Kern County Preliminary Notice Form

Last validated August 6, 2026 by our Forms Development Team

Kern County Preliminary Notice Form

Kern County Preliminary Notice Form

Fill in the blank Preliminary Notice form formatted to comply with all California recording and content requirements.

Document Last Validated 7/20/2026
Kern County Preliminary Notice Guide

Kern County Preliminary Notice Guide

Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.

Document Last Validated 8/6/2026
Kern County Completed Example of the Preliminary Notice Document

Kern County Completed Example of the Preliminary Notice Document

Example of a properly completed form for reference.

Document Last Validated 7/29/2026

All 3 documents above included • One-time purchase • No recurring fees

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Important: Your property must be located in Kern County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the office below.

Where to Record Your Documents

Kern County Recorder

Address:
1530 Truxtun Ave
Bakersfield, California 93301

Hours: 8:00am to 4:30pm / Recording until 2:00pm

Phone: 661-868-6400 x 86448

Recording Tips for Kern County:
  • Verify all names are spelled correctly before recording
  • Leave recording info boxes blank - the office fills these
  • Make copies of your documents before recording - keep originals safe
  • Recorded documents become public record - avoid including SSNs
  • Recording early in the week helps ensure same-week processing

Cities and Jurisdictions in Kern County

Properties in any of these areas use Kern County forms:

  • Arvin
  • Bakersfield
  • Bodfish
  • Boron
  • Buttonwillow
  • Caliente
  • California City
  • Cantil
  • Delano
  • Edison
  • Edwards
  • Fellows
  • Frazier Park
  • Glennville
  • Inyokern
  • Johannesburg
  • Keene
  • Kernville
  • Lake Isabella
  • Lamont
  • Lebec
  • Lost Hills
  • Maricopa
  • Mc Farland
  • Mc Kittrick
  • Mojave
  • Onyx
  • Randsburg
  • Ridgecrest
  • Rosamond
  • Shafter
  • Taft
  • Tehachapi
  • Tupman
  • Wasco
  • Weldon
  • Wofford Heights
  • Woody

View Complete Recorder Office Guide

Hours, fees, requirements, and more for Kern County

How do I get my forms?

Forms are available for immediate download after payment. The Kern County forms will be in your account ready to download to your computer. An account is created for you during checkout if you don't have one. Forms are NOT emailed.

Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in Kern County?

Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable formatting requirements used for recording in Kern County, including margin requirements, font requirements, and other layout standards. This guarantee applies to formatting, not to the legal sufficiency of information entered by the user or the suitability of a form for a particular transaction.

Can I reuse these forms?

Yes. You can reuse the forms for your personal use. For example, if you have multiple properties in Kern County you only need to order once.

What do I need to use these forms?

The forms are PDFs that you fill out on your computer. You'll need Adobe Reader (free software that most computers already have). You do NOT enter your property information online - you download the blank forms and complete them privately on your own computer.

Are there any recurring fees?

No. This is a one-time purchase. Nothing to cancel, no memberships, no recurring fees.

How much does it cost to record in Kern County?

Recording fees in Kern County vary. Contact the recorder's office at 661-868-6400 x 86448 for current fees.

Questions answered? Let's get started!

A claimant other than a laborer or direct contractor must serve preliminary notice under Civ. Code 8200 in order reserve the right to to claim a future mechanic's lien on a property. The notice must be served to the owner, direct contractor, and construction lender, if any.

California law requires notice to be served within 20 days of first furnishing labor, materials, services, or equipment in a work of improvement. A claimant may give late notice, but this limits the claimant's lien to only work performed within 20 days prior to giving the late notice, and work from that point forward (Civ. Code 8204).

Notices in relation to mechanic's liens must follow requirements under Civ. Code 8102, which include the names and addresses of the owners, direct contractor, and construction lender, if any, a description of the job site and job site address, and the name, address, and relationship to the parties of the claimant providing notice.

In addition to these requirements, the preliminary notice under Civ. Code 8200 requires a general description of the work provided by the potential claimant, an estimate of the total price of the work, and a verbatim notice to the property owner established by statute. If a preliminary notice is given by a subcontractor who has not paid all compensation due to a laborer, the notice also requires the name and address of all laborers to whom payment is due (Civ. Code 8202).

Pursuant to Civ. Code 8106, notice can be served by personal delivery, mail (as provided by Civ. Code 8110), or leaving a notice and mailing a copy according to the Code of Civil Procedure for service of summons in a civil action.

While this notice is typically not recorded, it may be filed with the county recorder for the limited purpose of facilitating the recorder's mailing of notices. When recorded, the preliminary notice does not constitute a recorded document and is maintained in a separate index. It does not function to provide constructive notice to third parties (Cal Civ. Code 8214).

Consult a lawyer with questions about preliminary notices, mechanic's lien laws, or any other issues related to real property in the State of California.

Important: Your property must be located in Kern County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the office below.

This Preliminary Notice meets all recording requirements specific to Kern County.

Our Promise

The documents you receive here are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable Kern County recording format requirements. If there is a rejection caused by our formatting, we will correct the issue or refund your payment. This guarantee applies to document formatting only and does not extend to information entered by the user, the selection of the form, or the legal effect of the completed document.

Save Time and Money

Get your Kern County Preliminary Notice form done right the first time with Deeds.com Uniform Conveyancing Blanks. At Deeds.com, we understand that your time and money are valuable resources, and we don't want you to face a penalty fee or rejection imposed by a county recorder for submitting nonstandard documents. We constantly review and update our forms to meet rapidly changing state and county recording requirements for roughly 3,500 counties and local jurisdictions.

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May 16th, 2019

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September 22nd, 2019

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October 7th, 2020

Please change on the example for the warranty deed the portion that says Source of Title: They don't use book and pages anymore They only use recording numbers. Please show an example with that for Maricopa County AZ Plus your Notary certificates should have a blank part for if it is signed in another state.

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March 3rd, 2021

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December 2nd, 2020

The download of forms, etc. was easy and the guides that were provided were good, but more information would have been nice as to where to find tax map #, parcel #, and district mentioned in Exemptions from Property Transfer Fees (and Declaration of Consideration or Value. In general, I was quite pleased with your product.

Reply from Staff

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Ivory J.

August 1st, 2020

Haven't processed any deed documents so far. I do agree that Deed.com website browsing tool will be helpful.

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August 15th, 2019

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May 24th, 2020

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November 4th, 2020

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March 28th, 2022

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January 2nd, 2019

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Reply from Staff

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Kenneth-Wayne L.

August 20th, 2020

1) I was very pleased when the staff mentioned your service since the three referenced on the Recorder's website all wanted HUGE Account set-up and maintenance fees AND BIG fees per recording, and yours has no set-up fee AND nominal per-recording fee; 2) My (few) recordings will be NON-LAND Related, summary or entire record(s) of Administrative (Procedures Act) records, Other than the Border width and Cover Sheet, do you anticipate any other special requirements for such recording(s)? NOTE: I just sent one by Snail Mail, and they just informed me that due to the GERMIPHOBIA 'Pandemic' the ONLY open and record Snail Mail ONCE A MONTH On the first of each chmonth!

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August 10th, 2020

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Rick M.

February 1st, 2023

Sign up process was fine. The search could be refined a bit to make it easier. Rather than being presented with a large number of fields and trying to figure out, it say street suffice (Drive, Street, Lane) are needed and with what spelled out, what abbreviated it would be nice to have them presented as questions with examples. The $30 price point of r a deed is way too high for me as an appraiser. This is why I didn't complete the transaction.

Reply from Staff

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