Understanding the 2023 Changes to Florida's Construction Lien Law - Part 1/5.

On October 1, 2023, changes to 30% of the statues making up Florida's Construction Lien Law go into effect. Over the next five articles, we will break down the changes and their impact.

Florida’s Construction Lien laws are found in Chapter 713, Florida Statutes. They are applicable to nearly every person involved in the construction industry, including design professionals, property owners, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and laborers. They apply to liens of any dollar amount, though most provisions only apply to liens in excess of $2,500.00. The lien laws apply to commercial and residential projects. In short, if you do anything relating to construction in Florida, odds are your business is at least tangentially affected by Florida’s Construction Lien Laws.

Earlier this year, Florida’s legislature passed numerous changes to Florida’s Construction Lien Law — the most changes at one time in many years. Given the reach of Florida’s Construction Lien Law, we wanted to break down the changes section by section and explain what they mean and how the affect and are affected by unchanged portions of the statute so you can prepare your business before they take effect in October 2023.

This article goes through the changes to the definitions section of Florida’s Construction Lien Law that will take effect October 1, 2023. The new law modified three definitions of terms that apply in the statute and created a new defined term — “finance charge.”