Notice of Commencement in Florida

A notice of commencement is a document provided for under the Florida Construction Lien Statute. A notice of commencement is a standard form document that must contain specific provisions as set forth by Florida law. The form is executed by the owner of a piece of real estate before a construction project at the site commences and is recorded in the public records. A property owner in Miami or Miami Beach contemplating construction on his or her property needs to understand the fundamentals of a notice of commencement.

Contents of a Notice of Commencement Miami or Miami Beach

Pursuant to Florida law, a notice of commencement must contain specifically delineated information. The information that must be contained in the notice of commencement includes the legal name of the property owner (who is also the individual who must sign the document). If the property has more than one owner, the signature of one legally suffices. However, in order to ensure that there is no question about full compliance with the law, a wise course is to have all owners sign the notice. All legal owners of the property must be named within the notice of commencement.

The law requires that the notice of commencement contains contact information for the owner or owners. Again, if there are multiple owners, contact information for all must be included within the document. If the owner or owners are represented by a Miami business lawyer, the contact can be the lawyer.

The notice of commencement must contain the legal description of the real estate on which the construction project is planned. It is crucial that the legal description be correct because of the relationship of the notice of commencement to construction liens.

Finally, the notice of commencement must contain the name of the general contractor for the construction project planned at the site and a brief description of the work to be done. As is the case with the owner of the real estate, complete contract information for the contractor must be set forth in the document. As an aside, if the contact information for the owner or contractor changes during the course of a construction project, it needs to be updated on the notice of commencement.

Entities Put on Notice Via a Notice of Commencement Miami Beach or Miami

The primary entities or individuals that are put on notice via this legal document are the various subcontractors involved in a specific construction project. The reality is that in some cases, a construction project can end up having a considerable number of subcontractors responsible for different aspects of the construction endeavor.

Filing and Posting a Notice of Commencement

Once the notice of commencement is completed and duly executed, the document is filed with the register or recorder of deeds in the county where the construction project is going to take place. In addition, a copy of the notice of commencement must be posted at the job site itself.

The failure to properly file the notice of commencement and post it at the job site is considered a violation of the law. As is discussed below, the failure to fully comply with the law pertaining to a notice of commencement can result in consequences that can be quite serious.

The notice of commencement is posted at the job site to permit subcontractors the ability to access information about the owners of the property as well as the general contractor for the project. They need this information to ensure that they have all necessary information to obtain payment for their work on the project.

Construction must commence within 90 days of the recording of the notice of commencement.

Building Permit

The notice of commencement must be properly completed and filed before the contractor is able to obtain a building permit. A contractor needs to present a completed, executed notice of commencement at the time application for a building permit is submitted.

Failure to Prepare and File a Notice of Commencement

The failure to properly prepare, file and post the notice of commencement can subject the owner to serious financial consequences. For example, if the owner has paid money for the project to the contractor (as is the normal course of business) and the contractor abandons the project, taking the money along with him, the owner will have to make payment again directly to the subcontractors. When an owner has complied with the law governing a notice of commencement, he or she will not be required to make a second round of payments to the subcontractors in most cases.

If you have any questions regarding the above information, please feel free to contact the law offices of Marlyn J. Wiener, P.A., experienced Boca Raton and Miami real estate attorney today.