As used in the Stop Notice Act:

A. "bond" means good and sufficient sureties executed by a corporate surety entity or cash collateral;

B. "claimant" means any person entitled under the Stop Notice Act to give a stop notice for labor or materials furnished in connection with site improvement;

C. "claim satisfied notice" means a notice from the subcontractor or the materialman to the construction lender, if any, and the owner that the claim stated in the stop notice has been satisfied;

D. "completion of construction" means the earlier of the dates when any of the following occur:

(1) issuance of a certificate of occupancy;

(2) acceptance by construction lender of the final appraisal of value of the improvement on the residential site; or

(3) approval of final inspection by the insuring abstract or title entity;

E. "construction lender" means any financial institution lending funds for the purposes of contracting for construction or for materials to be incorporated for site improvements or any other person lending or holding funds to pay for construction costs or materials that were incorporated in site improvements;

F. "labor" means the performance of work or furnishing of skills or other necessary services to a site improvement;

G. "materialman" means any person who furnishes materials or supplies to a subcontractor or an original contractor, incorporated or to be incorporated into a site improvement;

H. "original contractor" means any contractor who has an express contractual relationship with the owner or in the case when the owner is the contractor, the owner;

I. "person" means any individual, estate, trust, receiver, cooperative association, club, corporation, company, firm, partnership, joint venture, syndicate or other association; "person" also means, to the extent permitted by law, any federal, state or other governmental unit or political subdivision;

J. "preliminary notice" means a notice which notifies the owner or the construction lender that the labor furnished or material incorporated or to be incorporated may be subject to a stop notice if the subcontractor or materialman is not paid timely;

K. "residential site" means the real property upon which the construction labor is furnished or the materials were incorporated or are to be incorporated for the site improvement;

L. "site improvement" means the construction on a residential site of no more than four dwelling units;

M. "stop notice" means a written instrument, signed and verified by the claimant or his agent that provides the claimant with a procedure to make and enforce a claim against the construction lender, or owner if there is no construction lender; and

N. "subcontractor" means any person performing labor upon or providing or hauling equipment, tools or machinery to the site.

History: Laws 1989, ch. 301, § 3.