Palm Beach County Notice of Commencement: Recording and Termination

To file a Palm Beach County Notice of Commencement, complete the county’s form with your property, owner, contractor, and lender information, sign it before a notary, and record the original with the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller — in person at a courthouse, by mail, at the Planning, Zoning & Building office on Wednesdays, or through an authorized e-recording vendor. Recording a standard two-page notice costs $18.50. Once it’s recorded, get a certified copy and post it at the job site before the first building inspection.¹

The document tells subcontractors, suppliers, and lenders who is on the project and where to send notices if they aren’t paid. Skip it and you can be forced to pay twice for the same work: once to your contractor and again to unpaid lienors who record claims against your property.

When You Actually Need One

Florida Statute 713.135 requires a certified copy of the recorded Notice of Commencement before the first inspection whenever the direct contract for the improvement exceeds $5,000.¹ Two situations sit outside the rule. Repair or replacement of an existing heating or air-conditioning system under a contract of less than $15,000 doesn’t require a notice — but that carve-out is only for repair or replacement, not a new HVAC installation. And preliminary work covered by a separate permit (temporary electrical service, land clearing, similar site prep) can proceed without one. Once actual construction starts, the notice needs to be on file.

Building permits in Florida carry a printed warning that failure to record a Notice of Commencement may result in paying for improvements twice. Without a recorded notice, the framework subcontractors use to send notices to owner breaks down, and the protections that framework gives you break down with it. The inspector also won’t approve anything past the first inspection until the certified copy is posted.

What to Gather Before You Fill Out the Form

Palm Beach County publishes its own Notice of Commencement form as a free download from the Clerk’s forms library and the Planning, Zoning & Building (PZB) department.² Have the following ready before you start:

The legal description of the property, the street address, and the Property Control Number (PCN) or tax folio number, pulled from your deed or the Property Appraiser’s records and matching exactly.³
The full name and address of the person contracting for the work and the nature of the ownership interest (fee simple, leasehold, and so on). If you’re a lessee, list yourself as the owner and separately identify the fee simple titleholder by name and address.
The name, address, and phone number of your general contractor, plus the building permit number.
Lender name, address, and phone number if construction is financed.
Surety company name, address, phone number, and bond amount if the contractor has a payment bond. Attach a copy of the bond.
A designated agent within Florida who can receive notices and documents on your behalf. This matters most if you live out of state.
Optionally, an additional person (your attorney or project manager, for example) designated to receive copies of notices to owner.
An expiration date. The default is one year from recording; enter a later date if your construction contract calls for a longer completion period.³

Errors in the legal description or owner name are where these filings most often go wrong. A mismatch with official county records can leave the document open to challenge. Verify every name, address, and parcel number against the deed and Property Appraiser data before signing.

Filling Out and Notarizing the Form

At the top of the form, complete the “Instrument Prepared By” block with the name and address of whoever is preparing it, whether that’s you, your attorney, or your contractor. Work through the numbered sections using the information you gathered. The “General Description of Improvement” is a short plain-language summary, such as “single-family residence construction” or “kitchen and bathroom renovation.”

The property owner signs in front of a notary public. If the owner is an entity, an authorized officer, director, partner, or manager signs. The notary verifies the signer’s identity and completes the acknowledgment at the bottom of the form. Florida notaries may charge up to $10 per notarial act, and many banks, UPS locations, and shipping centers offer the service.⁴ The Clerk’s office does not notarize documents, so take care of this before you head to record.

Any document missing a notary acknowledgment, required signatures, or the proper fees will be rejected at the recording counter.⁵

Where to Record in Palm Beach County

You have four ways to submit the notarized original to the Palm Beach County Clerk.

In person at a courthouse. Bring the original to any Clerk recording location: the Main Courthouse in West Palm Beach, the South County Courthouse at 200 W. Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach, the North County Courthouse at 3188 PGA Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens, the West County Courthouse, or the Royal Palm Beach branch. Walk-in hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.⁶

At the PZB office on Wednesdays. The Clerk offers recording services at the Palm Beach County Planning, Zoning & Building office at the Vista Center, 2300 N. Jog Road, 1st Floor, West Palm Beach, on Wednesdays only. It’s convenient if you’re pulling your building permit the same day. Credit card is the only accepted payment at this location.²

By mail. Send the notarized original to Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County Recording Department, PO Box 4177, West Palm Beach, FL 33402-4177. For express delivery, use the physical address at 205 N. Dixie Highway, Room 4.2500, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. Include full payment (no cash by mail) and a self-addressed stamped envelope; without it, the Clerk won’t return your recorded document.⁵

E-recording. Submit electronically through an authorized vendor. Palm Beach County accepts submissions from several vendors, including Simplifile, CSC eRecording Solutions, eRecording Partners Network, Deeds.com, and E-Recording Inc. It’s usually the fastest option.⁷

Recording Fees

Recording fees are set by Florida statute and apply the same way regardless of submission method: $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page.⁸ A standard Notice of Commencement runs two pages (the form and the legal description), so budget $18.50. Add $8.50 per additional page if you’re attaching a payment bond. E-recording vendors add their own service fee on top of the county fee.

Getting a Certified Copy and Posting It at the Job Site

Recording gets the document into the public record, but the statute requires you to post either a certified copy of the recorded notice or a notarized statement confirming the notice has been filed for recording, at the job site, in a visible location, before the first inspection.³ Without it posted on-site, the inspector won’t proceed.

Request a certified copy at the counter when you record in person, or order one by mail. In-person certified copies cost $1.00 per page, plus $2.00 to certify and $1.00 for a required cover page with an authentication QR code.⁹ A two-page notice comes out to $5.00. Electronically certified copies are $8.00 per document ($2.00 statutory fee plus $6.00 service fee).

Post the certified copy where workers, inspectors, and site visitors can see it, typically alongside the building permit placard.

Expiration, Amendments, and Changing Contractors

A Notice of Commencement expires one year after recording unless you specify a later date on the form.³ If your contract runs longer than a year, the notice needs to reflect that. Once it expires, it no longer preserves lien-priority protections, and that affects the whole project.

To extend the expiration, fix an error, or add information you missed, record an amendment. The amended notice must reference the official records book and page number of the original, and within 30 days of recording it, you must serve a copy on the contractor and every lienor who has already sent a notice to owner. One thing an amendment can’t do: change contractors. If you replace your general contractor, execute and record a new Notice of Commencement (or a notice of recommencement) rather than amending the original.

Ending It Early: Notice of Termination

If the project finishes and everyone is paid before the notice expires on its own, you can formally end it by recording a Notice of Termination under Florida Statute 713.132, but only after all lienors have been paid in full.¹⁰ The termination document repeats the information from the original notice, references the book and page where the original was recorded, sets a termination date at least 30 days out, and includes statements that all lienors have been paid and that you have served the termination on lienors with a direct contract with you and lienors who timely served a notice to owner. It must be accompanied by the contractor’s final payment affidavit under Section 713.06(3)(d). Filing a fraudulent termination, or colluding in one, exposes you and the contractor to damages owed to any lienor harmed by it.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.135 – Notice of Commencement and Applicability of Lien
2
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Notice of Commencement
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.13 – Notice of Commencement
4
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission
5
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Recording FAQ
6
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Recording
7
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. eRecording
8
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Recording Fees
9
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Copies and Records Research Fees
10
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.132 – Notice of Termination