LBExamFour deadlines decide whether a California subcontractor or supplier who has not been paid can reach the property. A late preliminary notice reaches back only 20 days, a lien recorded after the second deadline cannot be enforced, and a recorded lien expires on its own if no action follows within 90 days. The fourth deadline is the owner’s, and it shortens the second. All of them are in the Civil Code’s Works of Improvement title, and the Insurance and Liens section of the Law and Business exam is where they are tested.
Day 20: the preliminary notice
Under Civ. Code s. 8200, before recording a lien, giving a stop payment notice or claiming against a payment bond, a claimant gives preliminary notice to three people: the owner, the direct contractor the claimant’s work flows through, and the construction lender if there is one. Compliance is a necessary prerequisite to a valid lien or stop payment notice. Two exceptions: a laborer gives no preliminary notice at all, and a claimant with a direct contract with the owner gives it only to the construction lender. That second one is why a prime contractor on a job with no lender sends nothing.
The deadline is s. 8204: not later than 20 days after the claimant first furnishes work. A late notice is still allowed, but it reaches back only 20 days. Work performed more than 20 days before a late notice is served is unprotected, and everything from then on is covered. A supplier who first delivers on March 1 and serves notice on April 15 can lien only for what it supplied from March 26.
The notice itself follows s. 8202: a general description of the work, an estimate of the total price, and the boldface “Notice to Property Owner” statement, which tells the owner that even after paying the contractor in full, a lien may still be recorded by the person giving the notice. One notice per claimant per job covers all the claimant’s work (s. 8206), unless the claimant works under contracts with more than one subcontractor, in which case each contract gets its own.
The license law borrows this deadline. Section 8216 makes a licensed subcontractor’s failure to give the notice, on a subcontract worth more than $400, grounds for disciplinary action under the Contractors State License Law.
Completion, and the owner’s 15 days
The lien deadlines run from completion, so completion has to be pinned down. Section 8180 lists four events, any of which counts: actual completion, occupation or use by the owner with labor stopped, a continuous 60-day cessation of labor, or the recording of a notice of cessation after 30 days of continuous cessation. Work subject to acceptance by a public entity is complete on acceptance.
The owner has a move here. Under s. 8182, the owner may record a notice of completion on or within 15 days after completion, signed and verified. Recording it starts the shorter lien clocks below, but only against claimants the owner tells. Section 8190 requires the owner, within 10 days of recording, to give a copy to the direct contractor and to every claimant who gave preliminary notice, and the notice does not shorten the time of anyone left out. One owner excused from sending copies is a person living in the property as a residence of four or fewer units.
Day 90, or day 60 and day 30: recording the lien
Two sections, two kinds of claimant.
Section 8412: a direct contractor records the claim of lien after completing the direct contract and before the earlier of 90 days after completion of the work of improvement, or 60 days after the owner records a notice of completion or cessation.
Section 8414: every other claimant, which means subcontractors and suppliers, records after ceasing to provide work and before the earlier of 90 days after completion, or 30 days after the owner records a notice of completion or cessation.
The 90 is the same for everyone. The notice of completion cuts the direct contractor to 60 and everyone else to 30. That asymmetry is the fact a multiple-choice question is built on.
The claim of lien is a verified written statement (s. 8416) with the amount demanded after credits, the owner’s name, the kind of work, who the claimant worked for, a description of the site, the claimant’s address, a proof of service affidavit, and the boldface “Notice of Mechanics Lien” telling the owner that a foreclosure action must be filed within 90 days of recording. A copy, with that notice, is served on the owner by registered, certified or first-class mail with a certificate of mailing. Skip the service and the lien is unenforceable as a matter of law (subdivision (e)).
Day 90 again: suing on the lien
A recorded lien is not the end. Section 8460 gives the claimant 90 days after recording to commence an action to enforce it. If no action is filed, the claim of lien expires and is unenforceable. The only extension is a recorded agreement to extend credit, and even then the action must be filed within a year of completion. Within 20 days of filing, the claimant records a notice of pendency of the action (s. 8461).
An owner who disputes the lien can clear the title by recording a lien release bond for 125 percent of the claim (s. 8424); the claim then moves from the property to the bond.
The stop payment notice shares the lien deadlines
A stop payment notice reaches the construction funds instead of the land: it tells the owner, or the construction lender holding the funds, to withhold what the claimant is owed. Under s. 8508 it is valid only if the claimant gave preliminary notice to the extent s. 8200 requires, and only if it is given before the time to record a claim of lien has run under ss. 8412 and 8414. The 20-day notice opens both remedies, and the 90, 60 and 30 day windows close both. The notice is signed and verified, states the work and the amount due through its date (s. 8502), and a willfully false one forfeits both the withheld funds and the lien (s. 8504). It can be released with a bond for 125 percent of the amount claimed (s. 8510).
The numbers in one place
| Step | Deadline | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary notice | 20 days after first furnishing work | s. 8204 |
| Owner’s notice of completion | On or within 15 days after completion | s. 8182 |
| Owner sends copies of that notice | 10 days after recording | s. 8190 |
| Direct contractor records lien | 90 days after completion, or 60 after notice of completion | s. 8412 |
| Other claimant records lien | 90 days after completion, or 30 after notice of completion | s. 8414 |
| Action to enforce the lien | 90 days after recording | s. 8460 |
| Notice of pendency | 20 days after filing the action | s. 8461 |
| Stop payment notice | Before the lien recording deadline | s. 8508 |
Sources
- Civil Code, Works of Improvement, Division 4, Part 6, ss. 8180 to 8190, 8200 to 8216, 8412 to 8424, 8460 to 8461 and 8500 to 8510
- Contractors State License Law, Business and Professions Code s. 7159(e)(4), the Mechanics Lien Warning a home improvement contract carries, which states the 20-day rule to the owner