ZinDocs is your superior Notice and Lien Company. Many things make ZinDocs different, but I will list a few.

• We are the only company, to our knowledge, founded by a Board-Certified Construction Expert Attorney.
• We are the only company run by trained paralegals.
• We are the only company whose owner has also owned construction companies.
• We have spent over 5 years developing custom and proprietary software to make the client experience easy, fast, and user-friendly. We store all your documents on our servers, allowing you to retrieve them at any time.
• We are the only company that offers a single, flat, low-cost fee for our services. We have no hidden costs, such as postage or handling. We do this so that our clients can include the fees for our services in their contracts and/or help them with budgeting.
• We are extremely and unapologetically Patriotic. We love our Country and love helping the people who are building America get paid.
• The ZinDocs CEO is actively involved in leadership roles within several trade organizations, including TBBA, FHBA, MCBIA, ABC, SUCA, NUCA and others. Our CEO is also actively involved in the legislative process, spending several weeks during legislative sessions to help shape laws that affect the construction industry.
• Our CEO offers several free training seminars on a wide variety of construction law topics. Call 727-483-9844 if you are interested in a training seminar.

ZinDocs is happy to help you get paid. Depending on the project type, you may, either now or in the future, have the right to record a Claim of Lien or make a payment bond claim via a Notice of Non-Payment, or both. Certain construction parties must serve preliminary notices before liens or bond claims can be served. Once you decide which of our services you need, such as a Notice to Owner, Claim of Lien, or something else, our experts will gladly accept and process your order with exemplary skill and speed.

You should send a Notice to Owner as soon as you are awarded the job. You are not required to wait until you begin work. Florida Statutes provides a deadline of 45 days from the date you or your company first furnishes labor, services, or materials for a project. There are special rules for specifically fabricated items which do not need to be delivered to the site for that clock to start ticking. Do not wait until your invoices are aging. Serve Notice to Owner as soon as you are hired so that you will never miss the deadline. If you miss the deadline you are prohibited by law, under most circumstances (but not all), from recording a Claim of Lien.

Don’t worry about it! The expert ZinDocs paralegals will find the right property. In the address field you can write something like unknown or unassigned. In the Legal Description field (under Additional Notice Information) you can provide that if you know it, or you can insert a tax/parcel ID number you typically find on the property appraiser’s website. If you have none of these things, please place the order as best as you can, and we will contact you to work it through.

The answer to this question depends upon a number of factors, such as whether it is the same contract, the same Notice of Commencement, the same project owner, and more. It is better to be safe and serve a new Notice to Owner.

You must serve a separate Notice to Owner for each property if the owners are potentially different. Determining ownership can be tricky, so when in doubt take the caution approach and have ZinDocs serve a Notice to Owner per parcel. A copy of the Notice to Owner will be sent to who ordered you to do the work, the Owner of the property, and any additional parties that ZinDocs determines during its research must receive notice.

Notices to Owner must be served by certain construction parties on projects which are privately owned, meaning they are not owned by federal, state, or local government. Notices to Contractor must be served by certain construction parties on projects which are privately owned and where a payment bond exists, or on projects owned by federal, state, or local government.

Maybe. If a Notice to Owner was required to be served (they are not always required), then failure to timely serve a Notice to Owner prohibits a construction party from recording a Claim of Lien. Certain construction parties are never required to serve a Notice to Owner. For example, a prime contractor who has a direct contract with the property owner, laborers, and professional service providers such as architects, engineers, and surveyors are not required to serve a Notice to Owner. Many do so to stay on the project owner’s payment radar, but it is technically not required. Additionally, if there is common identity between your customer and the project owner you may not have to serve Notice to Owner. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

A Notice to Owner is to secure your rights to payment for the work you performed. A Notice to Owner should generally be completed if you are not in direct contact with the Owner of the property. Ownership determinations can sometimes be tricky, so if in doubt, it may be prudent to just serve a Notice to Owner. If you do not send a Notice to Owner prior to a Lien where one is required by law, you may not have the right to record a Claim of Lien. Recording a Claim of Lien when you do not have the right to do so can render it fraudulent. Certain fraudulent liens can trigger financial penalties or even criminal repercussions. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

A Lien is a legal claim or right to a piece of property. Liens are used to guarantee payment of debt. Generally speaking, a property cannot be sold without paying off a lien. Additionally, if the lien is not timely paid, you may have the right to foreclose on the lien and have the property sold. A lien may provide you with the leverage necessary to collect payment.

According to Florida Statutes, a Lien must be completed by you, the Lienor or your attorney, but a professional service like ZinDocs can take it from there and record and serve it as required by law. While the founder of ZinDocs is a Florida Board-Certified Construction Attorney, and ZinDocs employs trained paralegals, ZinDocs cannot give you guidance concerning a particular lien, as that is considered the unauthorized practice of law. Bar associations and courts have determined that only lawyers can provide advice concerning specific questions such as how to complete a lien for a particular project. Our experts will gladly accept and process your order with exemplary skill and speed. For a claim of lien, that includes recording the claim of lien in the correct jurisdiction and serving it by the legal service deadline via the correct legal method and on the correct legal parties. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

Any labor, services, or materials that you are owed for work performed to improve real property and which were required by your contract, plus unpaid finance charges.

