Arizona Preliminary 20-Day Notice Form
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Fill out the fields to download your free Arizona Preliminary 20-day Notice form. The downloadable form can be filled out electronically with a PDF editor or by hand after printing. Sending preliminary notice protects your lien and bond claim rights on construction projects in Arizona.
Sending a 20-Day Notice, also known as an Arizona preliminary notice, is a requirement for construction parties that want to protect their right to file a mechanics lien. Arizona law is strict about the language on the form. This form download was prepared by construction lawyers to meet the requirements set forth in Arizona Revised Statutes 33-992.01.
Sending a completed 20-Day Notice Form
Once completed, you must send this form to the owner, the prime contractor, the lender, and the party who hired the noticing party within 20 days of first furnishing services, labor or materials. Failure to deliver notice forfeits a party’s right to file a mechanics lien in Arizona should there be payment problems at the end of the construction job. A late notice is not completely ineffective, but only preserves the right to lien for services furnished within 20 days of the notice, and thereafter.
Sending a 20-day preliminary notice to everyone up the payment chain is best practice in most states, but in Arizona it is a requirement for protection your rights to file a lien or bond claim. If the need to file a mechanics lien should arise, you must include a copy of the notice and proof of mailing of the 20-day preliminary notice. If you don’t, it could result in an invalid lien.
Worried about how to fill out the form and mail it correctly? Use Levelset’s document builder to create and properly mail 20-day notices on your construction projects.
Rules and regulations for sending a Arizona Preliminary Notice
To preserve lien rights in AZ, a 20-Day Preliminary Notice must be delivered to the owner, prime contractor, construction lender (if any) and the party with whom you contracted within 20 days of beginning work. Any preliminary notices sent tardy will not be invalid, but rather will just be effective to the materials, labor and services provided beginning 20-days from the mailing of the notice and continuing thereon.
After completing the Arizona Preliminary 20-Day Notice Form, you must deliver it to the appropriate parties required by statute. Notices are typically served on the property owner and, for sub-tier parties, the general contractor. However, depending on the type of notice, it can be helpful to send notices to anyone else who is in charge of your payment, like a lender or surety company on the project.
Others are asking about Arizona Preliminary Notice
Does an early termination without cause affect lien deadlines?
Is this a project for the government or a private project? You note that the GC can no longer do projects for the State of Arizona so that brings up this question. This matters.
Your post then brings up secondary questions. You say the GC terminated your other contracts. Do those contracts allow unilateral termination on notice and without cause by the GC? As for future contracts, the same point is at issue. A contract is enforceable on acceptance and cannot be terminated unless the contract allows that right. If all these contracts allowed the GC to terminate, that was an unfortunate contract term to accept. Have your attorney closely review your contracts.
With that out of the way, to your question. If this is a private contract, contractors are required to record their notice and claim for lien within the earlier of 120 days after completion or, if a notice of completion has been recorded and served, within 60 days after such recording. ARS § 33-993(A).
Completion means the earliest of either 30 days after final inspection and written final acceptance by the governmental body issuing the building permit, or cessation of labor for a period of 60 consecutive days, except when such cessation is due to a strike, shortage of materials, or act of God. ARS § 33-993(C). If your contract was terminated, then this is a cessation of labor.
Assuming you timely served preliminary notice, make sure to timely file the lien. If you don't have a construction attorney, reach out to a construction attorney for advice. Our office provides free initial consultations
Robert Murillo
robert@pivotallegal.com.
Amended or New Preliminary Notice
If this is for the same parcel of property and amends the original contract, then you may have to file an amended preliminary notice. If the updated total price exceeds by 30% (I assume the contract was at or after 2020) the estimated total price provided in your preliminary lien, you must serve an additional preliminary notice. If you do not this, that may result in a monetary limit in your recovery if you must foreclose on the lien. You cannot send some "an additional amount" preliminary notice. It must be an amendment that covers the total new amount, if it hits the threshold noted.
There is no way around this. Do not do this or do this incorrectly and you risk a recovery amount below the amount that could be at issue.
Retain an attorney to avoid mistakes. The cost for the attorney to protect your business is a fraction of the cost of mistakes that will be made.
Feel free to reach out with questions.
Robert Murillo
robert@pivotallegal.com.
what do I do?
Thank you for reaching out to our legal community. Your question might be too specific for an attorney to answer in this public forum. You may wish to consider consulting an attorney privately. Here are some attorneys from our directory in your area: https://www.levelset.com/payment-help/experts/construction-lawyer/arizona/
Hope this helps!
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Other forms to use in Arizona
Arizona County Recorders
Looking to file/record a mechanics lien in Arizona? You'll need to get your Arizona mechanics lien filed and recorded with the county recorder in the county where the construction project is located. Here is a listing of all county recorders in Arizona. Click on any county to find more information about how to get your lien recorded in that county.
Apache
75 W Cleveland St
St. Johns, AZ 85936
Phone: (928) 337-7515
Fax: (928) 337-7676
Cochise
1415 Melody Lane, Building B
Brisbee, AZ 85603
Phone: (520) 432-8350
Fax: N/A
Coconino
110 E. Cherry Ave.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Phone: 928-679-7850
Fax: N/A
Graham
921 Thatcher Blvd, 2nd Floor
Safford, AZ 85546
Phone: 928-428-3560
Fax: 928-428-8828
Greenlee
253 Fifth Street
Clifton, AZ 85533
Phone: (928) 865-2632 or (928) 865-1717
Fax: (928) 865-4417
Email: smilheiro@greenlee.az.gov
La Paz
1112 Joshua Avenue, #201
Parker, AZ 85344
Phone: 928-669-6136 or 888-526-8685
Fax: 928-669-5638
Maricopa
111 S. Third Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone: 602-506-3535
Fax: N/A
Mohave
700 W Beale St
Kingman, AZ 86401
Phone: 928-753-0701
Fax: 928-753-0727
Navajo
100 East Code Talkers Drive
Holbrook, AZ 86025
Phone: (928) 524-4191
Fax: N/A
Pima
240 N Stone Ave
Tucson, AZ 85701
Phone: (520) 724-4350
Fax: N/A
Pinal
31 N Pinal Street Building E
Florence, AZ 85132
Phone: 520.866.6830
Fax: 520.866.6831
Santa Cruz
2150 N. Congress Drive
Suite 101
Nogales, AZ 85621
Phone: 520.375.7990
Fax: 520.375.7996
Yavapai
1015 Fair Street, 2nd Floor
Prescott, AZ 86305
Phone: 928-771-3244
Fax: 928-771-3258
Yuma
410 S. Maiden Lane, Suite B
Yuma, AZ 85364
Phone: 928-373-6020
Fax: 928) 373-6024