Maine Notice to Owner (10 M.R.S. Section 3255(3))

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Notice to owner is Maine's own name for this document. Maine does not make it compulsory. The lien survives without it. What the claimant loses by not sending it is reach: under 10 M.R.S. section 3255(3) the owner keeps a defense capping the claim at the balance still due to the person the owner directly contracted with.

2. 2

   There is no Maine deadline, no day count on this step. The statute fixes a moment of effect instead: the owner's exposure is measured at the time of service of process on the owner in a lien action or receipt of the written notice, whichever occurs first. Sending it earlier is worth money rather than worth compliance. Attorney review is available if you want the timing confirmed for your job.

3. 3

   Maine writes the warning for you, then tells you where to put it. The notice shall contain, at the top, the words: Under Maine law, your failure to assure that ________ (name of the claimant giving notice) is paid before further payment by you to ________ (name of contractor) may result in your paying twice.

4. 4

   Four facts go in the body: a description of the property sufficiently accurate to identify it, the names of the owners, that the person giving notice is going to perform or furnish, is performing or furnishing or has performed or furnished labor, materials or services, plus that the person giving notice may claim a lien therefor.

5. 5

   The notice can be sent before you start. Because the required statement covers a claimant who is going to perform or furnish, nothing has to have been delivered or built yet; the day the subcontract is signed is the cheapest day to send it.

6. 6

   Section 3255(3) does not apply where labor, materials or services are furnished to the premises for a business, commercial or industrial purpose unless the owner resides on the premises affected. Because that same subsection is what gives an owner the payment defense, a commercial Maine owner has no such defense, leaving nothing to switch off on a pure commercial job.

7. 7

   A second, separate Maine filing guards against the property being sold. Under section 3255(2) a bona fide purchaser for value takes title free of the lien unless the claimant had already filed either the section 3253 notice or a notice in the register of deeds describing the property, naming the owners, stating that the claimant may claim a lien. That recorded notice holds against a purchaser for 120 days from the date of its recording, re-recordable any number of times.

Maine Requirements for Preliminary Notice

• Not Required, and Costly to Skip

  Maine imposes no early notice as a condition of a mechanics lien. The notice to owner in 10 M.R.S. section 3255(3) is for a claimant whose labor, materials or services were not performed or furnished by a contract with the owner, and its function is to stop the owner adding further payments to the defense that caps the claim at the balance due to the owner's direct contractor. A claimant in a direct contract with the owner has no use for it.

• No Day Count: the Effect Begins at Receipt

  Section 3255(3) attaches no number of days to this notice. It fixes the arithmetic at a moment: the total due from the owner to claimants with no contract with the owner may not exceed the balance due from the owner to its direct contractor at the time of service of process on the owner in a lien action or receipt of the written notice, whichever occurs first. Attorney review available on the timing, which the statute states as a moment of effect rather than a deadline.

• The Prescribed Paying Twice Warning, at the Top

  The statute requires the following warning at the top of the notice: Under Maine law, your failure to assure that ________ (name of the claimant giving notice) is paid before further payment by you to ________ (name of contractor) may result in your paying twice. Fill the first blank with the claimant's name and the second with the name of the contractor the owner is paying, and keep the warning at the top rather than in the body.

• Four Facts the Body Must Set Out

  A description of the property sufficiently accurate to identify it; the names of the owners; that the person giving notice is going to perform or furnish, is performing or furnishing or has performed or furnished labor, materials or services; and that the person giving notice may claim a lien therefor. The first of the three alternatives in the third item means the notice may be given before any work is done.

• The Owner, or a Known Local Agent

  The owner of the property affected, and nobody else: section 3255(3) names no general contractor, construction lender or surety. Where the owner does not reside in the place where the property is located but has a known agent in that place, notice may be given to the agent or to the owner at the place where the owner resides.

• The Business, Commercial or Industrial Carve-Out

  Section 3255(3) does not apply where labor, materials or services are performed or furnished to the premises for a business, commercial or industrial purpose unless the owner resides on the premises affected. Because that subsection is what creates the owner's payment defense, a commercial owner in Maine has no such defense and the notice has nothing to switch off.

• Written, No Method Prescribed, So Prove Receipt Yourself

  Section 3255(3) calls for a written notice and prescribes no class of mail, no personal service, no posting and no form of proof. Since the statute turns on receipt of the written notice, the claimant has to be able to show the date the owner received it. The one prescribed method in the chapter is in section 3255(2), requiring a claimant who is a real estate licensee to reach a bona fide purchaser by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by actual written notice.

• The Owner's Prevention of Lien Notice Runs the Other Way

  Section 3252 is headed Prevention of lien. Where the labor, materials or services were not furnished by a contract with the owner, the owner may prevent a lien for labor, materials or services not then performed or furnished by giving written notice to the claimant that the owner will not be responsible. It operates prospectively only, so work already done stays secured, and a claimant who receives one should treat it as a decision point about continuing on the job.