build morkets for you

The California Lumber Merchant 108 West 6th Street Los Angeles 14, Calif.

Gentlemen:

May 6, 1959

We notice in your issue of May 1 the item about "Lien Law Bill in Committee."

Surely you are not referring to the lumber industry when you state this bill has almost unanimous industry backing. I cannot understand how its passage could possibly benefit lumber merchants or any other building material merchants.

We are enclosing photostat of a letter we received from the Building Material Dealers Assn. of San Jose and, on receipt of this, we sent the following telegram to all of the members of the California Senate : "Senate Bill 814, if passed, will practically destroy lien right of material men and subcontractors unless they do business direct with owner. This obviously unfair and means serious credit losses to material men and subcontractors. We hope, therefore, you will vote 'No'on this bill."

We have collected thousands of dollars over the years as a result of filing liens when we dealt with contractors or subcontractors and we feel sure that most other lumber merchants have done the same. A building material supplier has only 30 days after the notice of completion is filed to record his lien and, in many cases, we do not know that a notice of completion has been filed for two weeks or longer after this has occurred. We depend for this information on the filing of notices of completion in The Daily Pacific Builder, a newspaper published in San Francisco and, for example, we received a copy of that paper today and it lists notices of completion recorded as far back as April l+, 1959.

If this new Bill is passed we would be too late to notify the owner if we did business with the contractor or subcontractor. Furthermore, in many cases, we do not realize the necessity of filing a lien until two weeks or more after the notice of completion has been recorded.

We hope, undei the circumstances, that you will see your way clear to issue a revised article on this Bill so that the backers of it will not get the impression that the lumber merchants are in favor of it.

Yours truly,

H. B. GAMERSTON

Gamerston & Green Lumber Co.

535 Tunnel Avenue

San Francisco 24, Calif.

(copv) The Building Material Dealers Assn. 222 South Second Street

To All Members:

San lose 14. California

Aprii 30, 1959

Senate Bill 814 "The Notice Bill," was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and has been forwarded to the Senate for approval or disapproval.

Last minute amendments were made at the hearing last Thursday:

1. "Unless one under contract with the contractor as owner" was changed to read, "unless one under contract with the owner."

(a) This means unless the subcontractor has a contract with the OWNER he must give notice or forfeit his lien rights.

(b) Unless the material man has a contract with the OWNER, he must give notice or forfeit lien rights.

(c) A contract with the contractor is not sufficient, the contract must be with the OWNER.

(d) On "spec" work you will not be able to accept this contractor's word for ownership. He may be absolutely honest about ownership ibut the property may be in the name of the title company. The property may be in the name of an affiliated corporation. To be sure, you must confirm title.

BUILDING PERMITSSenate Bill 8114 requires you check

(Continued on Page 65)