Not sure whether notices of intent are required in your project's state? While there are benefits to sending NOIs wherever you are, here are the states that require them before a lien filing.
Here are some frequently asked questions about NOIs that will help you understand when to use the document, and how to leverage this tool to get paid!
Browse video lessons about what a notice of intent is, how it works, and when to send it.
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Ready to get paid faster? You can fire off a notice of intent to lien with Levelset in just a few minutes, and get your account closer to PAID status.
A notice of intent to lien (NOI) – sometimes called an intent notice or notice of non-payment – warns the property owner, prime contractor and/or other party that a mechanics lien or bond claim will be filed unless payment of overdue amounts is made within a certain period of time (i.e. 10 days). Although only legally required in a few states, there are benefits to sending these notices for projects in any state, as they are inexpensive and very effective at producing payment.
In some states and scenarios on private construction projects, notices of intent must be sent before a party is allowed to file a mechanics lien. There are no notice of intent requirements on state, federal, and other public works. The states requiring these notices are listed here:
Although notices of intent to lien are formally required in a handful of states, there are proven benefits to sending these notices on other accounts with an unpaid balance. In many ways, a notice of intent to lien can be a replacement for a demand letter or dunning letter, except that NOIs have the extra benefit of being relevant to parties other than the debtor and carry more overall weight. This results in demanding more attention and producing more success.
According to research by Levelset, 47% of NOIs produce payment within just twenty days of delivery – all without any further collection efforts or legal action. Many Levelset users have watched that success number increase to over 90% when examining a longer post-notice period, such as 90 days.
The notice of intent to lien tool is a perfect pressure release valve for the construction industry, which is notorious for payment abuses, delays, and working capital challenges. A survey by Construction Enquirer of more than 900 subcontracting firms found that more than half (50.4%) said they had to recently resort to legal action to get their bills paid. That’s an enormous statistic. And the success of notice of intent to lien claims appears to be a perfect antidote to the industry’s payment woes.
Additionally, notices of intent to lien can salvage important business relationships that are at risk. It’s common that delayed payment or non-payment is related to a communication problem on the project, or something simple.
A properly delivered notice of intent to lien document notifies key project stakeholders of a payment problem they may not otherwise know exists, and gives all parties an opportunity to resolve the problem before a more adversarial lien claim is filed.
Levelset makes sending Notice of Intent to Lien documents easy. We routinely deliver thousands of NOIs on construction projects across the country. Further, Levelset’s NOIs are engineered to succeed at producing payment and encouraging critical communication, which explains why users who implement and execute a NOI policy through Levelset’s platform commonly see payment success on NOIs in a vast majority of deliveries.
Is Notice of Intent required in your state? While there are benefits to sending NOIs wherever you are, the United States map below will give you an answer at a quick glance to if your state requires it. Even if it's not required in your state, sending an NOI is an effective way to speed up payment. Click on any state below to view or download a free NOI form that meets the requirements of that state.
This document can be pretty easily misunderstood, and is frequently confused with other construction notice documents. When you're unpaid on a job, the last stress you need is trying to figure out the finer details of which type of notice to send, and how. So, here are some frequently asked questions that can help.
A Notice of Intent to Lien is a document sent to warn the recipient that there is a problem with a payment, and that a lien will be filed if the dispute is not resolved.
A Notice of Intent is typically sent after a preliminary notice and before a lien is filed. When required, the deadline to send a Notice of Intent is measured backwards from the lien filing date. Watch this video to learn when the best time to send your NOI is.
Sending Notice of Intent before filing a lien is required in Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. When not required, sending this notice can be incredibly effective at getting the noticing party paid.
This notice informs the GC of your claim so they can attempt to resolve the dispute before a lien is filed. This is helpful for the GC if they don't know you haven't been paid, and to help them avoid lien filings on their job.
Sending Notice of Intent is an incredibly effective tool for getting paid. In some states, it is required to protect lien rights.
Levelset data shows that more than 47% of NOIs are paid within 20 days of delivery. Levelset users with NOI policies see 90% of NOIs paid within 90 days.
I submitted an NTO for a project that started 12/7/22 - 12/27/22. However, through change orders, the project has continued through 4/24/23. My last payment.
I sent a prelim notice for the first invoice, which prompted immediate payment on that invoice, but now the second invoice is past due which.
I was working a residential bathroom remodel, the contract was for 22627.01, including tile cost when selected and with change orders and additional work, verified.
This page has a lot of information. You may find these short videos helpful as a summary of everything you really need to know about notices of intent to lien.
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