The Florida Notice to Owner form, line by line

"Substantially the following form"

Florida prescribes the Notice to Owner in the statute itself. Section 713.06(2)(c) introduces it with one sentence that sets the rule for every NTO in the state:

The notice may be in substantially the following form and must include the information and the warning contained in the following form:

Two halves. The layout only has to be substantially the statute's form, so fonts, spacing and letterhead are yours to choose. But the information and the warning are mandatory. Below is the form as enacted, one block at a time, with what belongs in each blank.

Need it blank, to print and fill in by hand? The same §713.06(2)(c) text is a free printable PDF, blanks left blank, no email gate.

Block 1: the warning

The form opens with three capitalized sentences. They are not boilerplate you may trim; they are the "warning" the statute says must be included.

WARNING! FLORIDA'S CONSTRUCTION LIEN LAW ALLOWS SOME UNPAID CONTRACTORS, SUBCONTRACTORS, AND MATERIAL SUPPLIERS TO FILE LIENS AGAINST YOUR PROPERTY EVEN IF YOU HAVE MADE PAYMENT IN FULL.

UNDER FLORIDA LAW, YOUR FAILURE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE PAID MAY RESULT IN A LIEN AGAINST YOUR PROPERTY AND YOUR PAYING TWICE.

TO AVOID A LIEN AND PAYING TWICE, YOU MUST OBTAIN A WRITTEN RELEASE FROM US EVERY TIME YOU PAY YOUR CONTRACTOR.

Block 2: the heading and the addressee

NOTICE TO OWNER

To (Owner's name and address)

The owner's name and address come from the recorded Notice of Commencement when there is one. When there is not, §713.06(2)(e) allows the lienor to rely on the building permit application:

A lienor, in the absence of a recorded notice of commencement, may rely on the information contained in the building permit application to serve the notice prescribed in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c).

Block 3: what you are furnishing, and to which property

The undersigned hereby informs you that he or she has furnished or is furnishing services or materials as follows:

(General description of services or materials)

for the improvement of the real property identified as (property description)

under an order given by

These three blanks are the "information" §713.06(2)(a) requires: the nature of the services or materials furnished or to be furnished, and a description sufficient for identification of the real property. "Under an order given by" names the party you contracted with: the contractor for a subcontractor, the subcontractor for a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to one. Note the tense the statute allows: "has furnished or is furnishing." The notice can go out before the first delivery.

A street address alone is often enough to identify a house; a legal description or parcel number is safer on larger or unaddressed parcels. The statute asks for a description "sufficient for identification," and whether a given description meets that standard is a legal question.

Block 4: the sentence that explains why the owner is reading this

Florida law prescribes the serving of this notice and restricts your right to make payments under your contract in accordance with Section 713.06, Florida Statutes.

This is the line that tells the owner the notice is a creature of statute, not a collection letter, and that it changes what counts as a proper payment to the contractor.

Block 5: the owner-protection block

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR YOUR PROTECTION

Under Florida's laws, those who work on your property or provide materials and are not paid have a right to enforce their claim for payment against your property. This claim is known as a construction lien.

If your contractor fails to pay subcontractors or material suppliers or neglects to make other legally required payments, the people who are owed money may look to your property for payment, EVEN IF YOU HAVE PAID YOUR CONTRACTOR IN FULL.

PROTECT YOURSELF:

—RECOGNIZE that this Notice to Owner may result in a lien against your property unless all those supplying a Notice to Owner have been paid.

—LEARN more about the Construction Lien Law, Chapter 713, Part I, Florida Statutes, and the meaning of this notice by contacting an attorney or the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Nothing here is optional either. The block is written to the owner in the second person and it stays on the form whoever the lienor is.

Block 6: signature, name, address, copies

(Lienor's Signature)

(Lienor's Name)

(Lienor's Address)

Copies to:

The name and address are the third piece of required information from §713.06(2)(a). The "Copies to" line lists the parties who receive a copy under paragraphs (2)(a) and (2)(b): the contractor for a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a subcontractor, the subcontractor when a supplier to a sub-subcontractor knows that subcontractor's address, and any person the owner designated in the Notice of Commencement. The who-receives page walks through each role.

One form, two jobs on a bonded project

The form may be combined with a notice to contractor given under s. 255.05 or s. 713.23 and, if so, may be entitled "NOTICE TO OWNER/NOTICE TO CONTRACTOR."

On a bonded job the NTO and the notice to contractor can share one document. The payment-bond notice itself is a different statutory form; the free Notice of Nonpayment generator covers §713.23(1)(d).

When a line is wrong

If a lienor has substantially complied with the provisions of paragraphs (a), (b), and (c), errors or omissions do not prevent the enforcement of a claim against a person who has not been adversely affected by such omission or error. However, a lienor must strictly comply with the time requirements of paragraph (a).

Read the two sentences together. A typo in the property description that misleads nobody may be survivable. Serving on day 46 is not. That is why the calculator and the wizard both push the mail-by date to day 40, the date §713.18(2) uses for effective-on-mailing service.

What NoticeSent prints

The wizard asks for the facts in Blocks 2, 3 and 6, prints the form with the warning and the owner-protection block exactly as enacted, adds the statutory citations to the document, and certified-mails it to every recipient the statute names for your role, for one flat $39. The document, the tracking numbers and a timestamped record stay on a permanent archive page.

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