Moody and Shea, P.A.

What is the Effect of the Failure to Obtain a Notice of Commencement?

The owner is required, prior to actually commencing an improvement, to sign and record a Notice of Commencement in the official public records maintained by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and post at the site of the construction, either a certified copy of the Notice of Commencement, or a notarized statement to the effect that the Notice of Commencement has been filed for recording, along with a copy of the unrecorded Notice of Commencement. The exception to this requirement is for projects where the amount of the direct contract with the owner is in the total amount of $2,500.00 or less. The Notice of Commencement must be in substantially the form provided in Florida Statutes section 713.13. The Notice of Commencement will be automatically ineffective, and legally null and void, if the improvement described in the Notice of Commencement does not start within ninety (90) days after recording the Notice of Commencement.

Prior to 1991, the failure to record a Notice of Commencement prevented the owner from using the proper payments defense, but that prohibition has since been removed from the statute.

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