To file a Notice of Termination of Notice of Commencement in Florida, you obtain a sworn final payment affidavit from your general contractor, prepare the termination form with every item required by Florida Statutes Section 713.132, serve signed copies on the contractor and all known lienors, and then record the notice (with the affidavit attached) in the county where the property sits. The termination takes effect no earlier than 30 days after recording. Get the sequence wrong and the filing does not close the lien window, which is the whole point of filing it.
When You Can File
You can record a termination only after construction is complete and every contractor, subcontractor, and supplier has been paid, or after work has stopped before completion with every lienor paid in full. If funds fell short on a halted project, lienors must have been paid pro rata in the priority order set by Florida Statutes Section 713.06(4): laborers first, other lienors next, general contractor last, with each class satisfied before the next receives anything.
You cannot record while any lienor remains unpaid unless that lienor has already signed a waiver and release of lien upon final payment.
Get the Contractor’s Final Payment Affidavit First
Before anything else, the general contractor must give you a sworn affidavit stating that every lienor under the direct contract has been paid in full, or listing by name and dollar amount anyone still owed. The format is set by Florida Statutes Section 713.06(3)(d), and the document is called the Contractor’s Final Payment Affidavit.
It needs to show:
- The signer’s name and title and the contractor’s business name
- The property owner’s name and a reference to the contract under which work was performed
- A statement that all lienors have been paid in full, or a list of each unpaid lienor with the amount owed
- A notary’s acknowledgment, because the affidavit must be sworn
The affidavit has to accompany the notice of termination at recording. Without it, the termination lacks the statutory backing it needs to cut off the lien window.
You are entitled to rely on the contractor’s affidavit for lienors you don’t know about, but it does not protect you from claims by any lienor who already served a Notice to Owner on you directly. You’re on notice about those parties no matter what the affidavit says. A knowingly fraudulent statement in either the affidavit or the termination exposes both you and the contractor to damages owed to any lienor harmed by it.
What the Termination Form Must Contain
Florida Statutes Section 713.132(1) lists six categories the notice of termination has to cover. Miss one and the clerk may reject it, or worse, the filing records but has no legal effect.
- Everything from the original Notice of Commencement: owner’s name and address, contractor’s name and address, legal description of the property, general description of improvements, and any lender or surety bond information shown on the original. The legal description should match your deed (lot, block, subdivision), not just a street address.
- The Official Records Book number, page number, and recording date the clerk stamped on the original Notice of Commencement. If you don’t have your copy, most Florida county clerks let you search official records online or request a copy in person for about $1 per page.
- The date the notice of commencement is terminated. This date cannot be earlier than 30 days after the notice of termination is recorded.
- Whether the termination covers all the property in the original notice or only a specified portion.
- A statement that all lienors have been paid in full.
- A statement that you have served copies on every lienor with a direct contract with you and on every lienor who timely served a Notice to Owner before recording, and that you will serve a copy on any lienor who serves a Notice to Owner after recording.
Many county clerk websites host a downloadable template that lays out these fields and adds local items such as the building permit number and property appraiser’s tax folio number. Pulling the form from your own county’s clerk is the fastest way to catch any local formatting requirement on top of the statutory minimums.
Signing and Notarizing
The owner has to sign the notice of termination under oath before a notary public. The statute requires the owner to “execute and swear to” the document, so this step is not optional. The notary verifies your identity, administers the oath, and then watches you sign.
Florida caps notary fees at $10 per notarial act. Mobile notaries who travel to you can add a separate travel charge on top of that, so visiting a bank, shipping store, or other location that offers notary services on-site is usually cheaper.
Serve Copies Before You Record
This is the step most people get wrong. You must serve copies of the signed notice before you take it to the clerk. Record first and serve after, and the termination does not take effect under the statute.
Serve a copy on each of these parties:
- The general contractor named on the original Notice of Commencement
- Every lienor who has a direct contract with you, such as a specialty contractor you hired independently of the general contractor
- Every lienor who served a Notice to Owner on you before recording
You do not need to serve lienors who have already signed a waiver and release of lien upon final payment. After recording, you still have to serve a copy on any lienor who sends you a Notice to Owner going forward. That obligation runs until the 30-day window closes.
Use certified mail with return receipt requested. The return receipt gives you dated proof each party got the notice. Keep those receipts permanently. If a lienor later claims they were never served, the certified mail records are what protect the validity of your termination.
Recording With the Clerk
Once every required party has been served, take the original notarized notice and the contractor’s final payment affidavit to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. The clerk records the document in the official records and stamps it with a book and page number.
Recording fees are set by Florida Statutes Section 28.24. The per-page cost combines a base recording fee, a Public Records Modernization Trust Fund surcharge, and an additional service charge:
- First page: $10.00
- Each additional page: $8.50
- Each name beyond the first four listed on the document: $1.00
Most notices of termination run one or two pages, so expect to pay $10.00 to $18.50 at the window.
Many Florida counties now accept electronic recording through approved e-recording vendors, which title companies and attorneys use to submit documents and receive confirmation back within hours. Owners handling the filing without professional help usually record in person or mail the document to the clerk with a check and a self-addressed stamped envelope for the recorded copy.
When the Termination Actually Takes Effect
Recording does not close the lien window on the spot. The notice becomes effective 30 days after it is recorded, or on whatever later date you wrote on the form, whichever is later. The 30-day buffer gives lienors a final chance to file any claims they still have.
Any lienor who was properly served can still record a claim of lien during that 30-day window if they are owed money. Once the effective date passes, the notice of commencement is terminated and the lien-exposure period it created is closed.
If you wrote a termination date further out, say 60 days after recording, the later date controls. Most owners pick the earliest permissible date (30 days after recording) to clear the title as quickly as possible.
Timing Around a Sale or Refinance
An open notice of commencement is a red flag for title companies and lenders because construction liens could still be filed. Most title insurers either refuse to issue a policy or add a Schedule B exception for construction liens while the notice is open. Terminating it clears that obstacle.
If you are selling or closing on new financing, the title company will almost certainly require a recorded notice of termination, along with the contractor’s affidavit, before issuing a lien-free title policy. Plan to record the termination at least 30 days before your anticipated closing date so the lien window is fully shut by the time the title company has to certify title.
Common Mistakes That Invalidate the Filing
A short list of errors shows up again and again:
- Recording before serving. The statute is explicit: serve first, record second. A notice recorded before service sits in the official records without actually terminating anything.
- Filing without the contractor’s affidavit. The affidavit must accompany the notice at the time of recording. Adding it later leaves the filing defective.
- Mismatched property descriptions. The legal description on the termination has to match the original Notice of Commencement exactly. A transposed lot number or missing subdivision name creates ambiguity in the public records and invites title objections.
- Wrong official records reference. Citing the wrong book and page number means the termination does not link back to the original notice in the clerk’s index. Verify these against your copy of the recorded Notice of Commencement before signing.
- A termination date too early. The date on the form cannot be less than 30 days after the recording date. Since you won’t know the recording date in advance, writing “30 days after the date of recording” is safer than picking a fixed calendar date.
- Skipping post-recording service. If a lienor serves a Notice to Owner after you record but before the effective date, you still have to send that lienor a copy of the recorded termination. Missing that step gives the lienor an argument that the termination is ineffective as to their claim.
Running through a short checklist before you file (affidavit in hand, every party served with certified mail receipts kept, legal description verified against the original, termination date set at least 30 days out) is what makes the filing hold up.