San Diego County Preliminary Notice Form (California)
All San Diego County specific forms and documents listed below are included in your immediate download package:
Preliminary Notice Form
Fill in the blank Preliminary Notice form formatted to comply with all California recording and content requirements.
Included San Diego County compliant document last validated/updated 7/9/2025
Preliminary Notice Guide
Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.
Included San Diego County compliant document last validated/updated 6/3/2025
Completed Example of the Preliminary Notice Document
Example of a properly completed form for reference.
Included San Diego County compliant document last validated/updated 5/22/2025
The following California and San Diego County supplemental forms are included as a courtesy with your order:
When using these Preliminary Notice forms, the subject real estate must be physically located in San Diego County. The executed documents should then be recorded in one of the following offices:
San Diego Clerk/Recorder Main Office
County Administration Center - 1600 Pacific Highway, Suite 260, San Diego, California 92101
Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Phone: (619) 236-3771, 238-8158; (760) 630-1219 North County
Mail to: San Diego Assessor/Recorder/Clerk
P.O. Box 121750, San Diego, California 92112-1750
Hours: N/A
Phone: mailing address
El Cajon Branch Office
200 S Magnolia Ave, El Cajon, California 92020
Hours: Monday through Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Phone: (619) 238-8158 or (619) 236-3771 Assessor
San Marcos Branch Office
141 E Carmel St, San Marcos, California 92078
Hours: Monday through Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Phone: (619) 238-8158 or (760) 630-1219 North County
Chula Vista Branch Office
590 3rd Ave., Chula Vista, California 91910
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Phone: (619) 238-8158
Local jurisdictions located in San Diego County include:
- Alpine
- Bonita
- Bonsall
- Borrego Springs
- Boulevard
- Camp Pendleton
- Campo
- Cardiff By The Sea
- Carlsbad
- Chula Vista
- Coronado
- Del Mar
- Descanso
- Dulzura
- El Cajon
- Encinitas
- Escondido
- Fallbrook
- Guatay
- Imperial Beach
- Jacumba
- Jamul
- Julian
- La Jolla
- La Mesa
- Lakeside
- Lemon Grove
- Lincoln Acres
- Mount Laguna
- National City
- Oceanside
- Pala
- Palomar Mountain
- Pauma Valley
- Pine Valley
- Potrero
- Poway
- Ramona
- Ranchita
- Rancho Santa Fe
- San Diego
- San Luis Rey
- San Marcos
- San Ysidro
- Santa Ysabel
- Santee
- Solana Beach
- Spring Valley
- Tecate
- Valley Center
- Vista
- Warner Springs
How long does it take to get my forms?
Forms are available immediately after submitting payment.
How do I get my forms, are they emailed?
Immediately after you submit payment, the San Diego County forms you order will be available for download directly from your account. You can then download the forms to your computer. If you do not already have an account, one will be created for you as part of the order process, and your login details will be provided to you. If you encounter any issues accessing your forms, please reach out to our support team for assistance. Forms are NOT emailed to you.
What does "validated/updated" mean?
This indicates the most recent date when at least one of the following occurred:
- Updated: The document was updated or changed to remain compliant.
- Validated: The document was examined by an attorney or staff, or it was successfully recorded in San Diego County using our eRecording service.
Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in San Diego County?
Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed all formatting requirements set forth by San Diego County including margin requirements, content requirements, font and font size requirements.
Can the Preliminary Notice forms be re-used?
Yes. You can re-use the forms for your personal use. For example, if you have more than one property in San Diego County that you need to transfer you would only need to order our forms once for all of your properties in San Diego County.
What are supplemental forms?
Often when a deed is recorded, additional documents are required by California or San Diego County. These could be tax related, informational, or even as simple as a coversheet. Supplemental forms are provided for free with your order where available.
What type of files are the forms?
All of our San Diego County Preliminary Notice forms are PDFs. You will need to have or get Adobe Reader to use our forms. Adobe Reader is free software that most computers already have installed.
