Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>We did an electrical re-wire on a house. The homeowner made payments every few weeks along the way, then stopped making payments about a month before the job was finished. She does not have the funds to pay and is unresponsive. The work ended in May. Can I go ahead and serve the preliminary notice even though I have received partial payment before the job was finished. (The amount remaining is just under half of the total bill.)
We did an electrical re-wire on a house. The homeowner made payments every few weeks along the way, then stopped making payments about a month before the job was finished. She does not have the funds to pay and is unresponsive. The work ended in May. Can I go ahead and serve the preliminary notice even though I have received partial payment before the job was finished. (The amount remaining is just under half of the total bill.)
I am the contractor. I hired an electrician to do the work.
1 reply
Jul 12, 2019
Missouri, like most states has a preliminary notice requirement that must be complied with in order for a construction participant to retain lien rights. While the specific notice and deadline is different - all project participants generally have some notice requirement in Missouri.
Failure to provide the notice when required is absolutely fatal to a valid lien claim in Missouri. And it doesn't stop there, while most often the notice is merely forgotten, if the failure to provide this notice was purposeful and with an intent to defraud, it is a class B misdemeanor.
However, in the event that lien rights are no longer available hope for recovery is not lost, however. There are other avenues that can provide ammunition for a lawsuit to recover payment. Breach of contract, failure to pay pursuant to Missouri prompt pay laws, and more, can all be used to seek payment.