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South Carolina Property Lien Statutes - South Carolina Mechanics Lien Law | LienItNow
South Carolina Property Lien Statutes - South Carolina Mechanics Lien Law
The provisions of the South Carolina statutes that permit the filing of mechanics liens and materialman's liens on construction projects can be found in South Carolina's Mechanics' Lien Law, Code 1976 § 29-5-10 et. seq. The full text of the South Carolina Construction Lien Law is provided below, and has been updated as of 2011. To see a quick synopsis of the most important provisions, take a look at our South Carolina Frequently Asked Questions page.
[ § 29-5-10. Lien of Person Furnishing Labor and Materials for Buildings or Structures; Offers of Settlement.]
[ § 29-5-15. Filing Requirements; Penalty for Frivolous Lien.]
[ § 29-5-20. Lien of Laborer, Mechanic, Subcontractor or Materialman; Limits on Aggregate Amount of Liens Filed by Sub-Subcontractor or Supplier; Limits on Total Aggregate Amount of Liens; Exceptions; Settlement of Action to Enforce Lien.]
[ § 29-5-21. Services of Surveyor and Real Estate Licensee as Improving Real Estate; Real Estate Licensee’s Liens.]
[ § 29-5-22. Reasonable Rental Value of Tools, Appliances, Machinery, and Equipment.]
[ § 29-5-23. Notice of Project Commencement; Location Notice; Failure to File Notice.]
[ § 29-5-25. Private Security Guard Services at Site of Real Estate Improvement.]
[ § 29-5-26. Landscape Services.]
[ § 29-5-27. Laborer and Person Defined.]
[ § 29-5-30. Lien Against Debtor with Life Estate or Whose Estate is Less than Fee Simple.]
[ § 29-5-40. Notice to Owner Before Lien Attaches when Laborer Was Employed by Someone Other than Owner.]
[ § 29-5-50. Lienor’s Preference over Contractor.]
[ § 29-5-60. Proration of Payments Among Lienors.]
[ § 29-5-70. Force of Lien Against Existing Recorded Mortgage.]
[ § 29-5-80. Notice of Nonresponsibility by Owner of Building or Structure.]
[ § 29-5-90. Dissolution of Lien for Failure to Serve and File Statement; Contents of Statement.]
[ § 29-5-100. Proceedings Not Invalidated by Inaccuracy of Statement of Account.]
[ § 29-5-110. Release of Lien upon Filing Written Undertaking and Security.]
[ § 29-5-120. Time for Bringing Suit to Enforce Lien; Dissolution and Release of Lien.]
[ § 29-5-130. Enforcement of Certain Liens Before Magistrate’s Court.]
[ § 29-5-140. Enforcement of Lien by Petition to Court of Common Pleas.]
[ § 29-5-150. Service of Petition.]
[ § 29-5-160. Contents of Petition.]
[ § 29-5-170. Petition Filed by Multiple Lienors.]
[ § 29-5-180. Amendments of Pleadings.]
[ § 29-5-190. Notice to Owner and Other Creditors.]
[ § 29-5-200. Notice by Publication or Other than Personal Service.]
[ § 29-5-210. Further Notice of Suit.]
[ § 29-5-220. Hearing on Claims of Lienors.]
[ § 29-5-230. Questions for Jury.]
[ § 29-5-240. Determination of Claims Due but Not yet Payable.]
[ § 29-5-250. Recovery for Part Performance.]
[ § 29-5-260. Sale of Premises if Lien Established.]
[ § 29-5-270. Sale of Part of Property.]
[ § 29-5-280. Notice of Sale.]
[ § 29-5-290. Distribution of Proceeds of Sale.]
[ § 29-5-300. Distribution of Proceeds by Court.
[ § 29-5-310. Distribution of Surplus.]
[ § 29-5-320. Prior Attaching Creditor is Preferred.]
[ § 29-5-330. Distribution of Proceeds Where There is Attaching Creditor.]
[ § 29-5-340. Subsequent Attachments.]
[ § 29-5-350. Attachments Intervening Between Two Liens.]
