50-State Surveys › Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements by State
Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements by State
How long does a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier have to file a mechanic's lien, and what notices does the law require along the way?
51 of 51 jurisdictions verified
every entry statute-checked, oldest 2026-07-04
What this survey covers
A mechanic's lien (also called a construction lien, materialman's lien, or, in Louisiana, a statement of claim or privilege) gives a contractor, subcontractor, supplier, or laborer a security interest in the real property they improved when they aren't paid. It is one of the most deadline-driven areas of everyday business law: courts read these statutes strictly, and missing a single date, by even one day, can permanently forfeit an otherwise valid claim.
Every state runs its own version of the same basic sequence — notify, file, serve, sue — but the day counts, the triggering events, and the consequences of a missed step vary sharply from state to state. This survey answers one question, state by state: how long do you have to act, and what notice does the law require along the way? Each state's page states the rule in plain English, quotes the statute it comes from, and shows the date we last verified the statutory text.
How to read the table
Each column is one requirement in the notify-file-serve-sue sequence, answered the same way for every state, with the statutory citation compressed into the cell. Click a state for the full plain-English page: the requirements one by one, the traps people actually hit, and the verbatim statutory text with official source links.
What the finished 51-jurisdiction table shows
Preliminary notice. The most common pattern is a notice required from claimants who didn't contract directly with the owner (subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and suppliers) but not from the owner's own direct contractor — California, Florida, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Washington all follow this shape. A sizable minority require no preliminary notice from anyone at all (Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, New York, West Virginia, and several more make it optional at most). A few jurisdictions go further in either direction: Rhode Island and the District of Columbia fold the "preliminary" notice into the lien-perfecting filing itself, so there's no separate earlier step; Vermont makes the notice a precondition to having a lien at all for non-privity claimants, not just a step that preserves one; and Wyoming requires two separate mandatory notices on two different clocks, with an explicit forfeiture penalty for missing the earlier one.
Deadline to sue to foreclose. One year after the lien is filed is the single most common rule (Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, among others), with six months after filing close behind (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia). The shortest window found is Rhode Island's, which can run as short as 40 days from recording; the longest are the two-year windows in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Delaware is the clearest outlier structurally: its statement of claim doubles as the enforcement complaint, so there's no separate foreclosure deadline distinct from the filing deadline at all.
Homestead and residential property. Several states address the homestead question head-on in their own statutory text: Alaska, North Dakota, and the District of Columbia all have express language confirming a mechanic's lien is NOT blocked by the general homestead exemption, and Vermont's lien chapter says outright that it applies to homestead property. Others, like Wyoming, leave the interaction unresolved by the plain text — the homestead exemption statute simply doesn't mention construction liens one way or the other, so the honest answer is that the statute itself doesn't say.
Swipe to see all columns →
| State | Governing law | Who can claim a lien | Preliminary notice | Deadline to file the lien | Notice of completion effect | Serving the lien on the owner | Deadline to sue to foreclose | Homestead/residential extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama verified 2026-07-05 | Ala. Code Title 35, Ch. 11, Art. 5, Div. 8, "Mechanics and Materialmen" (§§ 35-11-210 to -234); a statutory scheme tracing to the Code of 1876, substantially unchanged since the 1940 recompilation, with only isolated later amendments | Every mechanic, person, firm, or corporation who does work or labor on, or furnishes material, fixtures, or machinery for, a building or improvement, under contract with the owner or the owner's agent, architect, trustee, contractor, or subcontractor (§ 35-11-210); a claimant not in privity with the owner (an employee of the contractor, or a person furnishing material to the contractor) gets a lien capped at the unpaid balance the owner still owes the contractor, rather than the full amount owed to the claimant | No universal pre-work notice, but two distinct mechanisms apply depending on position: a material supplier without a direct contract with the owner may notify the owner in advance, in writing, of the specific material and price to convert a capped lien into a full-price lien unless the owner objects in writing before the material is used (§ 35-11-210); separately, everyone except the original contractor must give the owner written notice claiming a lien, the amount, and from whom it's owing before filing the verified statement (§ 35-11-218) | Split three ways from the claimant's own last item of work or material furnished: 6 months for the original contractor, 30 days for a journeyman or day laborer, and 4 months for every other person entitled to the lien (§ 35-11-215) | None. Division 8 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation