Louisiana Private Works Act Notices (R.S. 9:4804)
Louisiana has no preliminary notice. R.S. 9:4804 is headed Notices required of certain claimants, and it gives professional consultants, lessors of movables, sellers of movables and remote subcontractors each their own trigger event and deadline. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
The last day of the calendar month in which a movable was delivered, and not the delivery date itself, is where Louisiana starts counting the 75 days a seller of movables gets under R.S. 9:4804(C). That is the pattern across the whole section: Louisiana writes the triggering event with unusual care, and the event is what you have to pin down first. A professional consultant counts 30 days from the date of being engaged in connection with the work, not from the day drawings go out. A lessor of movables counts 30 days from the day movables leased by the lessor are first placed at the site of the immovable, and may send the notice earlier because the statute lets the notice say the lessor intends to lease. A remote subcontractor counts backward, giving the general contractor at least 30 days notice before proceeding against it or its surety. And the contractor's own notice to a homeowner under R.S. 9:4852 is keyed to no number of days at all: it has to be handed over prior to or at the time of entering into the residential home improvement contract. Louisiana also uses its own vocabulary throughout, which is why searching for a Louisiana preliminary notice turns up nothing. The statute is the Private Works Act, R.S. 9:4804 is headed Notices required of certain claimants, and the thing being protected is a claim and the privilege securing it, on an immovable, for labor or movables. Two of the four notice duties switch on only where a notice of contract was filed before the contractor began work, so the parish mortgage records are where this starts. DocDraft builds your Louisiana notice from your facts, with attorney review available before you send it.
Key Things to Know
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Louisiana has no instrument called a preliminary notice. The governing Part is the Private Works Act, and R.S. 9:4804 is headed Notices required of certain claimants. It places an early notice duty on four classes: professional consultants and their subconsultants, lessors of movables, sellers of movables sold to a subcontractor, and a subcontractor with no direct contractual relationship with the general contractor.
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Each class has its own trigger event. Professional consultants: within 30 days after the date of being engaged in connection with the work. Lessors: measured from the day movables leased by the lessor are first placed at the site of the immovable, with a 30 day line. Sellers of movables: 75 days after the last day of the calendar month in which the movable was delivered to the subcontractor. Remote subcontractors: at least 30 days before proceeding against the contractor.
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The recipient changes with the instrument, and no Louisiana notice in this section goes to a construction lender. A professional consultant notifies the owner. A lessor notifies the contractor, and the owner too if notice of contract has been timely filed. A seller of movables must notify the owner and the contractor, both. A remote subcontractor notifies the contractor.
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Two of the four duties only exist if a notice of contract was filed. R.S. 9:4811(A) requires written notice of the contract between a general contractor and an owner to be filed before the contractor begins work, and R.S. 9:4811(D) denies the general contractor any privilege under the Part where the stipulated or reasonably estimated price exceeds one hundred thousand dollars unless that notice was timely filed.
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Louisiana writes its own delivery code. Under R.S. 9:4844(A) a notice is deemed given the moment it is properly deposited in the United States mail for certified or registered delivery, or by any other Postal Service method that registers and tracks it. Under R.S. 9:4844(B) a commercial courier deposit also fixes the date, provided the recipient receives it within a reasonable time.
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Choosing cheap mail costs you the date. The 2019 Comment to R.S. 9:4844 records that ordinary first class mail is not forbidden, but a notice sent that way is not deemed given on deposit: the sender then has the burden of proving actual receipt, and the notice counts only from the moment of actual receipt. Electronic delivery under R.S. 9:4845 works only where the recipient consented and the sender holds a facsimile or electronic confirmation of receipt.
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The consequences are not uniform. A lessor who delivers late keeps a claim and privilege limited to rents accruing after the notice is given. A seller of movables who fails to notify both the owner and the contractor is not entitled to a claim or privilege for the price of the movable at all. A lessor also owes a description of its movables within 15 days of a request from the owner or contractor, and an inaccurate or late answer extinguishes its claim to the extent of the damages caused.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Preliminary Notice in Louisiana, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Preliminary Notice guide walks through them.