[ § 29-5-360. Rights of Creditors Among Themselves.]
[ § 29-5-370. Persons Against Whom Lien May be Enforced when Debtor Dies or Conveys His Interest.]
[ § 29-5-380. Executor or Administrator May Enforce Creditor’s Lien.]
[ § 29-5-390. Suits Begun by One Creditor May be Prosecuted by Another.]
[ § 29-5-400. Allowance of Claim and Costs of Petitioning Creditor.]
[ § 29-5-410. Costs.]
[ § 29-5-420. Civil Action Not Barred.]
[ § 29-5-430. Recording Discharge or Release of Lien.]
[ § 29-5-440. Suit on Payment Bond.]
South Carolina Mechanics Lien Law for Construction Projects
§ 29-5-10. Lien of person furnishing labor and materials for buildings or structures; offers of settlement.
(a) A person to whom a debt is due for labor performed or furnished or for materials furnished and actually used in the erection, alteration, or repair of a building or structure upon real estate or the boring and equipping of wells, by virtue of an agreement with, or by consent of, the owner of the building or structure, or a person having authority from, or rightfully acting for, the owner in procuring or furnishing the labor or materials shall have a lien upon the building or structure and upon the interest of the owner of the building or structure in the lot of land upon which it is situated to secure the payment of the debt due to him. The costs which may arise in enforcing or defending against the lien under this chapter, including a reasonable attorney’s fee, may be recovered by the prevailing party. The fee must be determined by the court in which the action is brought but the fee and the court costs may not exceed the amount of the lien. As used in this section, labor performed or furnished in the erection, alteration, or repair of any building or structure upon any real estate includes the preparation of plans, specifications, and design drawings and the work of making the real estate suitable as a site for the building or structure. The work is considered to include, but not be limited to, the grading, bulldozing, leveling, excavating, and filling of land (including the furnishing of fill soil), the grading and paving of curbs and sidewalks and all asphalt paving, the construction of ditches and other drainage facilities, and the laying of pipes and conduits for water, gas, electric, sewage, and drainage purposes, and the disposal of any construction and demolition debris, as defined in Section 44-96-40(6), including final disposal by a construction and demolition landfill. Any private security guard services provided by any person at the site of the building or structure during its erection, alteration, or repair is considered to be labor performed or furnished within the meaning of this section. As used in this section, materials furnished and actually used include tools, appliances, machinery, or equipment supplied for use on the building or structure to the extent of their reasonable rental value during their actual use. “Person” as used in this section means any individual, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, or other entity. For purposes of this section, the term “materials” includes flooring, floor coverings, and wall coverings.
(b) Not less than fifteen days before the first term of court at which the trial is set, either party may file and serve on the other party an offer of settlement, and within ten days thereafter the party served may respond by filing and serving his offer of settlement. The offer shall state that it is made under this section and specify the amount, exclusive of interest and costs, which the party serving the offer is willing to agree constitutes a settlement of the lien. If the action is not reached for trial, then not less than fifteen days before the next term of court and subsequent terms of court at which the trial is set, either party may file and serve on the other party an offer of settlement or an amendment of a prior offer of settlement and, within ten days after that, the party served may respond by filing and serving his offer or amended offer of settlement. The offer or amended offer supersedes any offer previously made under this section by the same party.
An offer of settlement is considered rejected unless an acceptance in writing is filed and served on the party making the offer, five days before the commencement of the term.
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§ 29-5-15. Filing requirements; penalty for frivolous lien.
(A) To file a mechanics’ lien, a contractor must provide the county clerk of court or register of deeds proof that he is licensed or registered if he is required by law to be licensed or registered. As proof of licensure or registration, the contractor must record his contractor license number or registration number on the lien document when the lien document is filed.
(B) A contractor who files a frivolous lien is subject to a fine up to five thousand dollars, the loss of his registration or contractor license, or both.
§ 29-5-20. Lien of laborer, mechanic, subcontractor or materialman; limits on aggregate amount of liens filed by sub-subcontractor or supplier; limits on total aggregate amount of liens; exceptions; settlement of action to enforce lien.
