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When should I file a mechanic's lien to protect my retention payment?

I'm a subcontractor that was last onsite for my scope of work 4/18/2022. However, the project won't be substantially completed for 3-4 more months after LAHD and CASp inspections take place. This is a public funded project where the GC cannot get funded until these inspections take place and TCO is issued. The GC is not happy as we filed our lien 90 days after we were last on the job( 4/18/22). The GC is stating that we should be filing 90 days after TCO/Substantial completion occurs. What is the correct date to file?

2 replies

Jul 26, 2022

As a subcontractor, you have 30 days from recordation of a Notice of Completion (NOC) to record a lien, or 90 days after completion of the project (not just your scope of work, but the entire work of improvement) if no NOC is recorded. You must file suit within 90 days of recording the lien. Thanks,

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Jul 26, 2022

It is not improper to record a lien after your portion of the work is complete, but you must file suit on the lien within 90 days of recording. or the lien becomes unenforceable, which appears to be what happened here. you may be able to record a new lien if the project is not complete yet, but you should record a release of of the old lien. Did you serve serve a preliminary notice on the owner and contractor??

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