Vermont Written Notice to the Owner of a Lien Claim
Section 1921(b) sends this notice to one party, the owner or his or her agent having charge of the property, and the lien reaches only the contract price still unpaid when it is received. Attorney review available.
Find out where you stand in Vermont
What is your role on the construction project?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
Introduction
One party has to receive this notice, and section 1921(b) is particular about which: the owner, or his or her agent having charge of such property. Not the contractor who hired you, not a leasing office, not a general agent. And for a Vermont claimant who contracted below the owner, handing it over is not housekeeping. The lien exists only by giving it. Subsection (b) says a person working under a contract with an agent, contractor or subcontractor of the owner shall have a lien by giving notice in writing to that owner or agent that he or she shall claim a lien for labor or material. Skip the notice and there is no lien to record. Then comes the sentence that decides how much the notice is worth, and it is the one Vermont readers most often learn too late: the lien shall extend to the portions of the contract price remaining unpaid at the time such notice is received. Vermont sets no deadline anywhere in this section. Nothing is ever late. What happens instead is that the owner keeps paying the contractor, the unpaid balance keeps falling, and your ceiling falls with it, so a notice received after the owner has paid in full secures nothing at all while being perfectly timely. A claimant who signed with the owner is outside all of this: subsection (a) hands that person the lien with no notice attached. The required contents are only two, a statement that you shall claim a lien for labor or material and the date payment is due if known, and the section prescribes no delivery method and no form of proof, which is why attorney review is worth taking on this one. DocDraft builds your Vermont notice from your facts, with attorney review available before you send it.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Section 1921(b) names a single recipient, the owner or his or her agent having charge of such property, and the notice is not a formality protecting a lien you already hold. A claimant who contracted below the owner has a lien only by giving notice in writing that he or she shall claim a lien for labor or material.
- 2
The money rule is the one to internalize: the lien shall extend to the portions of the contract price remaining unpaid at the time such notice is received. Payments the owner already made to the contractor are outside your claim for good.
- 3
Vermont prescribes no deadline for this notice, so there is no date to miss and no late service to cure. The cost of waiting is arithmetic rather than procedural, because every payment cycle lowers the unpaid balance your lien can reach.
- 4
The dividing line is who you signed with. Subsection (a) gives the lien outright to a person proceeding under a contract or agreement made for erecting, repairing, moving or altering improvements to real property, so a claimant in contract with the owner sends nothing. Subsection (b) is for everyone hired by an agent, contractor or subcontractor of the owner.
- 5
Only two items are required: a statement that the claimant shall claim a lien for labor or material, and the date that payment is due, if known. The words if known are in the statute, so a claimant who cannot yet fix a due date is not disqualified for leaving it blank.
- 6
The section requires the notice to be in writing and then stops. It names no mail class, no personal service rule and no affidavit or receipt, even though the date of receipt is what measures the claim. That gap is real, and it is the reason attorney review is available on this document.
- 7
Subsection (f) voids the clause your subcontract may already contain: a lien under this section may not be waived in advance of the time such labor is performed or materials are furnished, and any provision calling for such advance waiver shall not be enforceable.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Preliminary Notice in Vermont, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Preliminary Notice guide walks through them.
Open the Preliminary Notice guideCustomize your Preliminary Notice Template with DocDraft
Vermont Requirements for Preliminary Notice
One Recipient: The Owner, or the Agent Having Charge of the Property
Section 1921(b) directs the notice to such owner or his or her agent having charge of such property. That qualifier is narrower than a general agent of the owner, and the contractor who hired the claimant is not a recipient. Vermont names no construction lender.
The Lien Arises By Giving the Notice
This is not a step that preserves an existing lien. A person whose contract is with an agent, contractor or subcontractor of the owner shall have a lien by giving notice in writing that he or she shall claim a lien for labor or material. A claimant who never gives it has no lien to record and no claim against the property, only a contract claim against whoever hired it.
The Lien Reaches Only the Contract Price Still Unpaid at Receipt
Section 1921(b) closes with the rule that the lien shall extend to the portions of the contract price remaining unpaid at the time such notice is received. Payments the owner already made to the contractor before receipt are permanently outside the claim, so the ceiling is fixed on the day the notice lands.
No Deadline Is Prescribed, Which Is Not the Good News It Sounds Like
The complete text of section 1921, subsections (a) through (f), sets no deadline for giving this notice and no period after which it is barred. Nothing is ever late in Vermont. The penalty for delay is arithmetic instead: each payment the owner makes to the contractor lowers the unpaid balance the lien can reach, so send at the start of the job.
A Claimant Who Contracted With the Owner Sends Nothing
Section 1921(a) gives the lien to the person proceeding in pursuance of a contract or agreement made for erecting, repairing, moving or altering improvements to real property, or for furnishing labor or material therefor, with no notice condition attached. The notice duty in subsection (b) applies only where the claimant contracted with an agent, contractor, or subcontractor of the owner.
Two Required Items, One of Them Qualified
The notice must state that the claimant shall claim a lien for labor or material, and it shall include the date that payment is due, if known. Section 1921 prescribes no caption, no form number, no itemized account and no verification. The words if known are statutory, so an unfixed due date may be left out.
No Method and No Proof Are Prescribed
Section 1921(b) requires notice in writing and names no delivery method, no mail class and no form of proof of receipt, even though the date of receipt is what measures the claim. Nothing is asserted here that the statute does not say. Attorney review is available, and on a job of any size it is the sensible route before choosing a method.
An Advance Waiver of This Lien Is Unenforceable
Subsection 1921(f) provides that a lien under this section may not be waived in advance of the time such labor is performed or materials are furnished, and that any provision calling for such advance waiver shall not be enforceable. A lien waiver clause signed at the start of the subcontract therefore does not remove the point of sending this notice.