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A "design professionals' lien" is filed to place a lien against a property for unpaid bills arising from a construction project or other form of work of improvement. This special lien is only available to licensed architects, landscape architects, registered professional engineers, or licensed land surveyors. This type of lien is used when no actual construction has commenced yet (i.e. after all the drawings are complete and building permits issued, the landowner decides to no longer proceed with the development and does not pay the architect). If actual construction has already commenced (i.e. grading, foundation work, framing, etc), then a regular construction lien should be used instead..
A lien will "cloud" the property title and make it difficult for the property owner to sell the property or obtain a loan until it has been removed by the person who filed the lien. If the design professional is still not paid after filing the lien, the design professional can enforce the lien by filing a lawsuit to foreclose on the property in order to repay the amount owed. Due to expensive court costs and long waiting periods, it is best to use the construction lien as leverage to obtain payment and avoid the court system. If payment is still not received after filing the lien, you should consider filing a lawsuit to foreclose.
My Legal Depot will take the confusion out of preparing and filing your design professionals' lien by taking care of all the necessary steps. Our experienced staff will research the property profile, obtain the legal description, and review your order for errors and discrepancies. Afterwards, we will prepare and file your lien with the appropriate government agency. A notice of lien will be mailed to the property owner after the lien has been filed.
Preparing a design professionals' lien can be complicated, time consuming, and expensive. My Legal Depot has registered Legal Document Assistants (LDAs) that have experience in preparing and filing thousands of legal documents. Let us prepare and file your legal documents promptly and accurately at affordable rates.
Note: We only prepare and file design professionals' liens in California. In most other states, design professionals can file a regular construction lien instead. .
My Legal Depot makes it simple to prepare and file your Design Professionals' Lien. Complete our simple online questionnaire and we will take care of the rest. If you need customer support, we are just a phone call away (Customer Support: 800-820-2144).
Complete our simple online questionnaire. If you are unable to finish the questionnaire, we will save your answers and you can complete the questionnaire at a later time (save feature only available to registered users). If you need customer support, we are just a phone call away (Customer Support: 800-820-2144).
Our experienced staff will research the property profile and review your order for errors and inconsistencies. We will prepare and email you a copy of the document to review within 2 business days.* If you do not have a printer, we can have a hard copy mailed to you at no extra charge.
After reviewing the document, simply print and sign. If you have selected the basic package, you must self-file the documents with the appropriate county recorders office. If you have selected the complete package, the you must mail the original document to our office and we will complete a thorough review to ensure accuracy and completeness.
If you have selected the complete package, your documents will be filed with the County Recorder using our Expedited Filing Service.** Filed copies of your document will be sent to you via email and the original copies with the government filing number will be returned via USPS. Lastly, we will mail a copy of the filed lien to all interested parties. If you have selected the basic package, then you must self-file and mail lien notices to all interested parties on your own.
*Documents will be prepared and emailed to you within 2 business days. Delays are uncommon, but may occur due to uncontrollable circumstances.
**Expedited filing will take 2-5 business days from the date of receipt of your original documents. Filing delays are uncommon, but may occur due to uncontrollable circumstances.
Complete Package |
Basic Package |
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Title research to verify and confirm property ownership |
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| Preparation of your documents plus a thorough review for errors | ||
| Expedited Filing Service | ||
| Filing fees | ||
| A second review for post-signing errors | ||
| Design Professionals' Lien Package Price | $350.00 | $225.00 |
Effective January 1, 2018, the California Senate passed Senate Bill 2 which adds an additional $75.00 filing fee for each real estate related document filed. This fee is levied per property, per document title. Once we complete the title research, our team will notify you if there are any additional fees due. You will have an opportunity to cancel if you decide not to proceed. Most of the time, there are no additional fees due.
Lien laws vary from state to state. For a summary of your state's lien laws, please select the state where the job site is located.
A “Design Professionals’ Lien” is filed to place a lien against a property for unpaid bills arising from a construction project or other form of work of improvement. This special lien is only available to licensed architects, landscape architects, registered professional engineers, or licensed land surveyors. This type of lien is used when no actual construction has commenced yet (i.e. after all the drawings are complete and building permits issued, the landowner decides to no longer proceed with the development and does not pay the architect). If actual construction has already commenced (i.e. grading, foundation work, framing, etc), then a regular construction lien should be used instead.
A lien will “cloud” the property title and make it difficult for the property owner to sell the property or obtain a loan until it has been removed by the person who filed the lien. If the design professional is still not paid after filing the lien, the design professional can enforce the lien by filing a lawsuit to foreclose on the property in order to repay the amount owed.
In order to file a Design Professionals’ Lien, you must be a licensed architect, landscape architect, registered professional engineer, or licensed land surveyor.[1] In order to file a Design Professionals Lien, the design professional must satisfy the following requirements:
The design professional must have a written contract with the landowner.[2]
The landowner must default in a payment required under the contract or refuse to pay the demand of the design professional made under the contract.[3]
A building permit or other governmental approval in furtherance of the work of improvement has been obtained in connection with or utilizing the services provided by the design professional; the building permit or other governmental approval must be obtained before a design professionals’ lien can be filed.[4]
The work of improvement for which the design professional provided services has not commenced [5] (i.e. the landowner has not yet used the architect’s drawings to start actual construction).
The design professionals’ lien must be filed no later than 90 days after the design professional knows or has reason to know that the work of improvement will not be commenced.[6]
Not less than 10 days before recording a claim of lien, the design professional gives the landowner notice making a demand for payment and stating that a default has occurred under the contract and the amount of the default.[7]
A design professional may not file a Design Professionals’ Lien if the work of improvement relates to a single-family, owner-occupied residence for which the expected construction cost is less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).[8]
List of Cited Statutes and Case Laws for further research
A design professionals’ lien can be enforced by filing a lawsuit to foreclose on the lien. The lawsuit is often very complex and should be processed by an attorney licensed to practice law in the state where the property is located. If you need a referral to a construction law attorney in your area, please contact our office.
The lien will expire after 90 calendar days from the date the lien was filed unless the lien is enforced by a foreclosure lawsuit.[1] Even though a lien is considered expired, it will still continue to “cloud” the property title and make it difficult for the property owner to sell the property or obtain a loan until the lien is removed by the person who filed the lien.
Due to expensive court costs and long waiting periods, it is best to use the lien as leverage to obtain payment and avoid the court system. However, if full repayment is not made within 90 calendar days from the date the lien was filed, the claimant should consider moving forward with the lawsuit to foreclose.
List of Cited Statutes and Case Laws for further research
A design professionals’ lien automatically expires under the following circumstances:
The commencement of the work of improvement for which the design professional provided services.[1] Basically, if actual construction starts, then the design professionals’ lien will expire and the design professional should consider filing a construction lien instead.
The lien will expire after 90 calendar days from the date the lien was filed unless the lien is enforced by a foreclosure lawsuit.[2]
The landowner pays the design professional who filed the lien; if a partial payment is received, a partial release of lien should be filed to update the records accordingly.[3]
List of Cited Statutes and Case Laws for further research