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Louisiana Requirements for Preliminary Notice
Four Classes Owe a Notice Under R.S. 9:4804
R.S. 9:4804 is headed Notices required of certain claimants and places the duty on professional consultants and their professional subconsultants, lessors of movables, sellers of a movable sold to a subcontractor, and a subcontractor having a contractual relationship with another subcontractor but no direct contractual relationship with the general contractor. A professional consultant directly engaged by the owner is excused, and no lessor notice need be delivered to a person who is a party to the lease.
Thirty Days After the Date of Being Engaged
Professional consultants and their professional subconsultants must deliver written notice to the owner within thirty days after the date of being engaged in connection with the work. Delivering it is a condition of being entitled to the claim and the privilege securing it. The notice gives the claimant's name and address, the name and address of the person who engaged the claimant, and the general nature of the work to be performed.
Lessors: Thirty Days From Movables First Placed at the Site
A lessor of movables delivers its notice to the contractor, and also to the owner if notice of contract has been timely filed. Where the notice is delivered more than thirty days after movables leased by the lessor are first placed at the site of the immovable, the claim and privilege are limited to rents accruing after the notice is given. The notice may be sent before anything arrives, because it may state that the lessor intends to lease.
Sellers: Seventy-Five Days From the Last Day of the Calendar Month
Where notice of contract has been timely filed, the seller of a movable sold to a subcontractor must deliver notice of nonpayment to the owner and the contractor no later than seventy-five days after the last day of the calendar month in which the movable was delivered to the subcontractor. A seller who does not deliver it to both is not entitled to a claim or privilege under the Part for the price of the movable.
Recipients Differ by Instrument, and None Is a Lender
The owner for a professional consultant; the contractor, plus the owner where notice of contract was timely filed, for a lessor; the owner and the contractor together for a seller of movables; the general contractor for a remote subcontractor. No notice under R.S. 9:4804 is directed to a construction lender. R.S. 9:4844(C) to (F) set out the addresses that may be used, including the address in a filed notice of contract or attached bond and a Louisiana registered or principal office on the secretary of state's records.
Deemed Delivered on Deposit With Tracked Mail or a Courier
R.S. 9:4844(A) deems a notice given the moment it is properly deposited in the United States mail for certified or registered delivery, or by another Postal Service method that registers and tracks it, and (B) does the same for a proper deposit with a commercial courier where the recipient receives it within a reasonable time. R.S. 9:4845 allows fax or email only to a recipient who consented, and only where the sender receives a facsimile or electronic confirmation of receipt. The 2019 Comment records that ordinary first class mail is not deemed given on deposit and leaves the sender to prove actual receipt.
The Prescribed NOTICE OF LIEN RIGHTS on Home Improvements
R.S. 9:4852(A) requires the contractor, prior to or at the time of entering into a contract for residential home improvements, to deliver to the owner or the owner's authorized agent, for signature, written notice in substantially the form the statute prints under the heading NOTICE OF LIEN RIGHTS. The prescribed text warns that everyone working on the home or supplying materials or equipment can file a lien against it if unpaid and can recover from the owner personally even if the owner paid the contractor in full. R.S. 9:4852(B) provides that the notice is not a condition of the construction contract.
A Filed Notice of Contract Switches Two Duties On
R.S. 9:4811(A) requires written notice of a contract between a general contractor and an owner to be filed before the contractor begins work, and R.S. 9:4811(D) denies the general contractor any privilege arising under the Part where the price of the work stipulated or reasonably estimated in the contract exceeds one hundred thousand dollars unless that notice is timely filed. Whether it was filed decides if a lessor must also notify the owner and whether a seller of movables owes a notice at all, so check the parish mortgage records before anything else.