Georgia Materialmen’s Lien
If you have provided labor, materials, equipment or other services on a construction project AND you have not received payment, then you may be entitled to file a lien under Georgia’s current lien laws. Determining who may file a lien and when a lien may be filed can be tricky, but filing the correct document and properly providing statutory notice can be even trickier!
The Sad Reality About Filing A Lien Yourself: Until you’ve dealt with Georgia’s lien statutes, many people think that “filing a lien is easy”. They think all that they need to do is fill-out a “lien form” and file it with the court. Unfortunately, that’s not true! There is no short-cut or no “one-size-fits-all” type of lien.
Because Georgia’s lien laws are strictly construed against the lien claimant, even one small mistake can invalidate a claim of lien; consequently, we highly recommend that you engage the services of a qualified Georgia construction attorney. In addition, because liens are clouds upon the title of the real estate against which they are filed, a lien claimant may be responsible for damages to the owner caused by an improper lien. Nonetheless, we believe that it is important that every construction professional has an understanding of the basic lien statutes. Thus, this article is intended to give you as thorough an understanding of Georgia’s mechanics and materialmen’s lien process as possible and will help you better understand your lien rights. Then, you’ll be more informed as to your legal rights and potential pitfalls as you seek an attorney to assist you.
WHO HAS A RIGHT TO FILE A CLAIM OF LIEN?
Not just anyone can file a lien for a past due invoice. Materialmen’s liens greatly improve a subcontractor’s or supplier’s odds of recovery, however, only certain parties providing certain services are entitled to file a lien for nonpayment. Generally speaking, prime contractors, specialty trade subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and material suppliers who have provided services, labor or materials which have “improved” real estate are entitled to file a claim of lien. In addition, Georgia’s statutes allow architects, registered surveyors, engineers, and manufacturers of machines the right to file liens if they are not paid for their services. Others may also be allowed to file a lien in Georgia, and for more information on the specifics of O.C.G.A. Section 44-14-361, please click here > >
WERE YOU REQUIRED TO SEND A PRELIMINARY NOTICE?
Assuming that you are statutorily authorized to file a lien, you may (or may not!) have had a condition precedent in order to preserve your right to file a lien. If your contract is directly with the project owner, there is no requirement that a preliminary notice is required; if your contract is with the prime contractor, then a preliminary notice is not required. If your contract is with a subcontractor, then you are required to send a Notice to Owner/Notice to General Contractor within the first thirty (30) days that you begin working. These notices should be sent every time you contract with a subcontractor or supplier as they will PRESERVE your right to file a materialmen’s lien if necessary. Failure to timely send the preliminary notices may prevent you from having any lien rights (there are always exceptions, however, so please check with your attorney if you were unable to or failed to send a proper notice). For more information on Georgia’s statutory construction notice scheme, please click here > >
WHAT IS THE DEADLINE TO FILE A LIEN IN GEORGIA?
Even in you are entitled to file a Georgia construction lien, you must meet the deadline for filing a lien. Generally speaking, all liens in Georgia must be filed within 90 days of the last day in which work was actually performed on the jobsite (which is likely not the same day as the invoice date so don’t look at the invoice date in calculating the deadline!) If the potential lien claimant signed a Georgia statutory lien waiver form, then the time period in which a valid lien may be filed may be reduced to either (i) 90 days from the last day worked or (ii) 60 days from the date of the lien waiver–whichever is less!! Please remember that whoever prepares your Georgia lien will need some lead-time to perform the necessary research and prepare all of the proper documents and get it timely filed.
PREPARE YOUR GEORGIA MATERIALMEN’S LIEN:
Many lien claimants attempt to file their own liens as the online forms look “easy”; however, as you frequently find, you “get what you pay for”. The simple parts of the lien include proper identification of the lien claimant which may not be as obvious as you think (e.g., all liens should use a full, legal name such as “ABC SUBCONTRACTING, LLC”) and a description of the services or materials which were supplied. The more difficult aspects of the lien include proper identification of the owner of the real estate (Georgia’s county tax records frequently contain information only on former land owners!) and the legal description of the property to be liened. Generally, listing only a street address on a Georgia lien is not advisable. In fact, in most situations we recommend a limited title search to locate the correct property owner’s name, the metes-and-bounds legal description to the property, and to locate the vesting deed.
Also, Georgia’s lien laws require certain phrases on the lien; if these requirements are not met, then the lien will not be valid even if you do everything else right.
FILING LIENS IN GEORGIA:
We have 159 counties in our state, and your lien must be filed (before the deadline discussed above) in the county where the property to be liened is located. Liens are filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county of the project’s location, and there will be a lien recording fee (which is fairly nominal–between $5 and $10 for the first page of the lien). In addition to filing the claim of lien, we typically suggest cross-referencing the lien to the real estate owner’s vesting document to help increase the odds that the lien will be “found” by those performing title searches.
SERVE NOTICE OF THE LIEN ON THE REAL PROPERTY OWNER:
Georgia’s lien laws require that the owner(s) of the liened real estate be given notice of the filing of the lien within 2 business days of the filing of the lien. We strongly recommend that notice of the filing of the materialmen’s lien be sent via certified mail (that way, you have proof of sending and proof of delivery).
ENFORCE YOUR MECHANIC’S LIEN:
Pursuant to Georgia law, your lien is valid for one year from the date of filing. This “year” gives many lien claimants the opportunity to settle or negotiate payment of their claims with limited attorney time or costs. If payment is not received within the year, however, then you must file a lawsuit against the person or entity with whom your contracted AND a Notice of Filing of Action must be filed within 30 days of the date your lawsuit is filed (and notice given to the owner of the liened property). If you prevail in your lawsuit, then your lien remains enforceable beyond the anniversary of the filing of the lien (this is frequently referred to as “perfecting your lien”). For more information on enforcing a Georgia lien, please click here > >
FORECLOSURE OF A GEORGIA MATERIALMEN’S LIEN:
After you prevail in a lawsuit against the entity which contracted with you for services, labor or material, then you can take the steps necessary to foreclose upon the lien. This gets very complicated, but unless you contract directly with the owner of the real estate, you will likely have to file a second lawsuit to institute foreclosure proceedings. Fortunately, Georgia liens are almost always resolved prior to institution of foreclosure proceedings, but if you find yourself with a valid lien without payment, then you have the option to foreclose the lien and force the sell of the real estate to pay your debt.
Georgia’s mechanics and materialmen’s liens laws are a very useful tool for enforcing payment for the work, materials or services provided by a contractor or a supplier; however, the rules governing the preparing and filing of liens are extremely tricky (we haven’t even discussed the exceptions in this overview!); if you have any questions regarding Georgia’s construction liens or subcontractor liens, please leave us a comment or contact us before your lien rights evaporate.