September Lien Reminder

To All,

Last month, we talked about how to calculate “When the work was performed.”
This month I want to talk to you about the potential pitfalls of filing mechanic’s liens on your own.  If you can’t say “yes” to all of these questions, then you need to have an attorney, specialized in the field of lien laws, to send out your mechanic’s lien notice letters and liens:

1. Is the property address exactly correct?

2. Do you have the proper legal description?

3. Do you know who the owner is and have their correct entity name?

4. Do you know who you are required to send notices of potential liens to and how you are required to file them?

5. Do you know the specific language that the Texas Property Code requires for your type of job?  Did you know it depends on the following variables:

• Is the project considered Commercial or Residential?
• Is the project a Homestead?

6. Do you know the exact deadlines and understand what your classification is to know where you fall on the deadline charts?

• Are you an original contractor, first, second or third tier claimant?
• Are you supplying “specially fabricated goods?”
• Do  you supply the product or labor at the end of the job thus triggering “special” rules relating to when the project has been “substantially com­plete?”

7. Are you using a form, created by an attorney, that is more than a year old and does not have the more recent updates from the Texas Property Code?

Residential Project

Commercial Project

Kelly M. Davis

Kelly M. Davis & Associates, LLC