Georgia law permits a person who has supplied goods and or labor to the improvement of real property the right to place a lien on said property if the work has not been paid for within 3 months after the date of completion of the work. After that time, the lien shall be valid for 365 days from the date of filing the claim of lien to file Notice of Suit. The lien shall be disregarded after 395 days from the filing of the lien if no Notice of Suit has been filed.
This is a concern for anyone improving or constructing a home, because the law allows subcontractors to file such liens as well.
A good way to prevent these types of liens from being filed upon property that you are working with is to obtain “lien waivers” from the contractors and subcontractors working on the property.
An “Interim Lien Waiver and Release upon Payment” can be used when there is a payment being made but the final work has not yet been completed.
An “Unconditional Waiver and Release Upon Final Payment” can be used when the final work has been completed.
Thank you to McManamy | McLeod | Heller, LLC for this valuable info!
