Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>I am in the state of TN and need to possibly file a lien. Would I start with the $49.00 notice? Should the notice be sent to the property owner as well?

I am in the state of TN and need to possibly file a lien. Would I start with the $49.00 notice? Should the notice be sent to the property owner as well?

We were hired as a Sub-Sub Contractor to do all the final cleaning for a New Hospital built in Kingsport Tn. The Contractor went though a company called Core Construction Cleaning LLC out of Las Vegas. This Las Vegas Company found us and then hired us to provide the cleaning. There has been no payment and no communication since the work was complete. They will not answer emails or telephone calls. Would I start with the $49.00 notice? Should the notice be sent to the Contractor, Sub Contractor and the Owner of the Hospital at the property owner as well? If the notice should be sent to the Hospital Owner, is it absolutely necessary to include the legal description of the property in the notice? If so, how do I obtain that information?

1 reply

Dec 10, 2018

The lien process can be confusing for many reasons - including knowing which documents to send, when to send them, and to whom they should be sent.

Tennessee, is one of only a few states in which multiple "preliminary" notices may need to be sent. In Tennessee, a preliminary notice (a recurring notice, or monthly notice) must be received by the property owner within 90 days of the last day of each month in which labor and/or materials were furnished by the potential lien claimant. In addition to the property owner, a "preliminary" notice in Tennessee must be provided to the general (direct) contractor.

In addition to the required notices, subcontractors of any tier must meet specific deadlines of filing the lien claim itself. These deadlines are as follows:

Commercial (Notice of Completion Recorded and Served): Lien and response to Notice of Completion required within 30 days of date on which Notice of Completion filed.

Commercial (Notice of Completion NOT simultaneously recorded and served): Lien and response (if applicable) required within 90 days of actual completion of project.

Note, however, that this information is specifically related to commercial projects. In the event that a project is a public work of improvement, (for example if a hospital project was part of a state university system, or similar), different rules may apply.

Generally, Tennessee does not specifically require preliminary notice to be given on public / state projects, however, obtaining a copy of the bond is generally advisable to make sure that there are no notice requirements set forth by the bond itself on that specific project. This is especially true if the contracting public entity is a city, county, or other public entity that is not the state. The claim against the bond s required to be made after the claimant’s last furnishing of labor and/or materials to the project, but within 90 days after the completion of the project as a whole.

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