Local laws in Fulton and DeKalb Counties concerning property record filing requirements were passed recently by the Georgia Legislature and are now impacting all manner of property record filings, including common construction documents such as liens and affidavits of nonpayment. These two local laws give the Fulton and DeKalb County Superior Court Clerks the authority to reject property record filings if they do not include the Tax Parcel Identification Number at the top of the instrument.
Whether construction documents such as liens, affidavits of non-payment, or notices of commencement require the parcel ID is left to the discretion of the clerk, so it is best practice to include the parcel ID number on all filings in these two counties. This is not a statutory requirement that effects the validity of an instrument if the parcel ID is not included, but if the clerk rejects the filing for this reason, your document will need to be re-filed for it to be effective, with the effective date being the date it is re-filed. The application of this rule makes it especially important in DeKalb and Fulton Counties not to wait until the last day to file a lien or affidavit of non-payment.
As a best practice, especially in DeKalb and Fulton Counties, you should require your upstream contracting partners to provide you with the Tax Parcel Identification Number as part of your normal contracting processes. If you can require it on all jobs in Georgia, you should do so – it simplifies lien procedures with this information up front.