Defiance County Unconditional Lien Waiver Form

An Ohio unconditional waiver of mechanic's lien gives up a claimant's lien rights the moment it is delivered, whether or not the check behind it ever clears. This form prepares that waiver for one claimant, a natural person who furnished labor, work, or materials to an improvement on Ohio real property in the claimant's own name, releasing the claimant's lien rights under Ohio Revised Code Sections 1311.01 to 1311.22 for everything furnished through a stated date in exchange for a stated payment.

A waiver that does not wait for the check to clear

The word unconditional is the whole point of this document. The waiver paragraph acknowledges receipt of the payment entered in Section 5 and states that the waiver takes effect on delivery and is not conditioned on the collection, clearing, or honor of any check or other payment. A conditional waiver holds its effect back until the money arrives; this one does not, which is why a paying party asks for the unconditional lien waiver after funds have actually moved.

Two entries fix the reach of the waiver

Ohio prescribes no lien waiver form. Sections 1311.01 to 1311.22 print forms for the notice of commencement, the notice of furnishing, and the lien affidavit, and leave the waiver to the parties' written agreement; Section 1311.21(A) adds that taking a note or other security waives nothing absent a written agreement that it does. Ohio courts read that agreement by its plain words. In Thompson Thrift Constr. v. Lynn, 2017-Ohio-1530, the Fifth District held that partial unconditional waivers released the labor and materials due and owing through their effective dates and left untouched the retainage and change-order amounts that had not yet come due. The two entries that fix the reach of this form are therefore the amount of payment received and the through date. The waiver paragraph ties itself to both, states that nothing furnished after the through date is waived, and states that retainage not included in the payment and not yet due on that date is not waived.

What the form recites

The form is set up for one claimant signing in the claimant's own right, including an individual doing business under a trade name, and it carries one signature block headed CLAIMANT and one acknowledgment certificate in the individual short form of Revised Code Section 147.55(A), with the venue, signature, printed name, and commission details Section 147.542(F) lists. Sections 1 through 3 identify the claimant, the party the claimant contracted with, and the owner, part owner, or lessee; Section 4 locates the land and describes the improvement; Section 5 holds the payment and the through date; and Section 6 is the fixed waiver paragraph with no blanks. The claimant may be an original contractor, subcontractor, material supplier, or laborer. A corporation or limited liability company signing through an officer or member, an attorney-in-fact, or two claimants on one waiver each present a different pattern from the one this form recites. No Ohio statute sets an execution formality for a lien waiver; the acknowledgment certificate is house architecture, not a statutory requirement.

Delivered, not recorded

A lien waiver in Ohio does its work by delivery. The lien chapter describes the lien release as a document the claimant gives to the owner, original contractor, or lender in the course of payment, and for a home construction contract Section 1311.011(B)(9) makes a lien release valid and enforceable without separate consideration. Nothing in the chapter requires a waiver to be recorded, the recorder's list in Section 317.08(A) names mechanic's lien affidavits but not waivers, and Section 317.13(B)(1) lets a recorder decline a document the Revised Code does not authorize for record. The form is nonetheless drawn to the Section 317.114 recording format, with a three inch blank top margin on page one and twelve point type, and carries the Section 317.111 preparer block. Where an affidavit for mechanics' lien is already of record, clearing the record takes a release under Section 1311.20, which is prepared and recorded separately and is not included in this package.

The package includes the fillable waiver form, a completed example filled in for a Franklin County electrical subcontract, and the guide that walks through every numbered section, the Ohio lien statutes the waiver operates under, and how the signed waiver is delivered. The description and the guide describe the form and the governing law in general terms; they are not legal advice.