Cal. Civ. Code §8200 · §8204 · §8110 — California preliminary notice service
California preliminary
notice, filled and mailed
to all three. $39 flat.
A 3-minute wizard becomes the 20-day notice, certified-mailed to the owner, direct contractor and lender — postage, tracking and permanent proof included.
Already past 20 days? You are not shut out — §8204(a) lets a claimant give the notice at any time thereafter, and it reaches back 20 days from the day it is served. What that costs you per day of waiting.
Statutory text pinned from leginfo.legislature.ca.gov — cited on every document.
NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER — EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE PAID YOUR CONTRACTOR IN FULL, if the person or firm that has given you this notice is not paid in full… a lien may be placed on your property…
Past 20 days? Read this first
Most people reading this page are already late, so here is the rule in the statute's own words rather than a warning. Civil Code §8204(a):
“A preliminary notice shall be given not later than 20 days after the claimant has first furnished work on the work of improvement. If work has been provided by a claimant who did not give a preliminary notice, that claimant shall not be precluded from giving a preliminary notice at any time thereafter. The claimant shall, however, be entitled to record a lien, give a stop payment notice, and assert a claim against a payment bond only for work performed within 20 days prior to the service of the preliminary notice, and at any time thereafter.”
Two things follow, and both are worth knowing before you decide what to do.
The claimant “shall not be precluded from giving a preliminary notice at any time thereafter.” Serving late is expressly contemplated by the statute, not forbidden by it.
A late notice reaches work performed in the 20 days before it is served, and everything after. Serve it today and yesterday's work is inside that window; wait a week and the oldest week of work has fallen outside it. Whether that covers what you are owed is a question for your attorney — but the arithmetic only runs one way.
Not sure which date starts your clock? The free deadline calculator applies §8204(a) to your first-furnishing date and cites every rule it uses. No account, no charge.
The form is free. This is the other 90%
A blank preliminary notice costs nothing to download, and if you want to fill and mail it yourself, that is a perfectly good plan — the calculator above is free and cites the rules. What the $39 buys is everything after the form:
§8200(a) names the owner, the direct contractor, and the construction lender if there is one. That is three separate mailings; every one of them is included in the flat price.
§8110: notice by mail “shall be given by registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier.” We send certified with tracking, and §8116 makes mail notice complete when it is deposited.
The document, the tracking number for each recipient, and the deposit timestamp live on a permanent archive page. The dispute that needs this evidence usually arrives months after the mailing.
One flat $39 covers all of it, whatever the number of required recipients. Optional add-ons: signature proof on every piece, and a ready-to-sign affidavit of mailing.
Who must be noticed
Civil Code §8200(a) names three recipients. The wizard plans them from your role, prompts for the lender, and you verify every name and address before paying — we mail exactly what you verified.
"The owner or reputed owner" (§8200(a)(1)).
The direct contractor "to which the claimant provides work, either directly or through one or more subcontractors" (§8200(a)(2)).
"The construction lender or reputed construction lender, if any" (§8200(a)(3)). A claimant contracting directly with the owner notices only the lender (§8200(e)(2)); a laborer is not required to give the notice at all (§8200(e)(1)).
Contents follow §8102 and §8202: the parties, the site, a general description of the work, an estimate of the total price, and the bold-type Notice to Property Owner statement, printed verbatim. Compliance with §8200 “is a necessary prerequisite to the validity of a lien claim or stop payment notice” (§8200(c)).
How it works
Answer a short wizard
Parties, site, estimate, first-furnishing date — about 3 minutes. The document carries the exact statutory language and citations.
We certified-mail every required recipient
Owner, direct contractor, lender when one exists (§8200(a)) — submitted for certified mailing in minutes of payment. You verify every name and address before paying.
Your evidence archive
The PDF, the certified tracking number for each recipient, and a timestamped record of when each piece was deposited — the fact §8116 turns on — kept on a permanent page.
Questions, answered straight
I am past 20 days. Is it too late?
No — the statute is explicit that a late claimant is not shut out. Civil Code §8204(a): a claimant who did not give a preliminary notice "shall not be precluded from giving a preliminary notice at any time thereafter," but is then entitled to record a lien, give a stop payment notice, or claim against a payment bond "only for work performed within 20 days prior to the service of the preliminary notice, and at any time thereafter." In plain terms: the notice still works going forward, and it reaches back 20 days from the day it is served — so the window keeps moving while you wait. Whether that covers what you are owed is a question for your attorney.
The form is free to download. Why pay $39?
The form is the easy part. Compliance is giving it to three different parties — the owner, the direct contractor and the construction lender if there is one (§8200(a)) — by registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery (§8110), and then still having the proof months later when it matters. The $39 covers the filled document, certified mailing with tracking to every required recipient, and a permanent archive of what was sent, to whom, and when it was deposited. If you would rather do it yourself, the deadline calculator on this site is free and cites every rule it applies.
Do I need a return receipt (green card)?
Not under the statute. §8110 says notice by mail "shall be given by registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier" — it does not require a return receipt, and §8116 makes mail notice complete when deposited, not when signed for. Certified mail with tracking is what we send by default. Signature proof is an optional add-on if you want the delivery signature on record.
I do not know whether there is a construction lender.
§8200(a)(3) names "the construction lender or reputed construction lender, if any" — the phrase "if any" is in the statute, and §8102(a) asks for the required contents to the extent known to the claimant. The wizard prompts for a lender and lets you proceed without one, recording what you did know. If you learn of a lender later, sending a further notice is straightforward.
Who has to give a California preliminary notice?
Under §8200, a claimant gives preliminary notice to the owner, the direct contractor, and the construction lender (if any) before recording a lien, giving a stop payment notice, or claiming against a payment bond. §8200(e) carves out two cases: a laborer is not required to give the notice, and a claimant who contracted directly with the owner gives it only to the construction lender, if any. Whether that describes your situation is a legal question we cannot answer.
Is this legal advice?
No. NoticeSent is a document preparation and mailing service, not a law firm. We prepare and mail documents from the information you provide and give no advice or guarantees about outcomes.
What exactly do I get?
The generated preliminary notice PDF with the §8202 Notice to Property Owner statement, USPS certified mailing with tracking to each required recipient, and a permanent archive page with a timestamped record of every step — for one flat $39.
A Notice of Intent to Lien, generated and certified-mailed to the owner — and the contractor, if you choose — for $49 flat, any state.
Send a Notice of Intent to Lien — $49Run the 20-day calculator once per job and we'll email you 10, 5, and 2 days before the statutory deadline. No account; stop anytime.
Track a deadline freeGo deeper · each page written from the pinned statute
- Late notice: what §8204(a) says after 20 days
- The 20-day rule: where the twenty days come from, how to count them
- What a preliminary notice is, and what it is not
- Pre-lien notice, preliminary lien notice: the same document by other names
- The form, every required line (§8102, §8202)
- Who must receive it: owner, direct contractor, lender
- How to send it: §8106, §8110 and the deposit rule in §8116
- The 20-day rule, explained from the statute
- Free deadline calculator: your 20-day date from first furnishing
The window moves every day it waits.
Filled, mailed to all three, archived. One flat $39.
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- California 20-day preliminary notice: who, when, what, and how to serve it
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