Attorney Steven J. Blair reviewed changes to Missouri’s mechanic’s lien law at a presentation for the HBA’s members last week. Several important aspects of the law highlighted by Blair included:
If the record title owner of residential real property has contracted with a Claimant for the performance or provision of work, labor or materials for the improvement of such property, in order to facilitate the owner’s sale of such property to a bona fide purchaser for value, then the owner or the owner’s designated agent must record an NIS in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in the county in which the property is located.
Recording of NIS is a condition precedent to a claimant’s obligation to record a NOR.
-NIS must be posted by the owner or owner’s designated agent.
-Can be posted on the subject property, at the entrance to the subject property, or at any job site office located at or near the subject property.
-Owner or designated agent must provide any claimant with a copy of the NIS (and a copy of the legal description of the subject property) within five calendar days after the date the owner or its designated agent receives a written request for the same from any such claimant.
-Owner or agent’s failure to post or mail or transmit the information, however, does not relieve the claimant of its claimant’s obligation to record a NOR.
-If the owner fails to provide the legal description of the property, then the claimant can claim as its sole and exclusive remedy the claimant’s actual and reasonable costs, excluding attorney’s fees, to obtain a legal description of the subject property necessary for the claimant to record its NOR, and those costs are considered lienable as well.
New Requirement – Recording of “Notice of Rights” (NOR)
“Claimants” who seek to retain the right to assert a mechanic’s lien against residential real property are required to “record” an NOR in the office of the Recorder of Deeds for the county in which the property is located not less than five calendar days prior to the intended date of closing stated in a “Notice of Intended Sale.”
What the NOR must include:
-Date: Date of the document.
-Owner: Identify property owner, as “Grantor”, by correct name.
-Claimant: Identify claimant, as “Grantee”, by correct name, current address, contact persons, and current telephone number.
-Property: Legal description of the property. (That means the actual legal description of the property, not just the physical address, etc.)
-Person contracting with Claimant for work: Identify person or entity contracting with claimant by correct name, current address and current telephone number.
-Persons performing work for or supplying materials to Claimant: Claimant may, but is not obligated to, identify any persons or entities which have or will be performing work or supplying materials on behalf of Claimant for the property. Said entities or persons must be identified by correct legal name, current address and current telephone number. (For a sample format of the NOR, click here.)
Additional requirements:
-NOR must be signed by a person authorized to execute the form on behalf of Claimant.
signature must be notarized.
-Name of the person signing the form must be printed legibly or typed immediately below the signature.
-Grantor’s signature is not required.
-No requirement that the claimant (“Grantee”) identify the amount of the lien.