Create Your Notice of Intent to Lien
Unpaid for construction work? Send the warning before the filing. A dated Notice of Intent tells the owner exactly what's owed and when a lien will be recorded — the step that gets most invoices paid without ever touching the county recorder.
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What's Included in This Notice of Intent
A Notice of Intent to Lien is the last cheap step before a recorded lien. It states what you furnished, what remains unpaid, and the date by which payment must arrive before a lien is recorded against the property. In most disputes it never has to go further than this — and in a handful of states, skipping it costs you your lien rights entirely.
A Dated Pay-By Demand
The operative sentence: pay $X by a specific date, or a Claim of Mechanics Lien will be recorded against the property. Naming the amount and the date is what makes the letter work — an open-ended complaint is easy to file away, a dated deadline is not.
The Facts That Support a Lien
Claimant, owner, hiring party, what you furnished, first and last furnishing dates, and the unpaid balance after all just credits and offsets. These are the same facts the recordable claim needs — so if the notice doesn't get paid, nothing has to be gathered twice.
Your Lien Deadline, Computed
Enter your last day of furnishing and the form computes your recording deadline under your state's rule — Florida's 90 days (§713.08(5)), Texas's month-grid (Prop. Code §53.052), New York's 4/8-month split (Lien Law §10), Ohio's 60/75 days (R.C. §1311.06) — so the demand date lands with the filing window still open.
How to Send It
A notice that can't be proven was delivered is worth little. The document ends with delivery guidance — certified or registered mail with return receipt, who must be copied, and what to keep — because the states that require a notice also expect you to be able to show it was sent.
Never Let the Warning Eat Your Filing Window
The notice period runs inside your recording deadline, not alongside it. Give a 10-day demand three days before your window closes and you have simply run out of time. The form computes your recording deadline from your dates first, then times the demand behind it.
This Is Not a Preliminary Notice
Different document, different clock. Preliminary notices go out near the start of the work — California's 20-day notice (Civ. Code §§8200–8216), Florida's Notice to Owner within 45 days (§713.06(2)(a)), Texas's monthly notices (§53.056). The Notice of Intent comes at the end, when payment is already late. The form checks whether your role and state required a preliminary notice too.
Where the Notice Is Required, Not Optional
In most states the Notice of Intent is strategy. In several it is a precondition — file without it and the lien fails.
Wisconsin — at least 30 days
Wis. Stat. §779.06(2) requires written notice of intent to file at least 30 days before the claim is filed. Thirty days is a long lead time against your own deadline, which is exactly why it has to be planned rather than improvised.
Colorado — at least 10 days
C.R.S. §38-22-109(3) requires the notice of intent to be served at least 10 days before recording, and the statement must be filed with proof of service. Miss it and the lien is barred.
And Others
Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming impose their own pre-filing notice requirements, with their own lead times and service rules. The form applies your state's rule rather than a generic template.
Two States Have No Recorded Lien At All
New Hampshire and Vermont use suit and a writ of attachment instead of an ordinary recorded mechanics lien (RSA 447:9; 9 V.S.A. §1924). The form detects this and routes you to the right remedy rather than generating a demand that references a filing you cannot make.
Sending It the Right Way
The notice works because it is specific, honest, and provable. These are the rules that keep it effective — and keep it from being used against you.
Demand Honest Numbers
Contract price plus approved change orders, minus everything you have been paid. Not lost profits, not delay damages, not padding. Exaggeration is punished at the lien stage — New York voids willfully exaggerated liens (Lien Law §§39, 39-a), Florida makes an inflated claim a third-degree felony (§713.31), Texas attaches fraudulent-lien liability (CPRC ch. 12) — and a demand letter that overstates the debt is evidence.
Use Your Real Last-Furnishing Date
Deadlines run from the last real furnishing of labor or materials. Warranty callbacks and punch-list touch-ups routinely fail to restart the clock. Stretching the date to buy room does not create time — it creates an untimely lien.
Keep It Plain and Signed
Unlike the recorded claim — sworn and notarized in Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois and Ohio (§53.054; §713.08(1); Lien Law §9; 770 ILCS 60/7; R.C. §1311.06) — the Notice of Intent is a plain signed letter in every state. No notary, no recording fee, no county clerk.
