House Bill 643

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 85-7-131, 85-7-133 AND 85-7-261, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE PROOF OF CLAIM AND IDENTIFYING INFORMATION TO PLACE CERTAIN LIENS ON PROPERTY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 85-7-131, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

85-7-131. Every house, building, water well or structure of any kind, and any fixed machinery, gearing or other fixture that may or may not be used or connected therewith, railroad embankment, erected, constructed, altered or repaired, and every subdivision of property or subdivided property which required services, designs or construction in designing or laying out of streets or subdividing or construction of streets, sewerage, water or other utilities to be furnished by the said subdivision or by the various owners or holders or creators of said subdivision or subdivided property or individual lot or lots in connection therewith, whether inside of a municipality or outside thereof, shall be liable for the debt contracted and owing, for labor done or materials furnished, or architectural engineers' and surveyors' or contractors' service rendered about the erection, construction, alteration or repairs thereof; and debt for such services or construction shall be a lien thereon. The architects, engineers, surveyors, laborers, and materialmen and/or contractors who rendered services and constructed the improvements shall have a lien therefor. Further, as to oil and gas wells, the operator thereof shall have such a lien upon the interest of each nonoperator owner of an interest in the mineral leasehold estate for such nonoperator's proportionate part of such labor, material and services rendered by the operator or for the operator's account in behalf of each nonoperator in the drilling, completion, recompletion, reworking or other operations of such oil and gas well. If such house, building, structure, or fixture be in a city, town or village, the lien shall extend to and cover the entire lot of land on which it stands and the entire curtilage thereto belonging; or, if not in a city, town or village, the lien shall extend to and cover one (1) acre of land on which the same may stand, if there be so much, to be selected by the holder of the lien. If the structure be a water well, the lien shall extend only to all pumps, pipes, equipment therein and all water well appurtenances. If the structure be an oil or gas well, the lien shall extend to the nonoperator's interest in the mineral estate and the fixtures and equipment in the producing unit assigned such well by the State Oil and Gas Board. If the structure be a railroad or railroad embankment, the lien shall extend to and cover the entire roadbed and right-of-way, depots and other buildings used or connected therewith. If the services of the architect, surveyor, engineer, laborers, materialmen or of the contractors shall be upon the whole subdivision, the lien shall extend to and cover the entire subdivision; but if a part only of the land is subdivided and laborers', materialmen's, architects', surveyors' or engineers' services are required and contractors are employed, then the lien shall extend to only that portion of said property upon which the services were required or upon which or in connection with which the work was done or the materials were furnished. Such lien shall take effect as to purchasers or encumbrancers for a valuable consideration without notice thereof, only from the time of commencing suit to enforce the lien, or from the time of filing the contract under which the lien arose, or notice thereof, in the office of the clerk of the chancery court, as hereinafter stated; delivery of material to the job is prima facie evidence of its use therein, and use of water from a water well is prima facie evidence of acceptability of well. In the case of oil and gas wells, such lien shall take effect as to purchasers or encumbrancers for a valuable consideration without notice thereof, only from the time of filing notice of such lien as provided by Section 85-7-133. A party having a lien on property shall show proof of a claim to exercise such lien. Proof of a claim shall state the contractual basis of such claim and shall include the social security number and driver's license number of the party making the lien.

SECTION 2. Section 85-7-133, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

85-7-133. Each of the several chancery clerks of this state shall provide in his office, as a part of the land records of his county, a record entitled "Notice of Construction Liens" wherein notices under Section 85-7-131 shall be filed and recorded, and such liens, as provided hereunder, shall not take effect unless and until some notation thereof shall be filed and recorded in said record showing a description of the property involved, the name of the lienor or lienors, the social security and driver's license numbers of the lienor or lienors, the date of filing, if and where suit is filed, and if and where contract is filed or recorded.

SECTION 3. Section 85-7-261, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

85-7-261. Unless otherwise expressly provided, the liens created or mentioned in this chapter shall exist by virtue of the relation of the parties, and without any writing, or if in writing, without recording; and the rights and liens conferred may be asserted and enforced by the assigns and personal representatives of the lienor. A lien under Section 85-7-131 shall include the identifying information of the lienor as required under that section.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2007.