Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: general contractor

Your question does not contain sufficient facts, so I will list my assumptions before answering.

I assume that you are a general contractor who has contracted with subs on the job. I further assume that as a condition to your receiving payment from the owner, you must provide releases from mechanics liens rights from all subs. Finally, I assume you have a sub who doesn't want to be bothered with a lien release because he or she has not served a preliminary 20-day notice for the project, and therefore believes that he's not entitled to a mechanics lien anyway.

Should these assumptions comport with the facts of your case, the answer is yes, you must provide releases for those subs, too. Subs may always file a mechanics lien along with a 20 day notice at the same time - they only get to claim work done or materials provided within 20 days of that recordation. Because of this possibility, you must obtain releases from ALL subs.

I hope this helps. Good luck.