You can formally obtain the Payment Bond Information by serving the General Contractor and/or the Governmental Entity with a “Request for Information.” When properly made, both the General Contractor and the Governmental Entity have the legal obligation to provide the requested information within 10 days.
Request for Information to the General Contractor: If you lack certain necessary information to make a Payment Bond Claim, you can make a written demand upon the General Contractor to provide the following information: (1) identification of the Governmental Entity of whom the General Contractor contracted with; (2) a copy of the Payment Bond; and (3) the identity of the Surety who issued the Payment Bond. The General Contractor is required to provide the requested information within 10 days from receipt of the request, or as a penalty, is required to reimburse you for the reasonable costs incurred to obtain the information from another source. If you do not have a direct contract with the General Contractor, then the General Contractor can charge you up to $25.00 for producing the information. See Section 2253.024 to learn more about requesting Payment Bond Information from the General Contractor.
Inside Tip 1
Anyone not hired by the General Contractor is required to serve the General Contractor with notice of nonpayment by the 15th day of the second month for each and every month payment has not been made as a prerequisite to making a Payment Bond Claim. This Notice is not sent to the Surety and is intended to give the General Contractor an opportunity to force the nonpaying Subcontractor to pay the debt before a Claim is made against the Payment Bond. You can include the Request for Information within the Second Month Notice. The Lien Professor’s Payment Bond Claim Kit includes a Second Month Notice that contains a formal Request for Information.
Inside Tip 2
Before you make a formal request for the Payment Bond Information, call the Governmental Entity and/or the General Contractor and informally ask for the information. Sometimes merely requesting the Payment Bond Information is enough to prompt payment.
Request for Information to the Government Entity: To obtain the Payment Bond Information from the Governmental Entity, you must make the request in the form of an affidavit. Upon receipt of the affidavit, the Governmental Entity must provide the following information: (1) a certified copy of the Payment Bond; and (2) the contract entered into with the General Contractor. The Governmental Entity has the right to charge a reasonable fee for producing the requested information. The Lien Professor’s Payment Bond Claim Kit contains a Request for Information Affidavit specifically designed to obtain the Payment Bond Information from any Governmental Entity. See Section 2253.026 of the Texas Property Code to learn more.
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