We are an equipment rental company. We initiated a lien on a real property where we provided rental equipment. However,currently the amount owed was more than the lien amount. We are currently within the 90 days as of the last day of the delivery of the services. However, the general contractor posted a bond couple weeks ago, which is also less than what was owed. Can we amend our lien to reflect the correct owed amount, even though there is a bond? The Florida statutes FS 713.08 and 713.24 seemed to be contradicting as to amendment of the lien amount. Is there any risk of not able collect any or portion of the amount owed in case of amendment to lien? Thank you for your help!
Additional information would be needed to properly respond to the question - a consulation with an attorney familiar with Chapter 713 is likely necessary to properly answer the question. There are ways to force the increase of the security to which a lien is transfered, but there's more informatio needed to determine the best course of action.
Great question. Tricky. This is an off the cuff answer, and don’t take it as gospel, but if the bond is neither a) in the amount of the lien, nor b) a bond filed with the NOC in the full amount of the GC’s contract, it’s not effective to bond off the lien. I would file and serve the amended lien anyway, AND file a notice to contractor of intent to claim under the bond, AND send the lien and amended lien tot eh bonding company with a demand letter. Try to cover all the bases.