California mechanics lien guide and deadlines

Who holds a lien right in California

Civil Code § 8400 gives a lien right to any person that provides work authorized for a work of improvement, and names six: direct contractor, subcontractor, material supplier, equipment lessor, laborer and design professional. Under § 8404 work is authorized if the owner asked for or agreed to it, or if a direct contractor, subcontractor, architect, project manager or anyone else in charge of the work provided or authorized it. The test is who sent you to the job, not whether you hold a contract with the owner. A third-tier electrical sub has the same lien right as the general.

The who can file guide covers the general rules across states. In California the role you hold changes two things: who gets your preliminary notice, and which recording section sets your deadline.

The 20-day preliminary notice

Before you record a lien, give a stop payment notice or claim against a payment bond, § 8200 requires a preliminary notice to the owner, the direct contractor and the construction lender. Compliance is a necessary prerequisite to validity, and § 8410 adds that you may enforce a lien only if you gave the notice and can make proof of it. Keep the certified mail receipts with the job file.

The notice is due 20 days after you first furnish work (§ 8204). Late is not fatal: a late notice still protects work done in the 20 days before you served it and everything after. Everything before that window is gone. Under § 8202 the notice must describe the work, estimate its total price and carry the statutory “Notice to Property Owner” in bold. The preliminary notice generator drafts one in a couple of minutes, so send it the day you mobilize.

Two California details most guides skip. A licensed sub whose contract pays more than $400 and that fails to give the notice hands the license board grounds for discipline (§ 8216). And the notice puts you on the owner's list: it is the reason the owner has to send you a copy of a notice of completion, which the next section explains.

Completion, and the notice that shortens everything

Your recording deadline runs from completion of the whole work of improvement, not from your last day on site. Section 8180 says completion happens on the first of these:

The owner can then record a notice of completion, on or within 15 days after completion, signed and verified (§ 8182), or a notice of cessation once labor has stopped for at least 30 days (§ 8188). Either one shortens your window. On a job with several direct contracts, § 8186 lets the owner record a notice for one contract only, and a sub under that contract is treated as having stopped work on that date. The building can still be going up when your clock starts.

Recording deadlines

California sets two clocks and you take whichever runs out first. Neither starts on your last invoice or your last day on site.

The window has a front edge as well as a back one. A sub that records while still on the job has recorded too early. Put your own dates into the mechanics lien deadline calculator, then check the county recorder for a notice of completion before you trust the 90-day figure.

A worked timeline

An electrical subcontractor on a tenant improvement in Los Angeles County, hired by the general, with a $148,000.00 subcontract. At closeout it is owed $26,400.00: the July pay application of $19,000.00 and $7,400.00 of retention. Here is every date, counted from the statute.

The notice of completion cost the sub 55 days. Had the owner not mailed it the copy owed under § 8190, the notice would not have shortened the sub's time and November 5 would have governed again. Do not plan on that. Proving a copy never arrived is a fight, and recording on September 4 costs nothing.

The general on the same job had 60 days from the notice, which lands on Sunday, October 11. Never let a deadline you are relying on fall on a weekend. Record the Friday before.

What the claim must say, and who gets a copy

Section 8416(a) lists what a California claim of mechanics lien contains. It is a written statement, signed and verified by the claimant, with these eight items:

Verified does not mean notarized. Under § 8416(b) the recorder must accept a claim in proper form without an acknowledgment. The notarization guide covers where a notary actually is required. The mechanics lien form builder lays out every field above, including the verification.

Get the amount right. The lien is for the lesser of the reasonable value of your work or the agreed price (§ 8430). An honest mistake in the figure does not void the claim, but § 8422 voids it for intent to defraud and forfeits it outright if you willfully include work you did not furnish to that property. Leave disputed extras out unless you can prove them.

Suit within 90 days, and releasing an expired lien

A recorded claim lasts 90 days. If you have not filed an action to enforce it by then, § 8460(a) says it expires and is unenforceable. The only extension is a recorded agreement with the owner to extend credit: then suit is due 90 days after the credit runs out, and never later than one year after completion. Diarise the suit date the day you record, and send the file to counsel a month ahead.

An owner, general or sub that disputes your lien can also take the property out from under it. Recording a lien release bond of 125 percent of the claim releases the property, and your claim moves to the bond. You then have six months after notice of the bond to sue on it (§ 8424).

A lien you let expire is not harmless. Under § 8482 the owner can demand in writing that you release it, wait 10 days, then petition the court for a release order (§ 8480). The hearing is set within 30 days of filing, and the prevailing party gets reasonable attorney's fees (§§ 8486, 8488). If you were paid, or the 90 days passed, record a release yourself. The lien release form generator drafts it.

The four statutory waiver forms

California prints its lien waivers in the Civil Code. A waiver and release given to get paid is null, void and unenforceable unless it is in substantially the statutory form, and each form waives lien, stop payment notice and payment bond rights together. A custom waiver drafted by the general's lawyer does not count.

A conditional waiver takes effect only on proof of payment: your endorsement on a check the bank has paid, or your written acknowledgment (§ 8124). That is why it is safe to hand over with the pay application. The unconditional forms carry a warning, in type at least as large as the rest of the form, that they bind you even if you have not been paid. Use the conditional lien waiver generator until the money clears, and read conditional vs unconditional if a general is pushing for the other one.

The stop payment notice

A lien attaches to the land. A stop payment notice attaches to the money: it tells the owner or the construction lender to hold back enough of the construction funds to cover your claim. On a private job you can use both at once: the lien for leverage over title, the notice to freeze what has not been paid out yet.

The stop payment notice generator drafts a California notice with the fields above. If you are deciding between this and a bond claim, the lien vs payment bond comparison sets them side by side.

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