Source: https://development.code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/titles/40/chapters/3/subchapters/I/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 18:36:43+00:00

Document:
↪ Chapter 3. Mechanics, Materialmen, and Contractors.
Chapter 3. Mechanics, Materialmen, and Contractors.
Every building erected, improved, added to, or repaired at the direction of the owner, or the owner’s authorized agent, and the land on which the same is erected, intended to be used in connection therewith, or necessary to the use and enjoyment thereof, to the extent of the right, title, and interest, at that time existing, of the owner, shall be subject to a lien in favor of the contractor who contracted with the owner, in the amount of the contract price or, in the absence of an express contract, the reasonable value of the project; provided, that to enforce the lien, the contractor claiming the lien shall record in the land records a notice of intent and comply with the other procedures prescribed in this chapter.
This section is referenced in § 40-303.01, § 42-1902.02, § 42-2025, and § 42-2303.
Horizontal property regimes, see § 42-2025.
Payment as defense to assertion of lien, see § 47-2883.03.
(a)(1) A contractor desiring to enforce the lien shall record in the land records a notice of intent that identifies the property subject to the lien and states the amount due or to become due to the contractor. The notice of intent shall be recorded during the construction or within 90 days after the earlier of the completion or termination of the project. If the notice of intent is not recorded in the land records during the construction or within 90 days after the earlier of the completion or termination of the project, the contractor’s lien shall terminate upon the expiration of the 90-day period. A notice of intent that does not comply with subsection (b) of this section shall be void.
(2) Any contractor who records timely a notice of intent in accordance with subsection (a)(1) of this section, shall send to the owner, by certified mail to the current address (or if not available in the local public records, the last known address) of the owner, a copy of the notice of intent within 5 business days after the date of its recordation in the land records. If the certified mail is returned to the contractor unclaimed or undelivered, the contractor shall post a copy of the recorded notice of intent at or on the affected real property in a location generally visible from some entry point to the real property.
(ii) The contractor has a right to recover the amount claimed.
(B) If a notice of intent is executed by an authorized representative or counsel of the contractor, he or she shall attach evidence of his or her authority to execute the notice of intent on behalf the contractor and shall affirm that the notice of intent is true and correct to the best of the affiant’s knowledge and belief.
D.C. Law 16-31 rewrote the section.
D.C. Law 19-138, in subsec. (a)(1), substituted “during the construction or within 90 days” for “within 90 days”.
(1) “Home improvement” means the repair, remodeling, alteration, conversion, or modernization of, or addition to, residential real property.
(2) “Home improvement contract” means any written agreement, in a form that has been approved by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, entered into between the same contractor and the same homeowner within any 12-month period for home improvement for a specific price. For the purposes of this section, the contract price for a home improvement contract shall be the contract price for all contracts during any 12-month period with respect to a home improvement.
(3) “Land records” means the property records maintained by the Office of the Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia.
(4) “Notice amount” means a written notice of amounts due to a contractor, subcontractor, materialman, or supplier for a project.
(5) “Notice of intent” means a notice of intention to enforce a lien against the owner’s property for a project.
(6) “Owner” means an owner either in fee simple or a lesser estate, a lessee, or a prospective purchaser in possession under a contract of sale authorized to contract for a project.
(7) “Project” means any work or materials provided by a contractor for the erection, construction, improvement, repair of, or addition to any real property in the District of Columbia at the direction of an owner, or an owner’s authorized agent, or the placing of any engine, machinery, or other thing therein or in connection therewith so as to become a fixture, though capable of being detached.

References: § 40
 § 42
 § 42
 § 42
 § 42
 § 47