Know Your Next Step
If the demand date passes unpaid, the follow-through is the recordable Claim of Mechanics Lien, built from these same facts and filed with the county before your computed deadline. A warning nobody expects you to act on stops working the second you don't.
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Notice of Intent to Lien
- Dated pay-by demand the owner can act on
- Your lien deadline computed from your dates
- Required-notice check by state and role
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Did you know?
Did you know?
Most mechanics liens are never recorded — because the Notice of Intent does the job first. A dated letter stating that a lien will attach to the property on a specific date changes the owner's arithmetic completely: a recorded lien clouds title, blocks sales and refinancing, and can end in foreclosure, so paying is almost always the cheaper option. It also costs the claimant nothing but a stamp — no filing fee, no notary, no county recorder. That combination is why the notice resolves so many disputes at the letter stage, and why several states made it mandatory before a lien can be filed at all: Wisconsin's 30 days (§779.06(2)) and Colorado's 10 (§38-22-109(3)) exist to give owners exactly this chance to pay. The one thing the notice cannot do is buy time. It runs inside your recording deadline, so the demand has to be dated with the filing window still open behind it.
Featured — Spotlight
Timed to your state's lien deadline.
A Notice of Intent is only as good as the deadline standing behind it, and no document varies more by state. The recording windows: 90 days from final furnishing in Florida (§713.08(5)) and Georgia (O.C.G.A. §44-14-361.1(a)(2)); the 15th day of the 3rd or 4th month after your last work month in Texas, depending on residential versus commercial (Prop. Code §53.052); 8 months commercial but only 4 for a single-family dwelling in New York (Lien Law §10); 60 residential and 75 commercial days in Ohio (R.C. §1311.06); 90 days in California, shortened to 60 or 30 if a Notice of Completion was recorded (Civ. Code §§8412–8414). The pre-filing requirements: Wisconsin demands the notice at least 30 days ahead (§779.06(2)), Colorado at least 10 with proof of service (§38-22-109(3)), and Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming impose their own. Select your state and the form computes the recording deadline first, then sets a demand date that still leaves you room to file.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the Notice of Intent to Lien
A dated letter to the property owner — and usually the hiring party — stating what you furnished, what remains unpaid after all credits and offsets, and the date by which payment must be received before a Claim of Mechanics Lien is recorded against the property. It is not filed or recorded anywhere and needs no notary. Its entire force comes from what happens next: a recorded lien clouds title, blocks sales and refinancing, and can be foreclosed.
Both, depending on where the property sits. Wisconsin requires written notice at least 30 days before filing (Wis. Stat. §779.06(2)) and Colorado at least 10 days before recording, with proof of service (C.R.S. §38-22-109(3)) — miss it there and the lien is barred. Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming have their own pre-filing notice rules. Everywhere else it is optional, and still worth sending: it is the cheapest and fastest escalation available, and most disputes end at this letter.
Long enough to be credible, short enough that your lien deadline survives it. Ten to fifteen days is typical where no statute sets the period — but in a mandatory-notice state the statutory minimum controls, and it is a floor, not a target. The form computes your recording deadline from your last furnishing date first and then times the demand behind it, so the letter cannot quietly consume the window you need to file in.
No. The Notice of Intent is a plain signed letter in every state — no notary, no recording fee, no county clerk. That is the recordable Claim of Mechanics Lien, which is sworn and notarized in Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois and Ohio (Prop. Code §53.054; §713.08(1); Lien Law §9; 770 ILCS 60/7; R.C. §1311.06), and in California requires a proof-of-service affidavit instead (Civ. Code §8416). What does matter for the notice is provable delivery: send it certified or registered with a return receipt and keep the proof.
You record the claim — that is what makes the notice credible in the first place. The Claim of Mechanics Lien is built from the same project facts and must be recorded with the county where the property sits before your computed deadline, then served on the owner within your state's window (5 business days in Texas, 2 in Georgia, 15 in Florida, 30 in Ohio). After that, every lien has an enforcement period and expires if you do not sue within it. This is a self-help document, not legal advice — for a large or contested claim, consult a construction attorney in the property's state.
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Notice of Intent to Lien