notice to owner questions

[Soundguy]

Got a question on filing notice to owner.

We pretty much send them out on all our jobs that are mor ethan a couple K$.

Got an issue with a landowner right now.. we did some work on their land under contract. after contract was completed, they had us go back and do more incremental work , paying / billing by the hour, sending in weekly bills.

they abruptly cut us off one day after we had about 11k$ of invoices in ( 2 weeks ). sent them notice to owner ( they live in another city in the same state.. but they have some property up here that we were working on.

anyway.. they let the NTo set at the PO till it was returned.

I've never been down this road where someone refused NTO service.

what's next? I'm unsure of how to procede with a lien without proof of filing nTO?

 

[aczlan]

Was it sent registered mail? IIRC, sending it to them registered mail to the last known address is proof enough, they can refuse to accept it, but as long as you sent it to them, that is proof enough. I would ask the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, their contact info and some info on liens is at: http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/pro/cilb/documents/florida_lien_law.pdf

Aaron Z

 

[aczlan]

Found some more info (assuming that this is a FL lien), Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine references the following section re: the serving of notices:

(3)(a) Service of an instrument pursuant to this section is effective on the date of mailing the instrument if it:
1. Is sent to the last address shown in the notice of commencement or any amendment thereto or, in the absence of a notice of commencement, to the last address shown in the building permit application, or to the last known address of the person to be served; and
2. Is returned as being "refused," "moved, not forwardable," or "unclaimed," or is otherwise not delivered or deliverable through no fault of the person serving the item.
(b) If the address shown in the notice of commencement or any amendment to the notice of commencement, or, in the absence of a notice of commencement, in the building permit application, is incomplete for purposes of mailing or delivery, the person serving the item may complete the address and properly format it according to United States Postal Service addressing standards using information obtained from the property appraiser or another public record without affecting the validity of service under this section.
(4) A notice served by a lienor on one owner or one partner of a partnership owning the real property is deemed notice to all owners and partners.

Aaron Z

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. it was sent certified, return reciept request.

and yes.. it was returned 'unclaimed'

so it looks like that counts as service.

thanks

 

[sam5570]

Soundguy what worries me about this is you completed a contract correct, did you draw up another contract for the additional work if not from my exprience you messed up. man i hope you didn't do that

 

[Soundguy]

i'm not the estimator, so I don't know how the rest of the work was contracted. I just got stuck starting the NOT / lien investigative process.

 

[sam5570]

i'm not the estimator, so I don't know how the rest of the work was contracted. I just got stuck starting the NOT / lien investigative process.

best of luck to you. don't know florida laws but i sure no virginia law's on trying to collect money for services rendred without contract. i hope it don't turn into a he said she said pi**** contest. i hope there is just a simple solution.

 

[Soundguy]

we'll see.

knowing hte owner.. I have a sneaking suspision that once the primary contract was done.. and they started the by the wour work.. somthing may not have hit paper. and if so.. the only proof we have about that hourly work are some of the previous invoices that are post primary contract.

at least we will have that as some basis for post primary contract work.

I love getting stuff like this dumped in my lap. this usually happens when something goes funky.. I get drug in to sweep up. would have rather been with it from t he start.. etc..

 

[paulharvey]

Soundguy, several queations
1: did you ever meet your client, because my understanding in florida is that the Notice of Intent to File a Lein is only required where the contractor is unknown (ie a sub or subsub) to the owner.
2. And dont take this the wrong way, but you were legal right, not performing as a unlicenses contractor (that nulifies your mechanics lien rights)
3. Verbal contracts are legally binding, hard to prove but they are legal. And work beyond your scope of work would be evidence of an agreement.

4. If you over inflat or falseify yiur claims that is a complete defense against you (you did $2500, but billed for $3500 you loose your.right to collect any)

Its been several years since ive messed with this, but you should be in the right

 

[sam5570]

well that sucks because you got to start from the begining because you were not part of the negotiateing process. paul harvy has some encouraging new's. might not be as bad as i thought in virginia if it's not on paper forget it. it will be a lot of leg work on your part but hope for the best.