A Florida homeowner recently posted a concerning story in a chat room. The individual is building a structure on his property and found a discounted material supplier, presumably on Craigslist. The supplier offered to provide wood for the project at half price. The owner jumped on the discount, but was wise enough to refuse to pay for the materials in advance of delivery.
The supplier delivered the wood and the owner paid the supplier. However, soon after, the owner was contacted by another company asking for payment for the wood. Apparently, the Craigslist supplier had:
- Purchased the wood from the real supplier with a credit card
- Directed the delivery to the owner’s project
- Collected payment from the owner, and then
- Reported his credit card as stolen to avoid paying the real supplier
The owner reports that the real supplier is threatening to record a lien on his property for the unpaid materials. The real supplier’s attorney goes so far as to claim that his client was a legitimate “subcontractor,” that a lien would be proper, and that his client was likely to prevail in court.
Wrong on both fronts!
In this scenario, the real supplier is likely to fail with its lien claim. First, as we have written previously, a supplier’s supplier cannot claim a lien. If the Craigslist scam artists was acting only as a supplier, and not a contractor, the real supplier is not a potential “lienor,” as defined by law. Only lienors can claim a lien in Florida.
Second, and more importantly, it seems that the real supplier failed to serve the owner with a Notice to Owner (NTO). All suppliers and contractors for a project that are not in direct contract with an owner must serve a NTO. This scenario is the very purpose for an NTO, and failure to do so prevents the failing party from claiming a lien.
The deadline for serving an NTO is 45 days after commencing work or delivery of materials. Unless the real supplier was still within its window to do so, and catches its error, it will probably lose its lien.
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READY LEGAL 