No. Texas Easy Lien system is currently designed to prepare lien and bond documents for commercial and Texas government public projects.
Related questions and answers
The cost to have Texas Easy Lien notarize and file your document with the county is $73.00 (this cost is in addition to your original document preparation cost). This amount covers the filing fees charged by the counties, as well as notary charges.
A “Commercial (Public Works)” and/or “Public works project” is any project where the ultimate owner of the construction project is a governmental agency such as the federal, state or city government. Common examples of public projects are construction projects that include: • Sewers • Road & bridge construction • Government buildings • Schools • Universities • Government property • Public parks • Utility work (if publicly owned) • Bus stations
“Residential Construction Project” is very narrowly defined. It is a project for the construction or repair or remodel of a residence that includes an agreement with an owner. The term ‘owner’ refers to a person or persons who are actually going to own and occupy the property. Due to the narrow definition of Residential Construction Project, most projects qualify as commercial or private construction projects rather than residential projects. Generally the following projects do qualify as residential construction projects:
- Custom home projects (only if the home is already owned by the person who will occupy it),
- Remodeling projects (only if the owner actually resides in that property),
- Additions to an existing home (only if the owner actually lives in that property),
- Pre-purchased homes (a home that at the time of construction, was owned by the person who will live in it).
Sometimes, contractors are not aware that when they have a direct contract with the project owner, they are not required to send notices of intent to lien (or pre-lien notices). Original contractors have a constitutional right to file a lien directly without giving any notice to anyone. They do however, must file the lien no later than the 15th day of the 4th month after ANY the following events happened during the execution of the contract: a) Written Termination b) Abandonment of Project c) Settlement or; d) Completion of the Contract Unlike mechanic’s liens filed by subcontractors where they must file a lien per each month that goes unpaid, general contractors only need to file one lien claiming for one grand total owed. And must also send a copy of the recorded lien affidavit to the owner within 5 calendar days following the date the lien affidavit was recorded with the county clerk. Below is a chart with the deadline to file a lien for each month of the year. IMPORTANT, IF THE 15th OF THE MONTH FALLS ON A WEEKEND OR A HOLIDAY, THE LAST DAY TO FILE A LIEN WILL ALWAYS MOVE TO THE EARLIEST BUSINESS DAY.
ORIGINAL (GENERAL) CONTRACTOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIEN CHART OF TIME DEADLINES | ||
---|---|---|
Month of: a) Written Termination b) Abandonment of Project c) Settlement or: d) Completion of the Contract | PRIVATE COMMERCIAL PROJECTS | |
Notice To Owner | File Lien Affidavit By: | |
January | None | May 15th |
February | None | June 15th |
March | None | July 15th |
April | None | August 15th |
May | None | September 15th |
June | None | October 15th |
July | None | November 15th |
August | None | December 15th |
September | None | January 15th |
October | None | February 15th |
November | None | March 15th |
December | None | April 15th |
To prepare a lien affidavit, you will need the general information of the project and your contract. Below is a list of most of the information that is most needed to file a lien. • Project Information: Owner, name of project, common address (or legal property description), county where the project is located. • For Subcontractors: Name (or company name) and mailing address of the General (Prime) Contractor. • For Sub-subcontractors: It is not required but preferred to have the name and mailing address of all Subcontractors involved in the contract chain. • Work: Invoice dates, description of the unpaid work performed and the amount owed per each individual month.