Florida Construction Liens: Property Subject To A Construction Lien

As a threshold matter, it is often important to determine whether Florida law permits a construction lien to be placed on a particular property. In order for Florida lien law to be applicable to a property, there must be a contract between a person performing services and/or providing materials and a nongovernmental owner of property before the Florida construction lien laws apply. A construction lien cannot encumber governmental property. However, the statute leaves open the possibility that a construction lien could encumber leaseholds within governmental property; i.e. a vendor's property in an airport or bus terminal.

While the cleanest construction liens will be based on an express written agreement, a construction lien can be based on a contract-implied-in-fact under Florida law. This is because a contract-implied-in-fact is an enforceable contract "that is inferred in whole or in part from the parties' conduct, not solely from their words." Commerce Partnership 8098 Ltd. Partnership v. Equity Contracting Co., 695 So.2d 383, 385 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). The...