Minnesota Notice of Lien Rights Form for Prime Contractors

In Minnesota, prime contractors must provide notice of lien rights to the property owner within 10 days after reaching a work agreement.

This notice may be included in the construction contract. However, in the absence of a written contract, a GC’s preliminary notice “must be prepared separately and delivered personally or by certified mail to the owner or the owner’s authorized agent within ten days after the work of improvement is agreed upon.”

General contractors may use this Prime Contractor Notice of Lien Rights form to satisfy their preliminary notice requirements in Minnesota. If not included in the contract, this preliminary notice must be sent by certified mail or delivered by hand. However, delivering notices by certified mail is recommended, since its delivery can be documented.

Minnesota requires prime contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers to send a pre-lien or preliminary notice to parties up the payment chain in order to retain the right to file a mechanics lien if they are unpaid.

Information required on a Minnesota Notice of Lien Rights form

The prime contract or preliminary notice must contain the following language:

Any person or company supplying labor or materials for this improvement to your property may file a lien against your property if that person or company is not paid for the contributions.

Under Minnesota law, you have the right to pay persons who supplied labor or materials for this improvement directly and deduct this amount from our contract price, or withhold the amounts due them from us until 120 days after completion of the improvement unless we give you a lien waiver signed by persons who supplied any labor or material for the improvement and who gave you timely notice.

Whether in the contract or in a separate notice, the statements above must be in at least 10-point bold type (if printed) or in capital letters (if typewritten).

If a contractor fails to deliver preliminary notice appropriately, they will lose their right to file a mechanics lien in Minnesota in the event that they are not paid.

This form meets the statutory requirements set forth in MN Statutes §514.011.

Looking for a different form?

Try the Minnesota Lien Claimant’s Notice Form – for use by subcontractors and suppliers.