Missouri consent of owner, the signature that gives your subs a lien at all
This is the document that decides whether anybody but the general contractor can file a lien on a Missouri home repair. RSMo 429.013(2) says no person other than an original contractor has a lien on the building or structure unless an owner has agreed in a written contract to be liable, in the words printed below. No signed consent, no lien for the sub, no lien for the supplier, no exceptions written into the section.
Subsection 4 is the sentence that makes this document worth chasing. In the absence of a consent described in subsection 2 of this section, full payment of the amount due under a contract to the contractor shall be a complete defense to all liens filed by any person performing work or labor or furnishing material, fixtures, engines, boilers or machinery. Partial payment to the contractor shall only act as an offset to the extent of such payment.
Read the law: RSMo 429.013, the consent, RSMo 429.012, the notice to owner, RSMo 429.016, residential notice of rights and RSMo 429.032, partial release of liencodes.findlaw.com
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Word for word from the consent printed in RSMo 429.013, subsection 2, set in 10 point bold because the subsection asks for it. It has to be signed by an owner and signed separately from the 429.012 notice to owner, which is why it is on its own sheet.
Free, no signup, no email, no watermark.
Which jobs this section covers, and which it does not
Subsection 1 draws the boundary in its first sentence. The provisions of this section shall apply only to the repair or remodeling of or addition to owner-occupied residential property of four units or less. Everything else in chapter 429 is elsewhere.
The same subsection defines its own terms. Owner means the owner of record at the time any contractor, laborer or materialman agrees or is requested to furnish any work, labor, material, fixture, engine, boiler or machinery. Owner-occupied means property which the owner currently occupies, or intends to occupy and does occupy as a residence within a reasonable time after the completion of the repair, remodeling or addition. Residential property means property consisting of four or less existing units to which repairs, remodeling or additions are undertaken.
And it says what it is not. This section shall not apply to the building, construction or erection of any improvements constituting the initial or original residential unit or units or other improvements or appurtenances forming a part of the original development of the property. A ground up build is outside it. Existing units being repaired, remodeled or added to are inside it.
The awkward part: the person who needs it cannot get it signed
Read subsection 2 as a subcontractor. No person, other than an original contractor, who performs any work or labor or furnishes any material for any building or structure shall have a lien under this section unless an owner of the building or structure pursuant to a written contract has agreed to be liable for such costs in the event that the costs are not paid.
The lien right that hangs on that sentence belongs to the sub and the supplier. The written contract it refers to is the owner's contract, which is the general contractor's contract. The sub is not a party to it and usually never sees it. So the document that protects the sub is one only the GC is in a position to get signed, and it has to be signed before the sub is out of pocket rather than after.
That asymmetry is the practical reason this page exists on both sides. If you are the general contractor, getting this signed costs one sheet and one signature at contract time and keeps everyone under you in the lien system. If you are the sub or supplier, ask for a copy of the signed consent before you mobilise, and remember 429.013(3) gives you the right to ask for it.
It has to be a separate sheet from the notice to owner
Subsection 2 finishes with a formatting instruction that is really a substantive one. Such consent shall be printed in ten point bold type and signed separately from the notice required by section 429.012 and shall contain the following words.
Signed separately rules out the obvious shortcut of putting the notice and the consent on one page under one signature. Two documents, two signatures, and this site prints them as two sheets for that reason. The Missouri notice to owner has its own page here.
Ten point bold type is the other half of the instruction and it is why the wording below is set in 10 point bold. That is the statute's number, not a house style.
What has to happen to the signed copy
Subsection 3 turns the signature into a recording requirement. It shall be a condition precedent to the creation, existence or validity of any lien by anyone other than an original contractor that a copy of a consent in the form prescribed in subsection 2 of this section, signed by an owner, be attached to the recording of a claim of lien.
So the signed consent is not filed away and forgotten. A copy of it goes on to the claim of lien when the claim is recorded, which means the sub or supplier has to have obtained a copy long before the day the lien is filed. A consent that exists somewhere in the general contractor's folder and cannot be produced is not attached to anything.
The same subsection makes the general contractor the custodian. Every original contractor shall retain a copy of the notice required by that section and any consent signed by an owner and shall furnish a copy to any person performing work or labor or furnishing material upon his request. That is the route by which the sub gets the copy he has to attach.
One owner's signature binds all the owners
Subsection 3 also settles the question a married couple or a pair of co-owners always raises. The signature of one or more of the owners shall be binding upon all owners.
That is a genuine simplification on a residential remodel where one spouse handles the contractor and the other is never in the room. It does not, however, make it wise to take a signature from somebody who is not an owner of record, because subsection 1 defines owner as the owner of record at the time the work is agreed or requested.
Nothing in this section shall relieve the requirements of any original contractor under sections 429.010 and 429.012, which is the last sentence of subsection 3. Getting the consent signed does not replace giving the notice to owner.
