Question 1

Who gives an Alabama notice to the owner or proprietor, and who has no reason to?

Accepted Answer

The advance notice in Section 35-11-210 is a materialman's instrument. It is aimed at the person, firm or corporation furnishing specified material to a contractor or subcontractor, because that is the party the section otherwise limits to a lien on any unpaid balance due the contractor by the owner. A supplier who contracts directly with the owner or proprietor is not in that limited class and does not need the advance notice to reach the owner's interest. Labor stands differently: Section 35-11-210 treats employees of the contractor the same way as materialmen on the unpaid balance point, but the advance notice route in the section is written around material that will be furnished at specified prices.

Question 2

When does the Alabama notice have to reach the owner?

Accepted Answer

Before you furnish any material. Section 35-11-210 conditions the full price lien on the supplier having notified the owner or the owner's agent in writing 'before furnishing any material' that certain specified material will be furnished at certain specified prices. Alabama states no number of days anywhere in that provision, so there is no window to count and no trigger date to argue about. The practical consequence is that this is a step for the credit department at order time. Once the first load has left your yard without a notice in the owner's hands, the full price lien for that material is gone and no later writing brings it back.

Question 3

How much does an Alabama supplier lose by skipping the advance notice?

Accepted Answer

The lien stays available but shrinks to the owner's remaining exposure. Section 35-11-210 says that for persons furnishing material to the contractor the lien shall extend only to the amount of any unpaid balance due the contractor by the owner or proprietor, and that the materialman has a lien on that unpaid balance. On a job where the owner has already paid the contractor in full, the unpaid balance is nothing and the lien reaches nothing, which is why an unpaid-balance claim and a full price claim on identical invoices can be worth wildly different amounts. With the advance notice in place the lien is for the full price as specified in the notice, without regard to whether the claim exceeds that unpaid balance.

Question 4

Can an Alabama owner refuse responsibility after my notice arrives?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and the statute gives the owner the exact move. Section 35-11-210 closes with the condition that the full price lien follows 'unless on the notice herein provided for being given, the owner or proprietor or his or her agent shall notify the furnisher in writing before the material is used, that he or she will not be responsible for the price thereof.' Two things matter in that sentence. The owner's refusal has to be in writing, and it has to come before the material is used. So an answer that arrives after the material is in the building does not do the same work. Open everything the owner or a project manager sends you, date-stamp it and keep it with the order.

Question 5

Which words does Alabama Code Section 35-11-210 put in the notice itself?

Accepted Answer

The section prints a form and says it shall be sufficient. It is addressed 'To __________, owner or proprietor', then reads: 'Take notice, that the undersigned is about to furnish __________, your contractor or subcontractor, certain material for the construction, or for the repairing, altering, or beautifying of a building or buildings, or improvement or improvements, on the following described property:' with a space for the description, closing 'and there will become due to the undersigned on account thereof the price of the material, for the payment of which the undersigned will claim a lien.' The body of the section adds what the form's blanks cannot carry on their own: the certain specified material and the certain specified prices.

Question 6

How should an Alabama notice be delivered, and what proof should I keep?

Accepted Answer

Section 35-11-210 requires only that the supplier notify the owner or the owner's agent in writing. It names no mail class, no personal delivery requirement, no electronic option and no proof of service, and nothing is filed with any Alabama office. That silence is not permission to be casual, because the full price lien depends on the owner having been notified before material was furnished, and that is a fact the supplier has to be able to show. Send it by a method that produces a dated receipt, address it to the owner or proprietor or to a named agent, and keep the receipt, the signed copy and the delivery date in the job file alongside the first delivery ticket.

Question 7

Does Alabama require a second written notice later on?

Accepted Answer

For most parties, yes. Section 35-11-218 requires every person except the original contractor, before filing a statement in the office of the judge of probate, to give written notice to the owner or proprietor or the agent that a lien is claimed, setting forth the amount, for what, and from whom it is owing. After that notice, any unpaid balance in the owner's hands is held subject to the lien, which is the point of it. The section then excepts material the owner was already notified about in advance under Section 35-11-210, so a supplier that gave the advance notice for its material is outside Section 35-11-218 for that material.

Question 8

Who counts as the owner or proprietor under Alabama lien law?

Accepted Answer

More people than hold the deed. Section 35-11-232 provides that every person, including cestuis que trust, for whose use, benefit, or enjoyment any building or improvement shall be made is embraced within the words owner or proprietor as used in the lien division. On a job being built for a trust beneficiary, for an occupying business, or for someone other than the record titleholder, that definition tells you whose name belongs at the top of the notice. Section 35-11-210 also lets the writing go to the owner's agent rather than the owner. If you cannot work out who the owner is, Section 35-11-219 obliges the original contractor to furnish the owner a complete list of materialmen, laborers and employees with the terms and price when the owner requires it, which is the information flow the statute does build in.

Alabama Notice to the Owner or Proprietor

Find out where you stand in Alabama

Introduction

Key Things to Know

Key decisions before you file

Customize your Preliminary Notice Template with DocDraft

Alabama Requirements for Preliminary Notice

Notice to the Owner or Proprietor, or the Owner's Agent

Before Furnishing Any Material, With No Day Count

Full Price Lien Instead of the Unpaid Balance

Certain Specified Material at Certain Specified Prices

The Statutory Form Section 35-11-210 Says Is Sufficient

In Writing, With No Prescribed Delivery Method

The Owner's Written Refusal of Responsibility

The Separate Section 35-11-218 Notice, and the Contractor's List

Frequently Asked Questions