Maryland Preliminary Notice FAQs

Yes. You must record your lien within 30 days of recordation of a Notice of Completion, or within 90 days of completion if no Notice of Completion was recorded. When I say "completion" I mean the entire work of improvement, not just your scope of work. If you need help, let me know. Good luck. 

Hello,

You should absolutely, 100%, file a lien in this situation (personal opinion). As a subcontractor, you have a clock you are on to file a lien. If you let that clock expire without filing a lien, your only recourse is to sue the GC for breach of contract and there is a likelihood you will win and he will not have the funds to pay you so you will be SOL.

If you file a lien then sue to enforce it, there's a lot more juice behind your lawsuit. The GC will get two earsful by the homeowner and they will insist that you are paid so the lien on their house will be cleared. It's even possible the homeowner will pay you then withold the $10K from the GC's pay. That's sometimes how it works. Your situation may turn out differently.

If you would like help with this, let me know.

E. Aaron Cartwright III
214.789.1354
Aaron@EACLawyer.com

That's a great question, and one we get very frequently in the expert center. If contractors or suppliers aren't paid on a construction project in Maryland, they can file a mechanics lien to secure payment. Mechanics liens give the claimant an interest in the improved property, which empowers construction participants to recover the money they've rightfully earned. Levelset has provided a step-by-step guide to filing a Maryland Mechanics Lien . 

In Maryland, an individual lien claimant is likely able to represent him/herself, but Maryland has prohibitions related to a non-lawyer representing another party in court. Therefore, it is unlikely that an LLC or corporation can "represent itself" through an employee or officer rather than through a hired Maryland attorney.