I have a waiver from a customer that is ambiguous to me. Can you tell me if this is conditional or un-? "THE UNDERSIGNED, Lienor/Claimant, as an inducement to payment in the amount of XXX, by CONTRACTOR, the value, receipt and sufficiency of which being hereby acknowledged, does hereby on its own behalf and on behalf of its heirs, assigns and successors, as of the Effective Date hereof, freely, knowingly, intentionally and without any undue influence whatsoever, waive, relinquish, release and forever discharge Contractor and any of its sureties under any applicable surety bond, and does hereby waive, release and forever discharge the following described real property, to-wit: [property info] "("the property"), from any claim, demand, lien, claim of lien, right of lien, and causes of action at law or equity of any kind whatsoever of Lienor/Claimant, specifically including, but not limited to, the rights contemplated by Chapters 255 and 713, Florida Statutes, arising out of or by reason of Lienor/Claimant having, directly or indirectly, furnished labor, materials, and/or supplies incorporated or to be incorporated into the property. Lienor/Claimant further represents that all laborers, materialmen, suppliers, sub-contractors, and sub-contractors supplying labor, materials and/or supplies to or through Lienor/Claimant from the beginning of the project through and including the Effective Date hereof, have been paid in full. "Lienor/Claimant by virtue of its signature hereby designates the scope of this Release to be as follows: FINAL RELEASE THROUGH EFFECTIVE DATE: This release is full, final and complete for all labor, materials and/or supplies furnished through and including the 25th day of MONTH, 2022 ("Effective Date"), whether or not their reasonable value is represented by any amount paid heretofore and paid hereunder. "The undersigned further represents that all materials and/or supplies furnished are new and of good quality, and free from defects and are in accordance with any applicable plans and specifications and all state, local, county and federal rules, regulations, codes and ordinances and all work has been performed in a workmanlike manner. "The undersigned expressly acknowledges, having read and understood all provisions and effects of this release, and further expressly acknowledges authorization and authority to execute this instrument on behalf of Lienor/Claimant." The only phrase that sounds potentially conditional to me is "as an inducement to payment" in the beginning. The phrases that concern me are "does hereby waive, release and forever discharge the following described real property, to-wit: [property info] "("the property"), from any claim, demand, lien, claim of lien, right of lien, and causes of action at law or equity of any kind whatsoever of Lienor/Claimant, specifically including, but not limited to-" and "This release is full, final and complete for all labor, materials and/or supplies furnished through and including-."
The statutory forms for the waiver and release of lien upon either a progress payment or final payment are found in section 713.20, Florida Statutes. The same statute provides that you may not be required to sign a form other than the statutory form unless, according to our appellate courts, you signed a contract providing for a lien waiver in a different form. What you have described is not the statutory form.
We did sign a purchase order incorporating those forms. Would you consider the form described to be conditional? They are requesting it prior to releasing a deposit payment, and it's not clear to me whether it's safe to execute. The company is well established, but they're sneaky sometimes. If it's iffy, I can send a standard conditional waiver, then execute their template upon receipt of payment.
I recommend that you never tender a lien waiver before payment. A hand-to-hand exchange should be done to obtain payment.