13.2 Notices to Owner, Time Limits & Perfecting Liens

13.2 Notices to Owner, Time Limits & Perfecting Liens

Section 13.1 identified the claimant. This section is the clock. Business & Finance items on Chapter 713 almost always turn on a date: when the Notice of Commencement (NOC) must be recorded, when a non-privity HVAC sub must serve a Notice to Owner, when a claim of lien must hit the clerk's office, and how fast a copy must reach the owner. The Contractors Manual 2025 and F.S. 713.06, 713.08, and 713.13 are the open-book sources. Memorize the numbers; use the book to confirm the surrounding sentences.

Notice of Commencement — F.S. 713.13

Except for an improvement exempt under F.S. 713.02(5) (direct contract price $2,500 or less), an owner or the owner's authorized agent, before actually commencing to improve any real property, or recommencing after default or abandonment, shall record a notice of commencement in the clerk's office and post either a certified copy or a notarized statement that the notice has been filed for recording along with a copy. The duty exists whether or not the project has a payment bond complying with F.S. 713.23. The authority issuing a building permit must accept a recorded NOC in the statutory form, and a recorded, posted NOC is what the building official wants to see before the first inspection.

The NOC must contain a description sufficient for identification (legal description plus street address and tax folio if available), a general description of the improvement, the owner's name and address and interest (a lessee who contracted must be listed as owner with a leasehold statement), the contractor, the surety on any 713.23 payment bond and the amount of the bond, any construction lender, and a person within the state designated for service. F.S. 713.13(1)(g) is the exam trap: the owner must sign the notice of commencement and no one else may be permitted to sign in his or her stead. The general contractor, the HVAC sub, and the lender's closer do not sign as the owner.

A copy of any payment bond must be attached at the time the NOC is recorded. Failure to attach the bond negates the owner exemption in F.S. 713.02(6). If a 713.23 bond exists but was not attached, the bond may still be used to transfer a recorded lien of a lienor except the contractor by recording and serving a notice of bond. The giving of an NOC is effective upon filing in the clerk's office. Recording it does not constitute a lien, cloud, or encumbrance; it gives constructive notice that claims of lien may be recorded and may take priority as provided in F.S. 713.07.

If the improvement described is not actually commenced within 90 days after recording, the notice is void and of no further effect (713.13(2)). Unless otherwise provided in the notice or a new or amended notice, an NOC is not effectual against a conveyance, transfer, mortgage, or lien, or against creditors or subsequent purchasers for value, after 1 year after the date of recording (713.13(6)). If the owner-contractor contract states a completion period greater than 1 year, the NOC must state that it is effective for 1 year plus that additional period. Any payments made by the owner after the expiration of the notice of commencement are considered improper payments. To change contractors, a new notice of commencement or notice of recommencement must be executed and recorded; an amendment can extend the effective period or fix erroneous information, but it cannot swap contractors.

A lender must, before disbursing any construction funds to the contractor, record the NOC; the lender is not required to post it — posting remains the owner's obligation (713.13(7)). Failure of the lender to record renders the lender liable to the owner for damages the owner sustains. Whenever a lender is required to record, the lender shall designate the lender, in addition to others, to receive copies of notices to owner.

Notice to Owner — 45 days, strict time

F.S. 713.06(2)(a) is the sentence the exam quotes. All lienors under 713.06, except laborers, as a prerequisite to perfecting a lien and recording a claim of lien, must serve a notice on the owner setting forth the lienor's name and address, a description sufficient for identification of the real property, and the nature of the services or materials furnished or to be furnished. A sub-subcontractor or a materialman to a subcontractor must serve a copy of the notice on the contractor. A materialman to a sub-subcontractor must serve a copy on the contractor and shall serve the NTO on the subcontractor if the materialman knows the name and address of the subcontractor.

The notice must be served before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing, to furnish labor, services, or materials, but, in any event, before the date of the owner's disbursement of the final payment after the contractor has furnished the affidavit under 713.06(3)(d)1. The notice must be served regardless of the method of payments by the owner, whether proper or improper. It does not give the serving lienor priority over other lienors in the same category. Failure to serve the notice, or to timely serve it, is a complete defense to enforcement of a lien by any person. The serving of the notice does not dispense with recording the claim of lien.