(C) Not less than fifteen days before the first term of court at which the trial is set, either party may file and serve on the other party an offer of settlement, and within ten days thereafter the party served may respond by filing and serving his offer of settlement. The offer shall state that it is made under this section and specify the amount, exclusive of interest and costs, which the party serving the offer is willing to agree constitutes a settlement of the lien. If the action is not reached for trial, then not less than fifteen days before the next term of court and subsequent terms of court at which the trial is set, either party may file and serve on the other party an offer of settlement or an amendment of a prior offer of settlement and, within ten days after that, the party served may respond by filing and serving his offer or amended offer of settlement. The offer supersedes any offer previously made under this section by the same party.
If the offer or amended offer is rejected, it may not be referred to for any purpose at the trial but may be considered solely for the purpose of awarding costs and litigation expenses under this section.
For purposes of the award of attorney’s fees, the determination of the prevailing party is based on one verdict in the action. One verdict assumes some entitlement to the mechanic’s lien and the consideration of compulsory counterclaims. The party whose offer of settlement is closer to the verdict reached is considered the prevailing party in the action. If the difference between both offers and the verdict is equal, neither party is considered to be the prevailing party for purposes of determining the award of costs and attorney’s fees. If the plaintiff makes no written offer of settlement, the amount prayed for in his complaint is considered to be his final offer of settlement.
Click Here to File a South Carolina Document.
§ 29-5-21. Services of surveyor and real estate licensee as improving real estate; real estate licensee’s liens.
(A) A surveyor who surveys real estate by virtue of an agreement with the owner of such real estate has furnished material for the improvement of real estate within the meaning of Section 29-5-20.
(a) the owner of the commercial real estate or the owner’s authorized agent authorizes the real estate licensee, under the terms of a written agreement, to lease an interest in the commercial real estate; and
(b) the real estate licensee or the real estate licensee’s affiliated licensees provide licensed services that result, during the term of a written agreement described in item (1) of this subsection, in the procuring of a person or entity that rents or leases the commercial real estate or rents or leases an interest in the commercial real estate upon terms contained in a written agreement described in item (1) of this subsection.
(3) A real estate licensee shall not acquire a lien under this subsection upon residential real estate.
(4) Prior recorded liens shall have priority over a real estate licensee’s lien. A prior recorded lien shall include, without limitation:
(i) a valid mechanic’s lien claim that is recorded subsequent to the real estate licensee’s lien notice of lien but which relates back to a date prior to the recording date of the real estate licensee’s lien notice of lien; and
(ii) prior recorded liens securing revolving credit and future advance of construction loans as described in Section 29-3-50.
§ 29-5-22. Reasonable rental value of tools, appliances, machinery, and equipment.
§ 29-5-23. Notice of Project Commencement; location notice; failure to file notice.
The notice must be filed within fifteen days of the commencement of work and must be accompanied by a filing fee of fifteen dollars to be deposited in that county’s general fund. The name and address of the contractor must be posted at the job site. A location notice also must be posted at the job site. The location notice must contain the following statement: “The contractor on the project has filed a notice of project commencement at the county courthouse. Sub-subcontractors and suppliers to subcontractors shall comply with Section 29-5-20 when filing liens in connection with this project.” The failure to file a notice of project commencement shall render the provisions of Sections 29-5-20(B) and 29-5-60(B) inapplicable. The failure to file a notice of project commencement shall also render the provisions of Sections 29-5-440, 11-35-3030(2)(c), 57-5-1660(b), and 11-1-120, relating to the requirement of a notice of providing labor, materials, or rental equipment inapplicable for a claim against a payment bond furnished by a contractor holding a direct contractual agreement with an owner. The filing of a notice of project commencement shall not constitute a cloud, lien, or encumbrance upon, or defect to, the title of the real property described in the notice, nor shall it alter the aggregate amounts of liens allowable under Section 29-5-40, nor shall it affect the priority of any mortgage filed before or after the notice, nor shall it affect any future advances under any mortgage. The clerk of court or register of deeds in each county shall maintain a separate book and index of all notices of project commencements.
