Steeg Law Hosts CREW Brown Bag Lunch on Private Works Act Revisions

Margaret Glass and the Steeg Law Firm hosted a brown bag lunch for New Orleans Commercial Real Estate Women in February. Presenters Margaret Glass, Katie Belanger and Vanessa Sharpe reviewed important aspects of the recent revisions to the Louisiana Private Works Act (“PWA”), noting the following points:

Certain PWA filings, such as notices of contract and termination and no work affidavits, must contain a “complete property description,” defined by R.S. 9:4810 as “any description that, if contained in a mortgage of immovable property filed for registry, would be sufficient for the mortgage to be effective as to third parties.”

Revised La. R.S. 9:4811 provides that a general contractor will have no privilege and no right to file a statement of claim or privilege if he fails to file a timely notice of contract when the value of the work exceeds $100,000, which is an increase from $25,000.

Revised La. R.S. 9:4820 provides that inspection must occur and a no work affidavit must be filed within 4 business days before or after the filing of the mortgage, and in that case, the facts in the affidavit are deemed to be true at the time of inspection and to remain true at the time of filing the mortgage. This means there is no need to “bookend” no work affidavits, but it also means owners can’t file no work affidavits long after the mortgage is filed.

Revised La. R.S. 9:4822 adds outside deadlines for filing statements of claim or privilege where no notice of termination was filed but a notice of contract was filed. Under prior law, if a notice of contract was properly filed, cases indicated that the lien period never began to run until the notice of termination was filed.

Revised La. R.S. 9:4822 also requires owners to file a notice of termination within 10 days of receipt of a request from a general contractor and provides a summary procedure for the contractor to obtain a judgment to that effect if the owner fails to do so.

R.S. 9:4844 and 9:4845 provide updated notice delivery mechanisms and a safe harbor notice delivery location, which is the address in the Secretary of State’s records.