Whenever work is done or material is furnished for the improvement of real estate upon the employment of a contractor or some other person than the owner and such laborer, mechanic, contractor or materialman shall in writing notify the owner of the furnishing of such labor or material and the amount or value thereof, the lien given by SECTION 29-5-20 shall attach upon the real estate improved as against the true owner for the amount of the work done or material furnished. But in no event shall the aggregate amount of liens set up hereby exceed the amount due by the owner on the contract price of the improvement made.
S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-40
Notice to owner before lien attaches when laborer was employed by someone other than owner
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Columbia Wholesale Co. v. Scudder May N.V. (1994)
Most recently applied in Ferguson Fire & Fabrication, Inc. v. Preferred Fire Protection, L.L.C. (August 2014)
1962 Code SECTION 45-254; 1952 Code SECTION 45-254; 1942 Code SECTION 8729; 1932 Code SECTION 8729; Civ
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.