2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 14 - Mortgages, Conveyances to Secure Debt, and Liens
Article 8 - Liens
Part 3 - Mechanics and Materialmen
§ 44-14-367. Notice; Required Statement
Failure of a lien claimant to commence a lien action to collect the amount of his or her claim within 365 days from the date of filing the lien, or failure of the lien claimant to file the statutory notice of commencement of lien action in the county where the property is located, renders the claim of lien unenforceable. A claim of lien may be disregarded if no notice of commencement of lien action was filed within 395 days from the date the claim of lien was filed. Any lien filed after March 31, 2009, shall include on the face of the lien the following statement in at least 12 point bold font: "This claim of lien expires and is void 395 days from the date of filing of the claim of lien if no notice of commencement of lien action is filed in that time period." Failure to include such language shall invalidate the lien and prevent it from being filed. No release or voiding of such liens shall be required. A lien shall expire sooner and be disregarded once it is determined that no notice of commencement was timely filed in response to a notice of contest pursuant to Code Section 44-14-368.
(Code 1981, §44-14-367, enacted by Ga. L. 1998, p. 860, § 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3; Ga. L. 2008, p. 1063, § 6/SB 374.)
The 2000 amendment, effective July 1, 2000, substituted "certified mail or statutory overnight delivery" for "certified mail" in the third and sixth sentences of subsection (a).
The 2008 amendment, effective March 31, 2009, rewrote this Code section.
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 1998, p. 860, § 3, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that this Act is applicable to liens created on or after July 1, 1998.
Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 16, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that this Act is applicable with respect to notices delivered on or after July 1, 2000.
Law reviews.- For survey article on construction law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 59 (2008).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Creditor's time for notice tolled under bankruptcy provisions.
- Bankruptcy court held that the procedure under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-361.1 to "make good" a mechanic's or materialman's lien involved creating the lien, not mere perfection, and these acts were subject to an automatic stay; accordingly, because the automatic stay prevented the creditor from complying with O.C.G.A. § 44-14-361.1, the creditor's failure to take further action under that statute was tolled under 11 U.S.C. § 108. In re Durango Ga. Paper Co., 297 Bankr. 316 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. 2003).
Lien not authorized.
- If a county housing authority owned property, regardless of its future plans to sell the same to private parties, it remained public property; thus, a private contractor was not authorized to place a lien on the property. Vakilzadeh Enters. v. Hous. Auth. of DeKalb, Ga., 271 Ga. App. 130, 608 S.E.2d 724 (2004).
Because a subcontractor did not actually comply with O.C.G.A. § 43-14-8(f) as the evidence indicated that a Georgia-licensed electrician that the subcontractor affiliated itself with through an alleged joint venture only presented electrical contracting licenses when permits for the work were applied for and took no action to inspect others' electrical work or to verify that the work complied with the applicable codes, the subcontractor could not enforce the subcontract with the contractor, could not recover in quantum meruit under O.C.G.A. § 9-2-7 as the express contract violated public policy, and could not file a subcontractor's lien under O.C.G.A. §§ 44-14-361.1 and44-14-367. JR Construction/Electric, LLC v. Ordner Constr. Co., 294 Ga. App. 453, 669 S.E.2d 224 (2008).