The criminal edge on a forged signature
Subsection 5 is short and it is there for a reason. Any person falsifying the signature of an owner, with intent to defraud, in the consent of owner provided in subsection 2 of this section shall be guilty of a class D felony. Any original contractor who knowingly issues a fraudulent consent of owner shall be guilty of a class D felony.
Both halves matter. The first is aimed at whoever puts the pen to the paper. The second is aimed at the original contractor who passes on a consent he knows is not genuine, whether or not he signed it himself.
Practically, that means this document is worth getting signed in front of you, at contract time, with the owner's own hand, rather than chased by email in month three when a supplier is asking for it.
What the sheet fills in and what it leaves alone
The prescribed sentence has no blanks in it. Nothing is inserted into it and nothing is reworded.
Three rules sit above it: contractor, owner and property. They are not part of the prescribed words and the page says so. They are there because subsection 3 makes this a document that gets retained, copied on request and attached to a recorded lien, and a consent that does not name the job cannot do any of those three things.
One rule sits below it for the owner's signature and one for the date. Subsection 3 requires a consent signed by an owner and subsection 2 prints no line to sign on, so the sheet draws one. That is the same reading Texas gets in this lane, where a statute demands a signature and draws nothing.
Where the words came from
The prescribed sentence was sliced out of the statute text byte for byte rather than retyped.
The build source is codes.findlaw.com's Missouri Revised Statutes 429.013, current as of 1 January 2025. The key is www.laws9.com, an older edition of the same code from a different lineage: its text is missing the spaces where the Revisor's own fixed-width lines were joined, which findlaw's copy is not. Across the prescribed consent the two agree on 177 letters and digits with no differences.
Missouri's own revisor.mo.gov does not answer this machine at all, so both readings are private publishers. Both copies are parked in the repository beside the build source so the comparison can be checked rather than believed.
Questions people ask
Who needs this document?
Everyone working under the general contractor. RSMo 429.013(2) says no person other than an original contractor has a lien under this section unless an owner has agreed in a written contract to be liable for the costs if they are not paid, in these words. Without a signed consent the subs and suppliers on the job have no lien on it.
Which jobs does it apply to?
Repair or remodeling of, or addition to, owner-occupied residential property of four units or less. Subsection 1 says the section applies only to that, and expressly excludes the building, construction or erection of improvements constituting the initial or original residential units or the original development of the property.
What does owner-occupied mean here?
Subsection 1 defines it: property which the owner currently occupies, or intends to occupy and does occupy as a residence within a reasonable time after the completion of the repair, remodeling or addition. Owner means the owner of record at the time the work is agreed or requested.
What happens if nobody gets it signed?
Subsection 4 answers it. In the absence of a consent, full payment of the amount due under the contract to the contractor is a complete defense to all liens filed by anyone performing work or furnishing material. Partial payment acts as an offset to the extent of that payment.
Can it go on the same page as the notice to owner?
No. Subsection 2 requires the consent to be printed in ten point bold type and signed separately from the notice required by section 429.012. They are two documents with two signatures, which is why this site prints two sheets.
Do both owners have to sign?
No. Subsection 3 says the signature of one or more of the owners shall be binding upon all owners. The signature does have to come from an owner of record, because that is how subsection 1 defines owner.
What do I do with it once it is signed?
The general contractor retains it. Subsection 3 makes every original contractor retain a copy of the 429.012 notice and any consent signed by an owner, and furnish a copy to any person performing work or furnishing material who asks for it. A sub or supplier who may need to file needs that copy in hand.
Why does the sub need a copy rather than just knowing it exists?
Because subsection 3 makes it a condition precedent to any lien by anyone other than an original contractor that a copy of the signed consent be attached to the recording of the claim of lien. The copy has to be physically available on the day the lien is recorded.
Does getting this signed replace the notice to owner?
No. The last sentence of subsection 3 says nothing in the section relieves the requirements of any original contractor under sections 429.010 and 429.012. The notice to owner is still owed, and 429.012(2) still makes it a condition precedent to the contractor's own lien.
Is there a penalty for a forged consent?
Yes, and it is a felony on both sides. Subsection 5 makes anyone who falsifies an owner's signature in the consent with intent to defraud guilty of a class D felony, and makes an original contractor who knowingly issues a fraudulent consent of owner guilty of a class D felony.
Does it have to be in bold?
Yes. Subsection 2 says the consent shall be printed in ten point bold type, so the sheet sets it in 10 point bold. That sits in the same sentence as the requirement to use the prescribed words, so it is not a formatting preference.
Where does the wording come from?
RSMo 429.013(2), sliced out of the statute text rather than retyped. It was keyed against www.laws9.com's older edition of the same code, which is a different lineage from the build source: 177 letters and digits a side, in order, with no differences. Both copies are parked in the repository next to the source.
Once the job is running and you are getting paid on it, the paperwork that comes next is the waiver: see the Missouri statutory lien waiver forms, and conditional vs unconditional lien waiver for which of the two to sign.