Florida Construction Lien Law

The Florida Contractors Manual's lien chapter is a reprint of Chapter 713, Part I. The exam tests the calendar: 45 days (notice to owner), 90 days (claim of lien; notice of nonpayment), 1 year (lien life; notice of commencement), 60 days (notice of contest), 15 days (serve the claim of lien), 5 days (final affidavit before suit), and the dollar thresholds $2,500 and $5,000. It also tests who is a lienor, what a proper payment is, and the crime of misapplying construction funds.

1. Who can lien, and for what (713.01, 713.02, 713.05, 713.06)

• Lienors are the contractor (contracts with the owner), subcontractor, sub-subcontractor, laborer, materialman (supplies materials to the site and installs nothing), and professional lienors (architects, engineers, surveyors — 713.03). No one else has a lien.
• Privity = a direct contract with the owner. A direct contract is any contract between the owner and another person. The contract price is what was agreed, adjusted by extras and change orders; penalties or liquidated damages between owner and contractor do not reduce it as to other lienors.
• Final furnishing = the lienor's last date of furnishing labor, services or materials — never measured by a certificate of occupancy or completion, and not extended by correcting deficiencies. Every lien clock runs from this date.
• $2,500 or less: an improvement whose direct contract price is $2,500 or less is exempt from the whole part except 713.05 (persons in privity keep their lien).
• Unlicensed contractors have no lien (713.02(7); 489.532).
• Persons in privity (713.05) — the contractor, and materialmen or laborers contracting directly with the owner — need no notice to owner; they get a lien when they record a claim of lien. A contractor in privity must give the final payment affidavit.
• Persons not in privity (713.06) — subs, sub-subs and their suppliers — get a lien only if they serve a Notice to Owner and record a claim of lien. All liens under one direct contract together **cannot exceed t