Update on House Bill 0236 - Mechanics Lien Act Amendment
We wrote about HB 236 for the first time back when it was introduced here, and criticized its lack of clarity. When the bill was then amended we wrote about it again, here, and again asked why the bill couldn’t be as specific for the service of notice as other portions of the Mechanic’s lien act, so that contractors, architects, engineers, or anyone practicing in Illinois who could be planning to file a lien could have a little more specificity.
Well, the HB 236 was passed out of the Illinois House after the last amendment and in the Senate, it has finally been amended to address those concerns we’ve raised.
In lieu of amending Section 1, the new proposed Senate Amendment 001 would amend Section 7 by adding paragraph notations “a” through “c” to the already existing paragraphs of Section 7 and then would add the following:
(d) A contractor for improvements of an owner-occupiedsingle-family residence must give the owner written noticewithin 10 days after recording a lien against any property ofthe owner. The notice is served when it is sent or personally delivered. If timely notice is not given and, as a result, theowner has suffered damages before notice is given, the lien is extinguished to the extent of the damages. The mere recording of the lien claim is not considered damages. This subsection does not apply to subcontractors, and it applies only tocontracts entered into after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly.
For some reason, the Illinois Construction Industry Committee has yet to weigh in on this bill. It appears that the movement in the Senate may be as fast as the movement in the House.
Depending on how you want to spin this, it’s either an added protection for home-owners or another burden to the general contractors involved in home projects.
My personal take is that the ten-day requirement is not a burden in the least and that, since we traditionally treat home-owners differently (i.e. bankruptcy, the home repair and remodeling act) there’s no reason not to let a home-owner know that someone they’ve contracted with directly is claiming that they have not been paid. After all, we make subs notify the home-owner as well. Dropping a piece of mail into a post-office box after you’ve filed the lien isn’t going to lead to the end of enforceable Mechanic’s Liens.
