Florida construction lien law notice, the paragraph your contract has to carry
Florida wrote this warning to the homeowner itself and then made it part of your contract. Section 713.015(1) says any direct contract greater than $2,500 for a dwelling of up to four units must contain it, printed in no less than 12-point, capitalized, boldfaced type, on the front page of the contract or on a separate page signed by the owner and dated. This is that separate page. One paragraph, 192 words, not one blank in it.
Subsection (1) is not advice about what a good contract contains. It says the contract must contain the following notice provision, and then prints the provision out in full. Over $2,500, owner to contractor, dwellings up to and including four units: those are the only conditions, and when they are met the paragraph is not optional and neither is the way it is set.
Read the law: Fla. Stat. 713.015leg.state.fl.us, 713.015 at FindLawcodes.findlaw.com, 713.06leg.state.fl.us and 713.13leg.state.fl.us
Download a blank Florida construction lien law notice
Word for word from Fla. Stat. 713.015, subsection (1), set at the 12-point capitalized boldfaced type it prescribes. There is nothing to fill in. The two rules at the foot are the owner's signature and the date, and they belong to this sheet rather than to the statute, which requires both and prints a line for neither.
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The notice, word for word
Nothing here gets filled in. Section 713.015(1) prints the paragraph complete and requires it in no less than 12-point, capitalized, boldfaced type. The two rules under it belong to the sheet rather than to the statute, so the copy button leaves them out.
CopiedACCORDING TO FLORIDA'S CONSTRUCTION LIEN LAW (SECTIONS 713.001-713.37, FLORIDA STATUTES), THOSE WHO WORK ON YOUR PROPERTY OR PROVIDE MATERIALS AND SERVICES AND ARE NOT PAID IN FULL HAVE A RIGHT TO ENFORCE THEIR CLAIM FOR PAYMENT AGAINST YOUR PROPERTY. THIS CLAIM IS KNOWN AS A CONSTRUCTION LIEN. IF YOUR CONTRACTOR OR A SUBCONTRACTOR FAILS TO PAY SUBCONTRACTORS, SUB-SUBCONTRACTORS, OR MATERIAL SUPPLIERS, THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE OWED MONEY MAY LOOK TO YOUR PROPERTY FOR PAYMENT, EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID YOUR CONTRACTOR IN FULL. IF YOU FAIL TO PAY YOUR CONTRACTOR, YOUR CONTRACTOR MAY ALSO HAVE A LIEN ON YOUR PROPERTY. THIS MEANS IF A LIEN IS FILED YOUR PROPERTY COULD BE SOLD AGAINST YOUR WILL TO PAY FOR LABOR, MATERIALS, OR OTHER SERVICES THAT YOUR CONTRACTOR OR A SUBCONTRACTOR MAY HAVE FAILED TO PAY. TO PROTECT YOURSELF, YOU SHOULD STIPULATE IN THIS CONTRACT THAT BEFORE ANY PAYMENT IS MADE, YOUR CONTRACTOR IS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A WRITTEN RELEASE OF LIEN FROM ANY PERSON OR COMPANY THAT HAS PROVIDED TO YOU A "NOTICE TO OWNER." FLORIDA'S CONSTRUCTION LIEN LAW IS COMPLEX, AND IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU CONSULT AN ATTORNEY.
Owner signature
Date
Twelve point, capitalized, boldfaced, and the statute means all three
Subsection (1) does not simply tell you to warn the owner. It says the contract must contain the following notice provision printed in no less than 12-point, capitalized, boldfaced type. That is three separate requirements inside one clause, and a contract carrying the right words in ordinary body text has satisfied none of them.
So this sheet is not set the way the rest of the paperwork here is set. The paragraph prints at 12 point, in capitals, in bold, because the statute names a floor and a face rather than a style. Nothing stops you going larger. Going smaller is the one thing the subsection rules out.
Capitalized is the requirement most often lost in the other direction, by retyping the paragraph in sentence case and bolding it to compensate. The legislature printed it in capitals, this sheet reproduces those characters rather than restyling them, and what comes out of the PDF is what the section prints.
On the front page of the contract, or on a page of its own
The same sentence gives the notice two places to live: on the front page of the contract, or on a separate page, signed by the owner and dated. Those are alternatives rather than steps. Put it on the front page and there is nothing else to do. Put it on its own page and the owner signs that page and dates it.
The separate page is the reason this exists as a form at all. Most prescribed wording is only wording, and where a statute names no document there is no document to publish. Here the legislature names one and says what has to be on it, so it can be printed as one.
Front page is worth reading literally. The subsection says the front page of the contract, not somewhere inside it, and paragraph (2)(a) adds that if the contract is written, the notice must be in the contract document. The separate page route avoids that argument entirely, which is the practical case for using it even when the contract has room.
Written, oral or implied, the notice still has to reach the owner
Paragraph (2)(a) deals with the jobs that are not a tidy signed document. If the contract is written, the notice must be in the contract document. If the contract is oral or implied, the notice must be provided in a document referencing the contract.
There is no handshake exemption in there. A verbal job over $2,500 on a house still owes the owner this paragraph, in something that refers to the contract. A separate page the owner signs and dates is about the cleanest form that something can take, because the signature and the date tie it to the job in the owner's own hand.
It also answers the change order question the same way. The trigger in subsection (1) is the direct contract and its value, so the question to ask is what the contract between the owner and you is worth, not what any single piece of paper says.
