Project Awareness Letter Form

Unless a sub contracts with the owner, the sub needs to serve a 20-day prelim. As an aside, even if the sub contracts with the owner, it still needs to serve the lender, if any, with a prelim. 

As for his claim, even though he named you, and not the owner, he can likely correct that.

As for the timing of things, as a subcontractor, he has 30 days from recordation of a Notice of Completion (NOC) or cessation to record a lien, or 90 days after completion of the project (not just his scope of work, but the entire work of improvement) if no NOC or cessation is recorded. He must file suit within 90 days of recording the lien.    

Good luck.

Thanks, 

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.