A Florida Notice of Contest of Lien is a one-page document you record with the county clerk to shorten a construction lienor’s enforcement window from one year to 60 days. Once the clerk serves the notice, the lienor must file a foreclosure lawsuit within those 60 days or the lien is extinguished automatically, with no court order needed.1Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.22 – Duration of Lien The process is governed by Florida Statute 713.22, and either you or your attorney can prepare and sign the notice.
What the Notice Does to the Lien
A recorded construction lien in Florida is normally enforceable for one year from the date of recording.2Florida Senate. Florida Code 713.22 – Duration of Lien During that year, the lienor can sit on the claim and leave it clouding your title. The notice of contest ends that waiting game. Filing it forces the lienor to either sue within 60 days of service or lose the lien entirely.
Before you file, think about whether you want to provoke a lawsuit. If the underlying debt is legitimate, the contest notice may trigger litigation you would rather avoid, and the prevailing party in a lien foreclosure action is entitled to reasonable attorney fees and costs at both the trial and appellate levels.3Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.29 – Attorney Fees If the lienor sues and wins, you could owe their fees. If you believe the lien is baseless, inflated, or stale, the contest notice is a direct and inexpensive way to force the issue.
Information to Pull From the Recorded Lien
Start by pulling the recorded claim of lien from the county’s official records, either at the clerk’s office or through the county’s online records portal. You need three pieces of information from that document before you draft anything.
- The lienor’s full legal name and business address, copied exactly as they appear on the recorded claim of lien. The clerk will serve your notice at the address shown on the claim of lien or its most recent amendment, so this has to be right.
- The Official Records Book number and Page number stamped on the recorded lien by the clerk. These link your contest to the specific lien you are challenging.
- The full legal description of the property, taken from the recorded lien or your deed. A street address is not sufficient; you need the technical legal description that appears in county records.
Getting the lienor’s address right matters beyond simple accuracy. If the clerk’s certified mail comes back undeliverable, the 60-day clock may never start, and Section 713.22 does not spell out what happens next. You would likely need to explore alternative service methods, including posting at the job site, which Section 713.18 permits when mail and hand delivery cannot be accomplished.4Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.18 – Service Copying the address straight from the recorded lien avoids this trap.
Drafting and Signing the Notice
Section 713.22(2) prints a short statutory template, and the statute says your document must use “substantially the following form.”1Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.22 – Duration of Lien The template reads like a short letter: it addresses the lienor by name and address, states the date the lien was filed, references the book and page where it was recorded, identifies the county, and declares that the lienor’s time to sue is now limited to 60 days from service. Minor phrasing variations will not invalidate the notice, but stay as close to the template as possible to avoid any sufficiency challenge.
Either the property owner or the owner’s attorney can sign. The statute does not require notarization, and the template includes only a signature line, with no notary block. Some county clerk offices have their own intake preferences for recorded documents, so it is worth calling the recording department before you show up to confirm whether they want a notarized signature. A Florida notary can charge up to $10 per in-person acknowledgment.5Florida Statutes. Florida Code 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission
Recording the Notice and Paying Fees
Take the completed notice to the Clerk of the Court’s recording department in the county where the property sits. The base statutory recording fee under Florida law is $5.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each additional page.6Florida Statutes. Florida Code 28.24 – Service Charges by Clerk of the Circuit Court County surcharges typically bring the total to around $10 for the first page at many clerk offices. Because the notice is usually a single page, recording costs stay modest.
You will also pay a separate fee for the clerk to serve the notice by certified mail. Lee County, for example, lists its certified mail postage for a contest of lien at $9.70 per mailing, and other counties charge similar amounts.7Lee County Clerk of Court. Fees and Costs Expect to pay the recording fee and the mailing fee together at the counter.
How the Clerk Serves the Lienor
You do not need to hire a process server. The statute puts the service obligation on the clerk. After recording, the clerk serves a copy on the lienor using one of the methods listed in Section 713.18, most commonly certified mail, though hand delivery, registered mail, and Global Express Guaranteed delivery are also permitted.4Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.18 – Service The clerk sends the notice to the address shown on the claim of lien or its most recent amendment, certifies the service and the date of service on the face of the notice, records the notice with that certification, and then sends a copy of the recorded notice to both the lienor and the owner or the owner’s attorney.
Counting the 60 Days
The date that matters is the date of service, not the date you recorded the notice. Look at the clerk’s certification on the face of the recorded notice for the exact service date, and count 60 calendar days forward from there. If the lienor does not file a foreclosure lawsuit within that window, the lien is extinguished automatically. No court order is required, and you do not need to file any additional paperwork.
If the lienor does sue within the 60 days, they must also record a notice of lis pendens in the county records for the lawsuit to affect the property’s title as against later purchasers or creditors.8Florida Senate. Florida Code 48.23 – Lis Pendens A lis pendens tied to a Chapter 713 lien claim remains in effect for the duration of the litigation.
When You Need the Lien Off the Title Faster
Sixty days is still too long if a sale or refinancing is pending. Florida Statute 713.24 lets any person with an interest in the property transfer the lien from the real estate to a cash deposit or surety bond filed with the clerk.9Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.24 – Transfer of Liens to Security The lien then attaches to the deposit or bond rather than the real estate, which clears the title immediately.
The required amount is substantial: the full lien claim, plus three years of interest at the legal rate, plus the greater of $5,000 or 25 percent of the lien amount to cover potential attorney fees and court costs. A surety bond must be issued by an insurer licensed in Florida, and a cash deposit triggers an additional registry fee. You can use both tools together, transferring the lien to a bond to clear the title for a closing and simultaneously filing a notice of contest to force the lienor to litigate within 60 days rather than sitting on the bond.
If the Lien Is Fraudulent
If the lien was inflated or fabricated, Florida law gives you more than the contest procedure. Under Section 713.31, a property owner harmed by a fraudulent lien can recover court costs, clerk’s fees, reasonable attorney fees for getting the lien discharged, the cost of any bond premium paid to transfer the lien, interest on any cash deposit, and punitive damages.10Florida Statutes. Florida Code 713.31 – Penalties for Violations Punitive damages are capped at the difference between the amount the lienor claimed and the amount actually owed. A court finding that the lien is fraudulent also serves as a complete defense to its enforcement, and willfully filing a fraudulent lien is a third-degree felony under the same statute.