Florida lien waiver forms, free and on the statutory wording
Florida prescribes two waiver forms in section 713.20, one for a progress payment and one for final payment. The rule around them is unusual and worth understanding before you sign anything.
Nobody may require you to furnish a waiver different from the two statutory forms. But 713.20(8) says a waiver that is not substantially similar to them is still enforceable on its own terms, so a form you sign voluntarily binds you as written.
Read the law: Florida Statutes section 713.20 and Florida Statutes section 713.06leg.state.fl.us
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Word for word from Fla. Stat. 713.20 and Fla. Stat. 713.06. Print it and fill it in by hand, or use the builder below and get it back already filled in.
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Which of the Florida forms you need
- Waiver and Release of Lien Upon Progress Payment. Use this for a payment that is not the last one. It releases what you have been paid for up to a date you name, and nothing after that date.
- Waiver and Release of Lien Upon Final Payment. Use this for the last payment on the job. It releases everything, including retainage, so it is the one to read twice.
- Contractor's Final Payment Affidavit. This is not a waiver. The contractor swears every lienor under the direct contract has been paid, or names the ones who have not and what they are owed, and the owner must hold the final payment until it is furnished. Until you give it you have no lien and no right of action, and it has to reach the owner at least 5 days before you sue.
Not signing a waiver yet? Before the work starts, Florida makes the owner record a notice of commencement, and section 713.13(1)(h) says the building department has to accept it in the statutory form. You can fill that one in here too.
Not in a contract with the owner? Then your lien right depends on a notice to owner served in the first 45 days, long before any waiver gets signed. Fill that one in here too.
Still at the contract stage? Any Florida direct contract greater than $2,500 for a dwelling of up to four units has to carry the construction lien law notice in 12-point capitalized boldfaced type, and section 713.015(1) lets it ride on a separate page the owner signs and dates. You can print that one here too.
Why Florida's rule cuts the other way
In most states a non conforming waiver simply fails. Florida is the exception. Subsection 6 says a person may not require a lienor to furnish a waiver different from the statutory forms, and subsection 8 says a waiver that is not substantially similar to them is enforceable in accordance with its own terms.
Read together, that means you can refuse a custom form, but if you sign one anyway it binds you exactly as written, however broad it is. In Florida the protection is the refusal, not the statute rescuing you afterwards.
Conditioning the release on the check clearing
Florida handles the conditional case differently from California and Texas. Rather than a separate conditional form, subsection 7 lets a lienor who executes a waiver in exchange for a check condition the waiver on payment of that check.
If you are signing against a check, write that condition on the document. The statute expressly allows it, and it is the only thing standing between a bounced check and a released lien.
Only what you have actually done
Subsection 2 is short and absolute: a right to claim a lien may not be waived in advance, and any waiver made in advance is unenforceable.
The progress form carries a through date for exactly that reason. Anything after that date is still yours.
Questions people ask
Can a Florida owner make me sign their own waiver form?
They cannot require it. Section 713.20(6) says a person may not require a lienor to furnish a waiver or release that is different from the forms in the statute. Offering the statutory form back is a complete answer.
If I sign a custom waiver anyway, is it void?
No, and that is the trap. Section 713.20(8) makes a non conforming waiver enforceable in accordance with its own terms. Florida does not undo a bad waiver for you.
Does a Florida lien waiver need a notary or witnesses?
The statutory forms have a signature line for the lienor and nothing more. Notarization is not required by 713.20.
What is the difference between the progress and final forms?
The progress form releases up to a date you name and leaves later work alone. The final form releases everything for that job.
Working outside Florida? The general lien waiver forms cover the states that prescribe no wording, and conditional vs unconditional lien waiver explains which of the two to sign.