Iowa Preliminary Notice

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Iowa defines the duty class by exclusion. Under section 572.1(11) a subcontractor is every person furnishing material or performing labor on the improvement except those having contracts directly with the owner, and it expressly includes those contracting directly with an owner-builder.

2. 2

   You post, you do not serve. Section 572.13B(1) says a subcontractor shall post a preliminary notice to the Mechanics Notice and Lien Registry internet site, and section 572.13B(2) makes the administrator, who is the secretary of state, send the notification to the owner.

3. 3

   There is no day count on the posting. A preliminary notice posted before the balance due is paid to the general contractor or the owner-builder is effective as to all labor, service, equipment and material the subcontractor furnished to the property.

4. 4

   What your lien is worth is measured twice against a shrinking number: only to the extent of the balance due the general contractor or owner-builder at the time of the posting, and, except where the property is owned by an owner-builder, only to the extent of the balance due when the owner actually receives the notice.

5. 5

   Nothing can be posted first. Section 572.13A(2) says a notice of commencement of work must be posted to the registry before any preliminary notice may be. The general contractor or owner-builder owes that posting within ten days of commencement of work, and if it was not done a subcontractor may post it along with its own preliminary notice.

6. 6

   Section 572.13B(1) prescribes ten items, and two of them are not in your own files: the Mechanics Notice and Lien Registry number for the property, and the legal description that adequately describes the property to be charged with the lien, alongside the tax parcel identification number.

7. 7

   A subcontractor who fails to post is not entitled to a lien and remedy provided under chapter 572, and a posted preliminary notice is declared inactive two years after the date of posting unless it is renewed.

Iowa Requirements for Preliminary Notice

• Subcontractor, Defined by Who You Did Not Contract With

  Iowa Code 572.1(11) provides that subcontractor includes every person furnishing material or performing labor upon any building, erection or other improvement, except those having contracts directly with the owner, and that it shall include those persons having contracts directly with an owner-builder. Section 572.13B(5) limits the section to residential construction properties.

• Posted to the Registry, Not Mailed to the Owner

  Section 572.13B(1) requires a subcontractor to post a preliminary notice to the Mechanics Notice and Lien Registry internet site, the central database the secretary of state maintains as administrator under section 572.1(1) and (6). Section 572.13B(2) then makes the administrator send the owner the notice described in section 572.13(1), post that mailing on the registry, and provide proof of service at no cost on request. Notices under the section are not sent to owner-builders.

• No Day Count: The Balance Due Is the Deadline

  Section 572.13B(1) provides that a preliminary notice posted before the balance due is paid to the general contractor or the owner-builder is effective as to all labor, service, equipment and material furnished to the property by the subcontractor. Section 572.13B contains no number of days.

• The Lien Is Capped Twice by a Falling Number

  Section 572.13B(3)(a) makes a perfected mechanics lien enforceable only to the extent of the balance due the general contractor or the owner-builder at the time of the posting of the preliminary notice, and, except for residential construction property owned by an owner-builder, also only to the extent of the balance due the general contractor at the time the owner actually receives the notice.

• Nothing Posts Before the Notice of Commencement of Work

  Section 572.13A(1) requires a general contractor, or an owner-builder who has contracted or will contract with a subcontractor, to post a notice of commencement of work to the registry no later than ten days after the commencement of work, with the owner's name and address, the general contractor's or owner-builder's name, address and telephone number, the property address or location description, the legal description, the date work commenced and the tax parcel identification number. Section 572.13A(2) provides that one must be posted before any preliminary notice may be, and lets a subcontractor post it in conjunction with its own notice.

• The Ten Items the Posting Must Carry

  Section 572.13B(1) requires the name of the owner; the Mechanics Notice and Lien Registry number; the name, address and telephone number of the subcontractor furnishing; the name and address of the person who contracted with the claimant for the furnishing; the name of the general contractor or owner-builder under which the claimant performs; the property address or a description of its location; the legal description that adequately describes the property to be charged with the lien; the date material was first furnished or labor first performed; the tax parcel identification number; and any other information the administrator requires by rule.

• Proving the Owner Received It

  Section 572.13B(3)(b) puts the burden on the subcontractor to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the owner received notice, and allows separate notice to discharge it, including by certified mail with return receipt, by personal service in the manner original notices are required to be served, or by actual notice with a signed receipt from the owner acknowledging notice. An affidavit of mailing creates a presumption of receipt on the fourth day of business for the post office after sending and shifts the burden to the owner.

• Capped Fee, Two Year Inactivity, and the Commercial Alternative

  Section 572.34(6) forbids a posting fee for a required preliminary notice that exceeds the cost of sending it by certified mail with restricted delivery and return receipt. Section 572.34(12) declares a preliminary notice inactive two years after the date of posting unless renewed. Section 572.34(7) allows posting electronically, by United States mail or by facsimile, with mailed or faxed notices posted within three business days. On commercial construction, section 572.33(2) instead requires a person furnishing labor or materials to a subcontractor to give the general contractor or owner-builder a one-time written notice within thirty days of first furnishing, and to support the lien claim with a certified statement that it did so.