Affidavits of Payment, File Lien or Bond Claim–What do I do?

Recently, we wrote a post about Georgia Affidavits of Nonpayment which are documents with which every subcontractor and supplier working on Georgia construction projects should be familiar. In summary, if you sign a lien waiver but you don’t receive payment, then within 60 days of the date of the lien waiver, you must file an Affidavit of Nonpayment in the real estate records of the county where the real estate project is located.  These deadlines must be met, and failure to do so may result in complete inability to collect your money from your contractor or customer, file a materialmen’s lien, or make a claim against a payment bond.  This is so important, and we have received so many telephone questions, that I invite you to review our full post for more information.

Several people have for asked the “next” step.

If you are paid for your services, then you may not have to do anything else.  According to the Georgia Code, those affected by the Affidavit of Nonpayment which you file (such as your customer, the general contractor, the property owner, etc.) may request that you file an Affidavit of Payment in order to “cancel” the Affidavit of Nonpayment you had received.  If you are requested to prepare one, you must do so.  On the other hand, your Affidavit of Nonpayment will eventually expire of its own accord typically upon the earlier of (i) your execution of a subsequent interim lien waiver or final lien waiver or (ii) 90 days after you stop your performance on the job.

If you do not receive payment very shortly after filing your Affidavit of Nonpayment, then you are (likely) on a very short time schedule in which to file your mechanics or materialmen’s lien or make your payment bond claim.  Your deadline to file a construction lien or file a claim against a payment bond ends 90 days from the date you were last on the jobsite–the calculation of this period has nothing to do with the deadlines required for Affidavits of Payments.  Click here to read more about Georgia’s lien laws.

PRACTICAL TIP: Calendar your deadlines:
1.  If you execute any lien waiver, then make sure you promptly receive payment; if you do not receive payment within 45 days, consider contacting a Georgia construction lawyer;
2.  All mechanics and materialmen’s lien in Georgia must be filed within 90 days of the last day in which you were on the project.  This period is not extended even if you file an Affidavit of Nonpayment so contact a Georgia construction lawyer around 60 days following your last day on the job; and
3.  Most payment bond claims must be filed within 90 days of the last day in which you worked on the project.  This period is not extended even in you file an Affidavit of Nonpayment; so, make sure you contact a Georgia construction lawyer around 60 days following your last day on the job.