If you are a commercial Landlord or property manager, hopefully
you are taking advantage of a Florida statute that allows you to
limit the Landlord's liability for lien claims resulting from
work performed by your Tenants' contractors pursuant to their
Leases. All you need to do to get the benefit of this statute
is: (i) include a provision in your Leases that precludes the
Tenants' contractors from claiming liens against the
Landlord's interest in the property, and (ii) record a notice
to that effect in the public records of the County where the
property is located.
If a Notice of Commencement gets recorded for the tenant's
work, it should never be signed by the Landlord. The Tenant
that is doing the work is the party who contracted for it, so the
Tenant should sign the Notice of Commencement, which should state
that the "property" being improved is the Tenant's
leasehold interest (not the Landlord's interest).
