A conditional release of lien in Florida is a lien waiver that only takes effect once the contractor or supplier actually receives and clears the payment it was signed for. The authority comes from Florida Statute 713.20(7), which lets anyone releasing lien rights in exchange for a check condition that release on the check being paid.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens Until the money clears the bank, the lien rights stay intact. If the check bounces, the waiver never took effect, and the lienor is in the same position as before signing.
How Florida Creates a Conditional Release
Florida does not publish a separate “conditional release” form. The statute provides two standard waiver forms (one for progress payments, one for final payment) and then, in Section 713.20(7), allows either one to be made conditional on the payment actually clearing.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens In practice, contractors add language to the statutory form stating that the release is conditioned on receipt and clearance of the payment identified on the form. Without that added language, the waiver is unconditional and takes effect the moment it’s signed.
That distinction carries real money. Sign a standard form with no conditional language and the check bounces, and the lien rights may already be gone. Sign with the conditional language and the same bounced check leaves you exactly where you started.
Progress Payment or Final Payment: Pick the Right Form First
Before worrying about the conditional language, choose the correct underlying form. The two differ in what they release.
The progress payment waiver, in Section 713.20(4), covers work furnished through a specific date. It explicitly does not cover retainage or any work performed after that date.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens A subcontractor receiving a draw partway through the job signs this form and keeps lien rights for everything furnished afterward.
The final payment waiver, in Section 713.20(5), is broader. It releases all lien rights for the entire project with no carve-out for future work or retainage.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens Use the final payment version only after every dollar owed, including retainage, has been received. Signing a final waiver with retainage still outstanding is one of the most common and costly mistakes in Florida construction payment disputes.
Any of the four combinations is available: conditional progress, unconditional progress, conditional final, unconditional final.
What Goes on the Form
Both statutory forms call for the same core information. Each field matters, and the through date in particular can quietly give away rights if filled in carelessly.
- Lienor, customer, and property owner. On a small job these can be the same person; on larger projects they are typically three different entities.
- Payment amount. The exact dollar figure being exchanged, matching the draw, invoice, or remaining balance.
- Property description. The address and legal description as they appear in county records, so a title agent can tie the release to the right parcel.
- Through date (progress waivers only). The cutoff date for the work being released. Anything furnished after this date remains protected.
- Date and signature.
If the last pay application covered work through March 15, the through date is March 15, not the day the waiver happens to get signed. Picking the signing date instead can waive rights for work the contractor has not been paid for yet.
Signing, Delivery, Notarization, and Electronic Signatures
Florida does not require lien waivers to be notarized. The statutory forms include a signature line but say nothing about notarization. Some owners or lenders ask for it anyway as added assurance, but it is not a condition of validity.
Electronic signatures are valid. Florida adopted the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act in Section 668.50, which defines an electronic signature as any electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to a record and executed with the intent to sign.2Florida Legislature. Florida Code 668.50 – Uniform Electronic Transaction Act The federal E-SIGN Act provides a backstop. Waivers exchanged through construction management platforms, DocuSign-style tools, or signed PDFs sent by email are enforceable in Florida.
Delivery usually runs through a method that creates a paper trail: certified mail, email with read receipts, or a construction software platform that logs the exchange. On larger projects, an escrow agent or attorney sometimes holds both the signed release and the funds and swaps them at the same moment, which removes the trust gap entirely at the cost of adding a middleman.
When the Check Actually Clears
The conditional release is only as useful as the attention paid after it is handed over. Monitor the account until the funds clear. For an uncertified check, the Uniform Commercial Code treats the underlying payment obligation as suspended, not discharged, until the check is paid or dishonored.3Legal Information Institute. UCC 3-310 – Effect of Instrument on Obligation for Which Taken A cashier’s check or certified check discharges the obligation immediately because the bank has already guaranteed the funds. An uncertified personal or company check puts lien rights in limbo for the two to five business days it typically takes to clear.
Once the funds clear, the conditional release automatically becomes a binding waiver. No further paperwork is required. Getting written confirmation of receipt from the owner is still worth doing on projects with many payment cycles, purely as a practical record.
What Happens If the Check Bounces
This is the entire point of the conditional form. If the check fails, the condition was never satisfied, so the waiver never took effect and the lien rights remain intact as though the document had never been signed.
The owner is not left exposed. Section 713.20(7) provides that when there is no payment bond on the project, the owner can withhold from the contractor an amount equal to any unpaid conditional check until the condition is resolved.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens The subcontractor keeps lien rights, the owner holds money to cover the exposure, and the parties sort out why the payment failed.
What No One Can Make You Sign
Two statutory boundaries are worth knowing, because contracts and payment paperwork often push against them.
First, you cannot waive lien rights for work you have not yet performed. Section 713.20(2) makes any advance waiver of lien rights unenforceable; the rights can only be waived to the extent of labor or materials actually furnished.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens A contract clause requiring a subcontractor to sign away all future lien rights as a condition of getting the job is void.
Second, no one can force you to use a non-statutory form. Section 713.20(6) prohibits requiring a lienor to sign a waiver that differs from the two statutory forms.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens But Section 713.20(8) says a non-conforming waiver is still enforceable according to its own terms if you voluntarily sign it. In other words, you can refuse a custom form and insist on the statutory version; if you sign the custom form anyway, a court will hold you to whatever it says. Custom forms drafted by general contractors or owners sometimes release more than the signer intends. Stick with the statutory form, add the conditional language from 713.20(7), and the document is a known quantity.
The Owner’s Reason to Collect Them
Property owners rely on conditional waivers for a different reason than contractors do. Under Section 713.06, an owner can require the contractor to provide a sworn affidavit listing every subcontractor and supplier as a condition of each payment, and must hold back the final payment on a direct contract until that affidavit is furnished.4Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.06 – Rights of Persons Furnishing Labor or Materials Collecting a conditional waiver from each listed party on each draw is how owners document that payments actually reached the people entitled to lien the property. Florida law allows unpaid subcontractors to lien an owner’s property even after the owner has paid the general contractor in full,5Florida Senate. Florida Code 713.015 – Mandatory Provisions for Direct Contracts so the paper trail of conditional releases from every tier is the owner’s real protection.