§ 29-5-25. Private security guard services at site of real estate improvement.
Any person providing private security guard services at the site of the real estate during its improvement shall be deemed to be a laborer within the meaning of §§ 29-5-20 and 29-5-40. “Person” as used in this section shall mean any individual, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization or other such entity.
§ 29-5-26. Landscape services.
(A) A person who provides a landscape service on a parcel of real estate, which service exceeds five thousand dollars, by virtue of a written agreement with the owner of the real estate and to whom a debt is due for his performance of the landscaping service has a mechanics’ lien on the real estate to secure payment of debt due to him as provided by Section 29-5-10 and Section 29-5-20. The lien attaches to the land and a building, structure, or other improvement on the land.
(2) provision or installation, or both of them, of a landscaping item including plant material, mulch, paving, walkway, swimming pool, fountain, retaining wall, bulkhead, deck, patio, lightscaping system, irrigation system, drainage structure, drainage system, underground utility, or other feature incidental and necessary to a landscape plan or site design; or
(C) A landscaping service does not depend on whether the service is related to the construction, erection, alteration, or repair of a building or other structure.
§ 29-5-27. Laborer and person defined.
Any person providing construction and demolition debris disposal services, as defined in Section 44-96-40(6), including, but not limited to, final disposal services provided by a construction and demolition landfill, is a laborer within the meaning of Sections 29-5-20 and 29-5-40. “Person” as used in this section means any individual, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, or another entity.
§ 29-5-30. Lien against debtor with life estate or whose estate is less than fee simple.
§ 29-5-40. Notice to owner before lien attaches when laborer was employed by someone other than owner.
§ 29-5-50. Lienor’s preference over contractor.
§ 29-5-60. Proration of payments among lienors.
(B) In the event the amount due a subcontractor by the contractor is insufficient to pay all the lienors acquiring liens under Section 29-5-20 as a result of supplying labor, materials, or services to that subcontractor, all just liens must be prorated by the contractor among sub-subcontractors and suppliers to that subcontractor.
§ 29-5-70. Force of lien against existing recorded mortgage.
§ 29-5-80. Notice of nonresponsibility by owner of building or structure.
The owner of any such building or structure in process of erection or being altered or repaired, other than the person by whom or in whose behalf a contract for labor or materials has been made, may prevent the attaching of any lien for labor thereon not at the time performed or materials not then furnished by giving notice, in writing, to the person performing or furnishing such labor or furnishing such materials that he will not be responsible therefor.
§ 29-5-90. Dissolution of lien for failure to serve and file statement; contents of statement.
Such a lien shall be dissolved unless the person desiring to avail himself thereof, within ninety days after he ceases to labor on or furnish labor or materials for such building or structure, serves upon the owner or, in the event the owner cannot be found, upon the person in possession and files in the office of the register of deeds or clerk of court of the county in which the building or structure is situated a statement of a just and true account of the amount due him, with all just credits given, together with a description of the property intended to be covered by the lien sufficiently accurate for identification, with the name of the owner of the property, if known, which certificate shall be subscribed and sworn to by the person claiming the lien or by someone in his behalf and shall be recorded in a book kept for the purpose by the register or clerk who shall be entitled to the same fees therefor as for recording mortgages of equal length. Provided, that in the event neither the owner nor the person in possession can be located after diligent search, and this fact is verified by affidavit of the sheriff or his deputy, the lien may be preserved by filing the statement together with the affidavit. The delivery on the register or clerk for filing, as provided in this section, shall be and constitute the delivery contemplated with regard to such liens in Title 30 of this Code.
§ 29-5-100. Proceedings not invalidated by inaccuracy of statement of account.
No inaccuracy in such statement relating to the property to be covered by the lien, if the property can be reasonably recognized, or in stating the amount due for labor or materials shall invalidate the proceedings, unless it appear that the person filing the certificate has wilfully and knowingly claimed more than is his due.
§ 29-5-110. Release of lien upon filing written undertaking and security.
§ 29-5-120. Time for bringing suit to enforce lien; dissolution and release of lien.
