Our company's corporate office is located in Las Vegas but we have an office in AZ. If we were to file a lien in AZ and needed to provide the license number, would we provide the branch or state number?
1 reply
Sep 19, 2017
In Arizona, "a person who is required to be licensed as a contractor but who does not hold a valid license as such contractor issued pursuant to title 32, chapter 10 shall not have the lien rights provided for in this section." Accordingly, an Arizona license is required of the party doing the work for which the license is required in order to claim a valid lien.
Note, however, that the licensing requirement is a requirement of "a person who is required to be licensed as a contractor" - material suppliers and equipment lessors are not required to be licensed as a contractor, and accordingly, the license requirement does not apply.
Further, while providing the license number on the lien can cut off one potential avenue for the other interested parties to claim the lien is unenforceable, providing the license number on the lien claim itself is not strictly necessary. According to Arizona statute: "The notice and claim of lien shall be made under oath by the claimant or someone with knowledge of the facts and shall contain:
1. The legal description of the lands and improvements to be charged with a lien.
2. The name of the owner or reputed owner of the property concerned, if known, and the name of the person by whom the lienor was employed or to whom he furnished materials.
3. A statement of the terms, time given and conditions of the contract, if it is oral, or a copy of the contract, if it is written.
4. A statement of the lienor’s demand, after deducting just credits and offsets.
5. A statement of the date of completion of the building, structure or improvement, or any alteration or repair of such building, structure or improvement.
6. A statement of the date the preliminary twenty day notice required by § 33-992.01 was given. A copy of such preliminary twenty day notice and the proof of mailing required by § 33-992.02 shall be attached.
So, to the extent you wish to provide the licensing information on the claim of lien, the Arizona license (if required) is the license at issue. But, if you don't want to include it on the lien claim, or if you do work that does not require you to be licensed as a contractor, the license number is not mandatory on the claim itself.