Notice to Owner in Florida: Who Serves It, and When

A notice to owner (often shortened to NTO) is the written notice that a subcontractor, sub-subcontractor or supplier sends to the property owner to say, in effect, "I am working on your job, and I may claim a lien if I am not paid." In Florida it is the first step in keeping lien rights for anyone who does not have a contract directly with the owner. The Business and Finance exam asks about it from both sides: as a subcontractor protecting payment, and as a contractor managing an owner's exposure.

This page covers the deadline, who must serve the notice, who is exempt, and how the NTO connects to the rest of Florida construction lien law.

Privity: the idea behind the notice

"Privity" means a direct contract. The general contractor is in privity with the owner. A framing subcontractor hired by the general contractor is not, and neither is the lumber yard that sells to the framer. The owner may not even know those parties exist.

F.S. 713.06 gives lien rights to materialmen, laborers, subcontractors and sub-subcontractors who are not in privity with the owner, provided they follow the steps in Part I of Chapter 713. The notice to owner is how the owner learns who those people are, so the owner can make sure they are paid before releasing money to the contractor.

The deadline: 45 days

Under F.S. 713.06(2)(a), a lienor not in privity must serve the notice:

• before commencing to furnish labor, services or materials, or not later than 45 days after commencing, and
• in any event, before the owner disburses final payment after the contractor has furnished the contractor's final payment affidavit.

Two points trip people up:

1. The clock starts on the first day the lienor furnishes labor, services or materials to the job, not the last day.
2. The 45 days is an outside limit. If the owner has already made final payment after receiving the contractor's affidavit, a notice served on day 40 is too late.

The NTO must be served in the manner described in F.S. 713.18, and a copy goes to the persons named in the notice of commencement. The address information an NTO sender needs usually comes from the notice of commencement.

Worked example: counting the days

A tile supplier, not in privity with the owner, first delivers to a house on March 20. What is the last day to serve its notice to owner, assuming the owner has not made final payment?

The last day is May 4. Count forward from the day after first furnishing. On the exam, read the question for anything that changes the answer, such as an earlier final payment.

Who must serve, and who does not

The statute says that all lienors under section 713.06, except laborers, must serve the notice as a prerequisite to perfecting a lien and recording a claim of lien. That exception is a favorite exam question.

What happens after the NTO

The notice to owner is only the first step. The rest of the timeline matters too:

• Claim of lien. A lienor records a claim of lien within 90 days after its final furnishing of labor, services or materials (F.S. 713.08). Do not confuse the 45-day NTO deadline with the 90-day lien deadline. They count from different events: first furnishing for the NTO, last furnishing for the lien.
• Contractor's final payment affidavit. The contractor, as a prerequisite to suing to enforce its own lien, must deliver to the owner an affidavit stating that all lienors have been paid in full or listing those not paid, at least 5 days before instituting the action (F.S. 713.06(3)(d)).
• Owner's payments. Once an owner has received notices to owner, the owner is expected to see that those lienors are paid. The statute says the owner has no obligation to any lienor (other than a laborer) from whom it had not received a notice to owner at the time of making a payment.

Timeline summary

Public jobs: notice to contractor

You cannot lien public property. On public work, the protection is the payment bond under F.S. 255.05. A claimant not in privity with the contractor (except a laborer) serves the contractor with a written notice that it intends to look to the bond, before commencing or not later than 45 days after commencing to furnish. The same 45-day idea appears, but the notice goes to the contractor, not the owner. See bonds and insurance for the rest of the bond claim process.

A licensing angle: do not discourage an NTO

F.S. 489.129(1)(p) lists, as a ground for discipline of a licensed contractor, intimidating, threatening, coercing or otherwise discouraging the service of a notice to owner or a notice to contractor. A general contractor who tells a sub "don't send an NTO or you won't get the next job" is exposing its own license. More on the disciplinary statute in contractor license discipline.

Common exam traps

• 45 vs. 90 days. 45 days from first furnishing for the NTO; 90 days from final furnishing for the claim of lien.
• Laborers. They are not required to serve an NTO.
• The contractor. A contractor in privity with the owner does not serve an NTO.
• Final payment. The NTO must be served before the owner's final disbursement, even if 45 days have not passed.
• Public work. No lien on public property; the notice goes to the contractor for a bond claim.

Where to find it in your book

Chapter 713 is not one of the listed B&F references (the list is Chapter 455, the Builder's Guide to Accounting, the Contractors Manual and three AIA documents), so do not count on looking these deadlines up during the exam. Know the 45-day and 90-day numbers cold, and practice counting dates by hand.

Practice lien deadlines

Date-counting questions are easy points if you have done enough of them. Our Florida Business and Finance Exam Prep includes original lien law questions with every step explained, plus 90 days of practice across the full B&F exam. Related guides: notice of commencement, retainage and the B&F exam overview.