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Requirements for filing a mechanic's lean

We are a subcontractor that completed a project within the last 30 days and may find it necessary to file a lien. We were contracted by a GC for this project and only recently filed the Preliminary Notice after the project was complete. Since we did not contract directly with the owner, could you advise on the following: 1. Are there any specific requirements we must meet to file a mechanic's lien against the property since our contract was not with the owner? 2. Since we contracted with a GC, we, of course, billed the GC and not the owner. Should the client bill show the owner listed if we proceed with a lien? Thank you.

1 reply

Apr 23, 2020

Those in Georgia who contract with a general contractor, or someone other than the property owner, must file their Georgia Mechanics Lien within 90 days from last providing labor or materials to the job. Therefore, since you did work in the last 30 days, you still have time to file your Georgia lien. However, do be mindful of current delays because of the impacts caused by COVID-19. In fact, you may want to consult Levelset's Guide to Filing A Mechanics Lien When Coronavirus Impacts Your Job. To calculate your specific deadline, you can use Levelset's free lien deadline calculation tool here. Regarding some of your specific questions: Did you have any other requirements? The answer is maybe. You can see from the Georgia lien deadline chart and FAQs here that subcontractors - like you - may need to deliver a preliminary notice to qualify for lien rights. This is the only prerequisite for subcontractors. It only applies when a notice of commencement was filed on the job. If no Notice of Commencement was filed, then you are not required to send a preliminary notice. If a notice of commencement was filed, you have to send the preliminary notice within 30 days fro when you first provided materials or labor to the job. Here, it seems like you did send a preliminary notice. That's great. If it was required (i.e. the notice of commencement was filed), then you want to make sure you sent that notice on time. Otherwise, you're good to go. Does the GC need to bill the owner? No. You are entitled to file your lien so long as you did work and are not paid. Whether the bill got to the owner or not doesn't matter. Good luck!

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