Leaving it out does not automatically kill a lien, and that is no reason to leave it out
Paragraph (2)(b) is narrower than it reads at first. The failure to provide such written notice does not bar the enforcement of a lien against a person who has not been adversely affected. The lien survives against somebody the omission did not hurt. It says nothing at all about somebody it did.
That is the entire protection the paragraph offers, and it is protection you would be arguing for after the fact, in front of somebody else, about whether your own customer was adversely affected by not being warned. The paragraph costs one page and nothing else.
Paragraph (2)(c) then pulls the other way for everybody downstream: this section may not be construed to adversely affect the lien and bond rights of lienors who are not in privity with the owner. Your subcontractors and suppliers lose nothing because you skipped it. The exposure is yours alone.
The two owners section 713.015 does not reach
The last sentence of paragraph (2)(c) writes two owners out of the section completely. It does not apply when the owner is a contractor licensed under chapter 489, or is a person who created parcels or offers parcels for sale or lease in the ordinary course of business.
The first is the licensed contractor building for himself or herself. The second is the developer, and the commercial landlord who deals in parcels as a matter of routine. The reasoning is the same in both cases: the section exists to warn an owner who does not already know how construction liens work, and neither of those two needs the warning.
Everybody else is inside it. A homeowner, a landlord with a duplex, somebody buying a house to live in, all of them get the notice once the direct contract is over $2,500 and the building is four units or fewer.
This is not the notice to owner, and it is not the notice of commencement
Florida has three pieces of paper moving around the start of a residential job and they get mixed up constantly. The notice of commencement is recorded by the owner before work starts, under section 713.13. The notice to owner is served by somebody who is not in privity with the owner, inside the first 45 days, under section 713.06.
This one is different from both. It travels with the contract itself, it runs from the contractor to the owner who is doing the hiring, and nothing about it is recorded or served on anyone. It goes in the contract or beside it, at the point the contract is signed.
The wording even points at one of the others. It tells the owner to stipulate that before any payment is made, the contractor has to provide a written release of lien from any person or company that has provided a notice to owner. The two documents are two halves of the same warning, which is a good reason to know both before the first draw.
Questions people ask
Is there anything to fill in on this form?
No. Section 713.015(1) prints the notice complete, with no blanks in it anywhere. The only marks that belong on the sheet are the owner's signature and the date, and rules for those are drawn at the foot. That is why this page shows the wording and offers a copy button instead of a form builder.
Who signs it?
The owner. Subsection (1) lets the notice go on the front page of the contract or on a separate page, signed by the owner and dated, and the signature belongs to that second route. There is no contractor signature anywhere in the section, so the sheet prints no line for one.
Which contracts have to carry it?
Any direct contract greater than $2,500 between an owner and a contractor, related to improvements to real property consisting of single or multiple family dwellings up to and including four units. That is all of subsection (1), and every part of it has to be true before the requirement bites.
Does the $2,500 figure count labor and materials together?
The statute draws no distinction. It says a direct contract greater than $2,500, and the contract is the contract. If a job sits close to the line, printing the paragraph costs one page and the argument about what the number covers costs a great deal more.
Can the notice just go in the contract instead of on this sheet?
Yes, and subsection (1) names that first: on the front page of the contract. The separate page is the alternative the same sentence allows, signed by the owner and dated. Either one satisfies the section, and only the second needs a signature.
What type size does it have to be?
No less than 12-point, and capitalized, and boldfaced. Subsection (1) prescribes all three together. Twelve is a floor rather than a target, so larger is fine, and this sheet sets the paragraph at 12 point in bold capitals.
What if the job was agreed verbally?
Paragraph (2)(a) covers it. If the contract is oral or implied, the notice must be provided in a document referencing the contract. There is no exemption for handshake work, only a different delivery route for it.
What happens if the notice never gets given?
Paragraph (2)(b) says the failure to provide such written notice does not bar the enforcement of a lien against a person who has not been adversely affected. Read it closely. The lien survives against somebody the omission did not hurt, which leaves you arguing after the fact about whether your customer was hurt by not being warned.
Does skipping it hurt my subcontractors?
No. Paragraph (2)(c) says this section may not be construed to adversely affect the lien and bond rights of lienors who are not in privity with the owner. Their rights do not turn on whether the contractor above them printed this paragraph.
Does it apply when the owner is a licensed contractor?
No. The last sentence of paragraph (2)(c) says the section does not apply when the owner is a contractor licensed under chapter 489. An owner holding the license is taken to know already what the notice would have told them.
Does it apply to a developer?
No, on the same sentence. The section does not apply when the owner is a person who created parcels or offers parcels for sale or lease in the ordinary course of business. That is the developer and the landlord who deals in parcels in the ordinary way of business.
Is a six unit building covered?
No. Subsection (1) reaches single or multiple family dwellings up to and including four units. Five is outside it, and so is anything that is not a dwelling at all.
Is this the same thing as a notice to owner?
No. A notice to owner is served under section 713.06 by somebody not in privity with the owner, inside the first 45 days of furnishing. This one travels with the contract between the owner and the contractor. The prescribed wording does name the other one, telling the owner to ask for a release of lien from anybody who has served a notice to owner.
Where does this wording come from?
It is sliced out of downloaded statute text byte for byte, never retyped, and keyed against a second publisher before it went up. The official text from the Florida Legislature is what gets printed here, and FindLaw's copy of 713.015 is what it was checked against, letter for letter.
Once the job is running and you are getting paid on it, the paperwork that comes next is the waiver: see the Florida statutory lien waiver forms, and conditional vs unconditional lien waiver for which of the two to sign.