Can a Florida Notice of Commencement Be Notarized Online?

In Florida, a Notice of Commencement is a statutory construction document recorded in the clerk's office before an applicable improvement begins. Florida Statutes § 713.13 requires an owner, or the owner's authorized agent, to record the notice before actually commencing to improve the real property, subject to statutory exceptions.

The notice identifies the property, the improvement, the owner or lessee, the contractor, and other project information specified by the statute. Recording the notice does not itself create a lien. The statute states that recording gives constructive notice that claims of lien may be recorded.

This page explains the original Florida Notice of Commencement and the notarial act on the statutory form. Later instruments—amendments, recommencement, local filing affidavits, and termination—are covered separately in the Notice of Commencement lifecycle guide.

Florida's statutory Notice of Commencement form includes a notarial certificate. The current form asks the notary to complete an acknowledgment or an oath/affirmation for the person signing the instrument.

That Florida rule should not be treated as a nationwide rule. A project-notice form used in another state may or may not contain a notarial certificate. Confirm the controlling form and the receiving clerk's instructions for the property's jurisdiction.

The notarial act on the Florida form is separate from later posting, recording, and building-permit steps.

Florida's statutory Notice of Commencement form expressly provides an online-notarization option in its notarial certificate. A signer who is eligible for remote online notarization may therefore be able to complete the notarial act through live audio-video communication with a properly commissioned online notary.

That does not eliminate document-completion, signing-authority, recording, posting, permitting, or clerk requirements.

Remote online notarization does not automatically make the Notice of Commencement recordable. The completed document must still satisfy the clerk's recording process and any applicable electronic-recording, format, and project requirements.

A signer should also confirm acceptable identification and review what remote online notarization is before scheduling.

Florida law distinguishes signing the Notice of Commencement from recording it. Section 713.13 states that the owner must sign the notice, while the statutory form also provides for an owner or lessee, or an authorized officer, director, partner, or manager acting for an owner or lessee that is an entity.

An authorized agent may perform certain recording-related functions, but that should not be treated as a blanket rule that any agent or attorney-in-fact may sign the Notice of Commencement. Signing authority should be confirmed from the applicable ownership or entity documents and, when uncertain, with the document preparer, attorney, or other authorized source.

The notary verifies identity and performs the required notarial act. The notary does not determine whether a person has sufficient corporate, LLC, partnership, trust, agency, fiduciary, or property-law authority to sign.

If the owner is an LLC, corporation, partnership, trust, or other entity, review who can sign construction documents for an LLC, corporation, partnership, or trust.

When the owner or lessee is an entity, the statutory form provides a signature line for an authorized officer, director, partner, or manager and a field for the signatory's title or office. The notarial certificate also contains representative-capacity examples. Those certificate examples are not a blanket list of who may sign a Florida Notice of Commencement.

For an applicable improvement, Florida Statutes § 713.13 requires the owner or the owner's authorized agent to record the Notice of Commencement in the clerk's office before actually commencing the improvement. The statute also requires posting either a certified copy of the recorded notice or a notarized statement that the notice has been filed for recording, together with a copy.

The giving of a notice of commencement is effective upon filing in the clerk's office. If the described improvement is not actually commenced within 90 days after recording, the statute provides that the notice is void.

Statutory exceptions exist. This page does not decide whether a particular project is exempt or which recording deadline applies to a specific job. Confirm current requirements with the clerk, permitting authority, document preparer, or legal adviser for that property.

Remote online notarization completes the notarial act; it does not itself record the Notice of Commencement. After notarization, the document must still be submitted through the recording process required by the appropriate clerk or other authority.

Electronic recording procedures, document-format requirements, fees, cover sheets, indexing information, and local submission methods can vary. Confirm the current requirements of the county or recording office where the property is located.

Online notarization does not mean the document is automatically recordable. A clerk may have formatting, electronic-recording, or submission requirements that are separate from the notarial certificate. This page does not guarantee e-recording availability or that every county clerk will accept every electronically notarized Notice of Commencement.

The Notice of Commencement is part of Florida's construction-lien and permit framework. Current law includes recording and posting requirements before the first inspection for applicable projects.

The statutory form itself contains a warning that a Notice of Commencement must be recorded and posted on the site of the improvement before the first inspection. Florida Statutes § 713.135 also addresses building-permit cards, owner warnings, and filing a copy of the notice with the issuing authority before the first inspection for applicable contracts.

Under current § 713.135, the required pre-inspection filing, where it applies—including where the direct contract is greater than $5,000—may be a certified copy of the recorded notice, a notarized statement that the notice has been filed for recording together with a copy, or the clerk's official-records identifying information. The same section states that recording a Notice of Commencement is not required as a condition of applying for, processing, or issuing a building permit. The subsection also contains exceptions, including certain heating or air-conditioning repair or replacement contracts below $15,000.

Those permit and inspection rules are separate from the notarial act. This page does not give legal advice about lien priority and does not tell a user whether a specific project is exempt.

Potentially. Physical location and the law governing the commissioned online notary are separate from the location of the Florida property. An owner or other person who is the correct signer under the Florida form and who is outside Florida may potentially complete an eligible remote notarial act if the applicable online-notary law permits it, identity verification succeeds, and the document and recording process accept the electronic execution.

A signer may be elsewhere in the United States or overseas. The commissioned online notary's authority comes from that notary's commissioning state. One state's notary commission does not create nationwide jurisdiction over the underlying property, permit, or recording decision.

If a particular session is performed under Florida online-notary law, that law governs the notarial act. The Florida Notice of Commencement statute still governs the form, and the clerk or building department where the property is located still controls recording and permit submission.

For a related explanation of out-of-state signers and a Florida-commissioned online notary, see Florida remote notarization for an out-of-state signer.

After the notarial act is completed, the signer or the party responsible for filing still needs to record the Notice of Commencement through the clerk process that applies to the property, then satisfy any posting, permit-office, lender, or project requirements.

iRemoteNotary completes the eligible notarial act. It does not record the document with the clerk, post it at the jobsite, or decide whether a building department will accept a particular submission.

If the project later needs an amendment, a new notice, a local filing affidavit, or a termination, use the lifecycle Notice of Commencement guide rather than treating those later instruments as the original notice.

Remote online notarization is the live audio-video notarial act. It is not a substitute for ownership, entity authority, clerk recording, or building-department review.