Do I need any special software to use these forms?
You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to use our forms. Adobe Reader is free software that most computers already have installed.
Do I have to enter all of my property information online?
No. The blank forms are downloaded to your computer and you fill them out there, at your convenience.
Can I save the completed form, email it to someone?
Yes, you can save your deed form at any point with your information in it. The forms can also be emailed, blank or complete, as attachments.
Are there any recurring fees involved?
No. Nothing to cancel, no memberships, no recurring fees.
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.
Our Promise
The documents you receive here will meet, or exceed, the San Diego County recording requirements for formatting. If there's an issue caused by our formatting, we'll make it right and refund your payment.
Save Time and Money
Get your San Diego 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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July 22nd, 2025
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July 22nd, 2025
Great service, quick and easy!
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Liliana H.
July 21st, 2025
I had a great experience using Deeds.com to file my legal document. The whole process was simple and easy to follow. The website walks you through each step, and everything is explained clearly. At one point, I had to resubmit my documents, but even that was quick and easy. There were clear instructions, and I had no trouble making the changes and sending them again. The communication was great too. I was kept updated the whole time, and any questions I had were answered fast. If you need to file legal documents and want a stress-free way to do it, I definitely recommend Deeds.com. They made the whole process smooth from start to finish.
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Roxanne G.
April 16th, 2023
That was easy(I think). Hopefully they saved to my computer intact so I don't have to come back begging for a repeat. Great service!
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Charles G.
August 14th, 2022
Easy to request. Fast response
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Jacinto A.
April 22nd, 2019
The forms are exactly what was needed. But wish I was able to click on the preview form to make sure it was the correct forms
Thank you for your feedback Jacinto.
Gerald C.
May 25th, 2019
Pros, quick purchase and document availability including instructions and examples. Cons, For the cert. of trust, the form would not accept the length of our trust name with no way to get around. The pdf file printing did not meet the requirements for 2.5" top margin and .5" other margins as well as the 10pt font size as the form information was shrunk down even when normal printing.
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Kimberly G.
April 5th, 2021
It would be helpful if there were a specific example of putting a deed into a trust. Also, the limitation of characters on the description of the property was not enough.
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Jacquelyn W.
February 4th, 2022
Great site with great info. Almost made the job seamless but form would not adjust to my longer than usual legal description -- I ended up having to recreate the form in word processing software (Libre). But could not have done it without the guidelines.
Thank you!
Susan S.
April 4th, 2019
Very quick, easy and readily available forms. No wait, no advertisements, no pressure to purchase MORE. I expected to only get part of the information I needed, and for there to be a hidden cost to get the complete package, but surprisingly, I got immediate access to all the forms I ordered, AND THERE WERE NO ADDITIONAL HIDDEN COSTS! How refreshing!
Thank you Susan, we really appreciate your feedback.
Beatrice V.
August 27th, 2020
I was in despair as I needed to file two (2) very important documents with the County. Due to Covid the office was closed and my only recourse was to E-Fie with a service provider. I was fortunate enough to hear about Deeds.com. They were specific, courteous, patient and most of all productive. My documents will take awhile for the final filing but that is because the County happens to have a slow turn around time. Otherwise, I am now relieved that this part is over. Thank you Deeds.com. You are awesome.
Thank you for the kinds words Beatrice.
Helen L.
February 1st, 2023
The website was easy to navigate but only needed one form. The guide was helpful also. Cost want high but contains many documents that I didn't need but may someday. Could not save form after completed but printed copies that needed to be court filed.
We appreciate your business and value your feedback. Thank you. Have a wonderful day!
Eva L.
June 19th, 2020
So far so good! I haven't had an opportunity to populate the forms but they seem to be very easy to do. The sample deed serves very well. Ordering the forms were very easy, I was impressed with the ease of doing so.
Thank you!
chungming a.
March 30th, 2019
easy to use website.
Thank you!
victor h.
February 26th, 2022
Easy to use and just what I was looking for
Thank you!