HB 2058 -- Mechanic's Liens Against Residential Real Property

Sponsor:  Diehl

This bill establishes procedures for asserting a mechanic's lien
against residential real property.  In its main provisions, the
bill:

(1)  Requires certain persons seeking to retain the right to
assert a mechanic's lien against residential real property to
record, or be accurately identified in, a public notice which
must be recorded with the recorder of deeds for each county in
which the property is located;

(2)  Requires every original contractor, registered architect,
registered professional engineer, registered landscape architect,
registered land surveyor, or a corporation registered to practice
those professions who seeks to retain the right to assert a
mechanic's lien against the residential real property to record,
or be accurately identified in, a notice of intent to perform.
The notice will be effective to initiate lien rights for any
person identified in the notice.  A person recording the notice
must also post a copy of the notice on or immediately adjacent to
the property and provide a copy of or reasonable access to the
notice to every person identified in the notice.  Failure to post
or provide the notice will not defeat the lien rights of any
person identified in the notice and it will not relieve any
person from the requirement to record notice or be identified in
a recorded notice;

(3)  Requires every subcontractor or supplier who is not an
original contractor and who seeks to retain the right to assert a
mechanic's lien against residential real property and is not
accurately identified in a previously recorded notice of intent
to perform to record, or be accurately identified in, a notice of
commencement which is effective to initiate lien rights for any
person identified in the notice within certain specified time
frames.  A person recording the notice must provide a copy of, or
reasonable access to, the notice to every person identified on
the notice.  Failure to post or provide the notice does not
defeat the lien rights of any person identified in the notice and
it will not relieve any person from the requirement to record
notice or be identified in a recorded notice;

(4)  Specifies that a notice of commencement recorded after the
residential real property has been conveyed to a third party, who
has provided fair value and acted in good faith, will be not
effective to preserve lien rights.  The person recording the
notice of commencement will not waive any right to recover the
charges for the labor, materials, or services from the seller of
the property and will be entitled to recover three times the
charges upon proving that the seller had actual knowledge that
the labor, materials, or services were provided by the person,
enhanced the value of the property, and that the seller acted in
bad faith and for the purpose of not paying the charges;

(5)  Requires any recorded notice to contain the name and, if
known, the address of the owner of the residential real property;
the name, address, telephone number, and email address and
facsimile number, if any, of the person recording the notice; the
legal description of the property; and the name, address,
telephone number, and email address and facsimile number, if
known, of every person with whom the person recording the notice
has contracted to provide labor, materials, or services for the
improvements to the property;

(6)  Specifies that any person who fails to record a notice or
any person whose name is not accurately identified in any
recorded notice will be deemed to have waived any rights to
assert a mechanic's lien;

(7)  Requires a recorded notice to expire two years after the
date on which it is recorded unless extended by the recording of
a continuation notice prior to the two years;

(8)  Allows a person providing labor, services, or materials for
the improvement of residential real property to waive his or her
right to assert a mechanic's lien by executing a partial or full
waiver of lien rights;

(9)  Specifies that an unconditional, final lien waiver is a
complete and absolute waiver of any lien rights; is only valid if
it contains a heading, title, or label in at least 12-point bold
type stating "Unconditional Final Lien Waiver"; and must include,
to the extent applicable:

(a)  The name, address, and telephone number of the person
executing the unconditional final lien waiver;

(b)  The legal description or address of the property for which
the lien waiver applies;

(c)  A statement that all work, other than remedial or
additional, has been completed or identifying what work must be
completed, the cost or charges for that work, and the agreed
means for paying the charges; and

(d)  An acknowledgment by the person executing it that all lien
rights are waived as to the property;

(10)  Creates the crime of lien fraud, a class B misdemeanor,
when a person knowingly refuses or knowingly fails within 10
business days after receiving a written request to execute an
unconditional, final lien waiver for the property and who has
provided no labor, materials, or services for the property or who
has been paid in full for the labor, materials, or services.  A
person will be guilty of lien fraud, a class C misdemeanor, if he
or she intentionally refuses or intentionally fails within 10
business days after receiving a written request to reasonably
identify the labor, materials, or services provided for the
property less any payments received;

(11)  Prohibits a lien from being attached to residential real
property if a bond in the amount of at least one and one-half
times the charges claimed has been procured from a surety
company; and

(12)  Prohibits a lien from being attached to the real property
if the owner or the original contractor has procured a bond from
a surety company in the amount of at least 150% of all mechanics'
lien claims filed prior to the recorded notice of the bond and
has recorded a notice of the bond.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 14, 2010 at 3:12 pm