(A) Unless a suit for enforcing the lien is commenced and notice of pendency of the action is filed within six months after the person desiring to avail himself of it ceases to labor on or furnish labor or material for the building or structure, the lien must be dissolved.
(B) A mechanics’ lien and associated bonds may be released by a court order, a written affidavit of the bond holder’s attorney, or by a written affidavit from the defendant’s attorney stating:
(2) the failure of the filing party to take some other timely action required by this chapter. This affidavit must be in the form approved by the appropriate local office where the mechanics’ lien was filed and must reference the lien’s recording information.
§ 29-5-130. Enforcement of certain liens before magistrate’s court.
§ 29-5-140. Enforcement of lien by petition to court of common pleas.
§ 29-5-150. Service of petition.
§ 29-5-160. Contents of petition.
§ 29-5-170. Petition filed by multiple lienors.
§ 29-5-180. Amendments of pleadings.
§ 29-5-190. Notice to owner and other creditors.
The court in which the petition is entered shall order notice to be given to the owner of the building or structure, that he may appear and answer thereto at a certain day in the same term or at the next term, by serving him with an attested copy of the petition, with the order of the court thereon, fourteen days at least before the time assigned for the hearing. And the court shall also order notice of the filing of the petition to be given to all other creditors who have a lien of the same kind upon the same estate by serving them with a copy of the last-mentioned order in like manner.
§ 29-5-200. Notice by publication or other than personal service.
§ 29-5-210. Further notice of suit.
§ 29-5-220. Hearing on claims of lienors.
§ 29-5-230. Questions for jury.
§ 29-5-240. Determination of claims due but not yet payable.
§ 29-5-250. Recovery for part performance.
§ 29-5-260. Sale of premises if lien established.
§ 29-5-270. Sale of part of property.
§ 29-5-280. Notice of sale.
§ 29-5-290. Distribution of proceeds of sale.
If all the claims against the property covered by the lien are ascertained at the time of ordering the sale, the court may order the officer to pay over and distribute the proceeds of the sale, after deducting all lawful charges and expenses, to and among the several creditors to the amount of their respective debts, if there is sufficient therefor, and if there is not sufficient, then to divide and distribute such proceeds among the creditors in proportion to the amount due to each of them.
§ 29-5-300. Distribution of proceeds by court.
§ 29-5-310. Distribution of surplus.
§ 29-5-320. Prior attaching creditor is preferred.
§ 29-5-330. Distribution of proceeds where there is attaching creditor.
§ 29-5-340. Subsequent attachments.
§ 29-5-350. Attachments intervening between two liens.
§ 29-5-360. Rights of creditors among themselves.
§ 29-5-370. Persons against whom lien may be enforced when debtor dies or conveys his interest.
§ 29-5-380. Executor or administrator may enforce creditor’s lien.
§ 29-5-390. Suits begun by one creditor may be prosecuted by another.
§ 29-5-400. Allowance of claim and costs of petitioning creditor.
If the suit is commenced by the petitioning creditor before his right of action accrues, his claim may nevertheless be allowed if the suit is carried on by any other creditor, as provided in § 29-5-390, but he shall not in such case be entitled to costs and he may be required to pay the costs incurred by the debtor or such part thereof as the court may deem reasonable.
§ 29-5-410. Costs.
§ 29-5-420. Civil action not barred.
§ 29-5-430. Recording discharge or release of lien.
§ 29-5-440. Suit on payment bond.
Every person who has furnished labor, material, or rental equipment to a bonded contractor or its subcontractors in the prosecution of work provided for in any contract for construction, and who has not been paid in full therefor before the expiration of a period of ninety days after the day on which the last of the labor was done or performed by him or material or rental equipment was furnished or supplied by him for which such claim is made, shall have the right to sue on the payment bond for the amount, or the balance thereof, unpaid at the time of the institution of such suit and to prosecute such action to final execution and judgment for the sum or sums justly due him.
For purposes of this section, “bonded contractor” means a contractor or subcontractor furnishing a payment bond, and “remote claimant” means a person having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor of a bonded contractor, but no contractual relationship expressed or implied with the bonded contractor.