You will generally need to record a Release of Claim of Lien once you have been paid the amount of the Claim of Lien. You may also have to record a Release if it is fraudulent, or under other unusual circumstances. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

A Claim of Lien can be amended any time within the deadline to record the original Claim of Lien, which is ninety days from final furnishing of labor, services, or materials. If this deadline has expired and you simply need to partially reduce the original Claim of Lien you can generally do so by recording and serving a Partial Release of Claim of Lien. If you want to amend your Claim of Lien or file a Partial Release of Claim of Lien, please telephone us at (727-483-9544) or email us at [email protected] and we will manually place your order and collect payment for these services. We will provide you with the necessary forms to complete and return to us so that we may record and serve them as required by law. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

If the property owner is federal, state, or local government, you cannot record a Claim of Lien and must only serve a Notice of Non-Payment on the surety. If the property is privately owned, meaning not by government and the project was bonded, you may have the right to both record a Claim of Lien and serve a Notice of Non-Payment. The law recognizes two types of payment bonds for private projects. One is an unconditional bond, and the other is conditional. A conditional bond protects you only if the project owner has paid the prime contractor for your labor, services, or materials. If the project owner has not, then you may be able to record a Claim of Lien. If the project owner has paid the prime contractor for your labor, services, or materials, then you likely do not have the right to record a Claim of Lien. If the bond is unconditional and it was recorded with the Notice of Commencement, then you do not have the right to record a Claim of Lien and must serve a Notice of Non-Payment instead. If, on the other hand, no bond is recorded with the Notice of Commencement then you can potentially record both a Claim of Lien and serve a Notice of Non-Payment. When in doubt, you may wish to be cautious and do both. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

A Claim of Lien expires and becomes unenforceable on one of two deadlines. A legal action must be commenced in a court of competent jurisdiction to foreclose a Claim of Lien within one year of its recording unless a Notice of Contest of Lien is served upon the lienor, in which case the legal action must be commenced within sixty days of service of the Notice of Contest of Lien. Once a Claim of Lien has expired you cannot record a new one for the same work included in the expired lien. However, if you perform new work on the project, you may be entitled to record a new Claim of Lien for that new work. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

You should never wait too long to record a Claim of Lien because if it is recorded too late, the lien can be deemed fraudulent and invalid. There are serious financial penalties for fraudulent liens, as well as potential criminal penalties. A Claim of Lien can be recorded at any time during the progress of the work but not later than the applicable deadline. Subject to some exceptions, a Claim of Lien must be recorded no later than ninety after your final furnishing of labor, services or materials. Final furnishing is not necessary the date of your last invoice or even your last day at the project. Final furnishing is a legal term of art. There are special rules to determine the final furnishing date that are too nuanced to completely outline here. But for example, punch list work and warranty work are not final furnishing, meaning that your final furnishing was actually some time before you performed punch list or warranty work. If you ever receive a Notice of Termination of Notice of Commencement you may want to record your Claim of Lien within thirty days of the Notice of Termination of Notice of Commencement, so you do not lose your lien priority. These deadlines are for recording only. When ZinDocs handles your Claim of Lien we will make sure it is served thereafter within the time required by law. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

The law specifies that a project owner must make proper payments under the lien law or the owner’s property can be subject to multiple liens. One of the proper payment requirements is that the project owner must receive a waiver and release of lien upon progress payment, or if it is the final payment, a waiver and release upon final payment, in exchange for making payment. Each type, progress and final, can be made expressly conditioned on actual receipt by you of the payment referenced in the waiver. These waivers must be in proper form. If you provide a waiver in the wrong form, you may be unable to obtain payment or you may inadvertently release your future right to record a Claim of Lien if you are not paid. ZinDocs is here to help you get paid! If you need a waiver and release, please telephone us at (727-483-9844) or email us at [email protected] and we will manually place your order and collect payment for these services. We will provide you with the necessary forms to complete so you can provide them directly to your customer. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

The law specifies that a project owner must make proper payments under the lien law or the owner’s property can be subject to multiple liens. In connection with making proper payment, the project owner may have the right to request a Progress Payment Affidavit or Final Payment Affidavit. These affidavits must be in proper form. Where a project owner has the right to request an affidavit, if you provide it in the wrong form or refuse to provide one you may be unable to obtain payment. These affidavits can also affect your lien and bond rights under certain circumstances. ZinDocs is here to help you get paid! If you need a Progress Payment Affidavit or Final Payment Affidavit, please telephone us at (727-483-9844) or email us at [email protected] and we will manually place your order and collect payment for these services. We will provide you with the necessary form(s) to complete so you can provide them directly to your customer. If you still have specific questions or need specific advice concerning a project, you may wish to consult with a Board-Certified Construction Expert attorney.

ZinDocs recommends keeping a copy of the returned envelope for your records. Construction lien, bond, and collection law contains very specific requirements for who must receive notices and at what locations. Our trained paralegals perform extensive public records research to locate and serve the correct parties at the correct locations as required by law. If recipients of these notices do not do their part to comply with law and mailings are returned undeliverable, the mailings are still generally legally effective. While ZinDocs cannot provide legal advice, if you are ever concerned that an envelope went to the wrong location, please do not hesitate to contact us, and ask for verification. We are happy to triple check for you!

There is no difference. Many states refer to them as a Mechanic’s Lien. Florida used that term many years ago, but they are now called a Claim of Lien or construction lien.

The law specifies that a Claim of Lien must be served on the project owner. To keep the cost of our services down, we do not include expensive mailings to parties who are not required by law to receive them. However, we are also happy to accommodate your wishes, so if you would like us to send a copy to others, such as the general contractor, your customers, a lender, or others, please telephone us at (727-483-9544) or email us at [email protected] and we will manually collect an additional fee and prepare and send the additional copies.