F.S. 713.06(2)(f) splits the standard of compliance: if a lienor has substantially complied with the content of 713.06(2)(a)–(c), errors or omissions do not prevent enforcement against a person not adversely affected — but a lienor must strictly comply with the time requirements of paragraph (a). A 46th-day NTO is not “close enough.” Direct contractors in privity do not serve NTO (713.05). Laborers are excepted. If the owner designated an additional person in the NOC to receive a copy, the lienor shall serve that copy; failure to serve that extra copy does not invalidate an otherwise valid lien (713.06(2)(b)). In the absence of a recorded NOC, a lienor may rely on the information in the building permit application to serve the notice (713.06(2)(e)).

Worked example: an HVAC sub delivers the first copper and a 5-ton condenser to a Cape Coral house on March 1. Day 45 is April 15. Serving the owner on April 16 is a complete defense. The same sub who is in privity because the homeowner signed the HVAC contract directly never owed an NTO. A laborer who only ran the vacuum pump never owed an NTO. A supply house that first furnished on March 1 has its own 45-day clock, and if it sold to the HVAC sub it must also copy the contractor.

Claim of lien — 90 days from final furnishing, 15 days to serve

For the purpose of perfecting the lien, every lienor, including laborers and persons in privity, shall record a claim of lien (F.S. 713.08(1)). The claim states the lienor's name and address for service, the person with whom the lienor contracted, the labor, services, or materials and the contract price or value (with specially fabricated but not incorporated materials separately stated), a description of the real property sufficient for identification, the owner's name, the time of the first and last item furnished, the amount unpaid including unpaid finance charges, and, if not in privity, the date and method of service of the NTO (and of copies on the contractor or subcontractor if required).

The claim of lien may be recorded at any time during the progress of the work or thereafter but not later than 90 days after the final furnishing of the labor or services or materials by the lienor (713.08(5)). If the original contract is terminated under 713.07(4), a claim for a lien attaching before termination may not be recorded after 90 days following the date of termination or 90 days after final furnishing, whichever occurs first. Record in the clerk's office; if the property sits in two or more counties, record in each. Recording is constructive notice. Insolvency, bankruptcy, or death of the owner before recording does not destroy the right to record.

Final furnishing is 713.01(12) again: last date the lienor furnished; not certificate of occupancy; not punch-list correction of previously performed work. A warranty callback to recharge a unit you already started does not give you a new 90 days. A genuine later furnishing of new materials or labor that is not a deficiency correction can be a new last date — the exam will tell you which it is.

F.S. 713.08(4)(c): the claim of lien shall be served on the owner. Failure to serve it in the manner provided in F.S. 713.18 before recording or within 15 days after recording shall render the claim of lien voidable to the extent that the failure or delay is shown to have been prejudicial to any person entitled to rely on the service. That is a prejudice standard, not an automatic death sentence — unlike the NTO's complete defense. Negligent inclusion or omission of information that has not prejudiced the owner does not defeat an otherwise valid lien (713.08(3)). The claim may be amended during the period allowed for recording, provided the amendment does not cause detriment to a person who relied in good faith on the original.

Table of Chapter 713 deadlines (private work)

Florida HVAC scenario

A Class B HVAC sub starts furnishing a 4-ton changeout on a private Tampa house on June 2. There is a recorded NOC naming the owner and the general contractor. The sub must serve the NTO by July 17 (day 45). Last copper and the final start-up that is not a deficiency correction occur on August 10. The claim of lien must be recorded by November 8 (90 days after final furnishing), and a copy must be served on the owner before recording or within 15 days after. Punch-list refrigerant top-off on September 1 does not move August 10. If the owner recorded the NOC on March 1 and nobody started work until June 15, that March NOC is void under 713.13(2) because more than 90 days passed with no actual commencement — a new NOC is required. If the same 4-ton unit were on a city hall, skip the claim of lien entirely and use the 255.05 clocks in section 13.3.