Nonresponsibility Notices and Their Effects

Sometime the tenant will hire a contractor to do the construction improvements they have permission to preform on their leased or rented property. Any mechanic’s lien by said contractor for nonpayment first attaches to the tenant’s leasehold interest in the property, but a mechanic’s lien for unpaid labor and materials may become attached to the fee simple interest held by the landlord if the landlord or property manager has knowledge of the construction taking place and fails to post and record a Notice of Nonresponsibility.  Type in RPI Form 597

The Form for Notice of Nonresponsibility must be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises within 10-days of the landlord or their property manage first having knowledge of the construction. This form must also be filed with the county recorders office within the same 10-day period. If the property manager or landlord fails to post and file the notice is not personally responsibility to the contractor but the contractor can still lien the landlord’s interest in the real estate to pay for materials and labor to improve the property under contract to the tenant.

If the lease or rental agreement called for the tenant to make mandatory improvements even when the landlord has posted a Notice of Nonresponsibility.

When an agreement authorizes a tenant to make nonmandatory improvements it shows that the tenant is not acting in the landlord’s interest so the property is not subjected to the mechanic’s lien if the Notice of Nonresponnsibility has been properly posted and recorded.

Before acting on any information obtained from this article it is advised the any one and everyone contact legal counsel prior to any and all acts.

Note: Images on this blog site are from a free source or taken by the author. No image or group of photos is intended to represent the people the author serves. The author does not care about Race (that is a politically correct term that he does not like because we are all of the same Race, the Human Race. He prefers the term ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender, marital status, disability, genetic information, national origin, source of income, Veteran or military status, ancestry, citizenship, primary language or immigration status.) He is a service provider for all people. We will all rise together when we band together and help one another. Joseph Erwin is a Real Estate Broker, DRE # O2131799, and a CA general contractor # B 696662. He’s a member of the CRMLS and The East Valley Association of Realtors located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.