending one as final attempt to resolve the payment dispute before having to resort to filing a claim. That being said, the only date that you'll need to keep in mind at this point is the filing deadline which, in Florida, is anytime during the project, but no later than 90 days after the last date of furnishing labor and/or materials to the project.
Here are some additional resources you may find helpful:
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