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Intent to lien

Can I send a notice of intent to lien via email? If not how do I get the owners address? The job was a different property than their primary residence. Or can I send it to the address where the work was performed. I contracted through a general contractor not the owner.

1 reply

Jul 29, 2020

The Wisconsin Notice of Intent to Lien can only be served under the methods provided by Wis. Stat. §779.01(2)(e). These include personal delivery, delivery by registered or certified mail, service in a manner described for service of summons in s. 801.14, to any other means of delivery in which the recipient makes written confirmation of delivery. The statement, "any other means of delivery in which the recipient makes written confirmation of delivery" may point to the allowance of emails as a valid form of service of notice. However, there isn't much case law regarding if emails is an acceptable method (although a US District Court case allowed them under a Federal Miller Act bond claim). So, although a good argument could be made under the language of the statute, it may be a better idea to serve the notice in the more conventional way; i.e. mailing by registered or certified mail. If you don't know the address of the property owner (the project address won't suffice), there's a few places you could look. First, you could send a request for the owner's information from your hiring party. Also, if you have the owner's email you could ask them for the address as well. If that doesn't prove effective you could always run a search at the county assessor's or mortgage office with the property address. Lastly, your timing is impeccable! Levelset is currently providing free project reports from our Scout Research Team. Just fill out the job address and customer information for a free Scout Job Report. For more information see: How to Find the Property Owner on a Construction Project

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