that shortens any claimant's filing deadline | No separate step to serve a copy of the recorded verified statement on the owner. The claimant instead files the statement directly with the judge of probate of the county where the property sits, who indorses and records it (§§ 35-11-213, 35-11-216); the only owner-facing notice step happens before filing, through the pre-filing notice required of every claimant except the original contractor (§ 35-11-218) | 6 months after the maturity of the entire indebtedness secured by the lien, not from the last day of work or the filing date, to commence an enforcement action (§ 35-11-221) | None. Division 8 sets no heightened execution formality or different deadline for homestead or residential property; the filing, notice, and foreclosure rules in §§ 35-11-210 to -234 apply the same way whether the property is a personal residence or commercial property |
| Alaska verified 2026-07-05 | Alaska Stat. Title 34, ch. 35, art. 2, §§ 34.35.050-.120, 'Mechanics and Materialmen' — an older single-article statutory lien scheme, not a modern UPOAA-style comprehensive lien code; its filing-deadline section was last substantively amended in 2010 | Section 34.35.050 recognizes six bases: laborers, employee-benefit-trust trustees, material suppliers, equipment suppliers, plan/survey/architectural/engineering providers (all under contract with the owner or the owner's agent), and, separately, any general contractor. Section 34.35.115 extends privity down the chain by deeming every contractor, subcontractor, architect, or builder 'having charge' of any part of the work to be the owner's agent — no case law confirms how far down this reaches. No contractor-licensing prerequisite appears anywhere in the chapter | Not required. A claimant MAY record an optional notice of right to lien before starting work (§ 34.35.064); doing so shifts the burden of proof onto the owner to disprove knowledge and consent, and preserves the full filing deadline if the owner later records a notice of completion. Skipping it has no direct penalty except a shortened deadline if a notice of completion is later recorded | 120 days after the claimant completes its contract or stops furnishing labor, material, services, or equipment, if the owner never records a notice of completion (§ 34.35.068(a)). If the owner DOES record one, only a claimant who already recorded a notice of right to lien keeps the 120 days; everyone else gets just 15 days after the notice of completion is recorded (§ 34.35.068(b)). A lien recorded outside the applicable window is unenforceable outright (§ 34.35.068(c)) | An owner may record a notice of completion once the project is actually finished — recording one early is void (§ 34.35.071(d)) — after giving at least 5 days' advance notice to any claimant who already recorded a notice of right to lien or stop-lending notice (§ 34.35.071(a)). Its only effect is to shrink the filing deadline under § 34.35.068(b) for claimants without a recorded notice of right to lien, from 120 days down to 15 | None. Nothing in §§ 34.35.050-.120 requires a claimant to serve or deliver a copy of the recorded claim of lien on the owner. A commercial Alaska lien-form template in circulation claims this is required 'under AS 34.35.070' — that section actually only lists what the sworn claim of lien itself must state, and says nothing about serving a copy on the owner | A recorded lien does not bind the property for more than 6 months after recording unless the claimant sues to enforce it within that time, or records a written extension notice in the same recording office within the original 6 months, which buys another 6 months (§ 34.35.080(a)). An owner or contractor can also cut the dispute short by recording a bond worth 1.5 times the claimed amount, which frees the property and shifts the claim to the bond (§ 34.35.072) | Chapter 35 itself has no residential-specific rule. Alaska's general homestead exemption protects up to $54,000 of an individual's equity in a principal residence (§ 09.38.010) — but the exemptions act expressly allows a creditor to levy against otherwise-exempt property to enforce a claim for 'labor or materials furnished to make, repair, improve... the property' (§ 09.38.065(a)(2)(B)), and separately states the exemptions chapter doesn't affect any statutory lien at all (§ 09.38.065(b)) |
| Arizona verified 2026-07-04 | A.R.S. Title 33, ch. 7, art. 6 (§§ 33-981 to 33-1008), "Liens on Property"; a traditional single-article statutory lien law, not tied to a uniform act | Anyone who labors or furnishes professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures, or tools for construction, alteration, or repair (§ 33-981(A)); a required-to-be-licensed contractor without a valid license, or a design professional without a valid certificate of registration, gets NO lien rights at all (§ 33-981(C), (E)) | A written preliminary 20-day notice to the owner, original contractor, and construction lender is a "necessary prerequisite to the validity of any claim of lien" for everyone except a person performing actual labor for wages; due within 20 days of first furnishing, late notice protects only work from 20 days before it's served (§ 33-992.01) | 120 days after completion of the building/structure/improvement (or of each separate building in a multi-building residential project) — same day count for every claimant tier, no split by role (§ 33-993(A)-(B)) | An owner-recorded notice of completion cuts the filing window from 120 days to 60 days after the notice is recorded; "completion" itself is defined as 30 days after final building-permit inspection/acceptance or 60 days of continuous work stoppage, whichever comes first (§ 33-993(A), (C), (E)) | The claimant records one copy of the notice and claim of lien with the county recorder and, within a reasonable time after, serves the other copy on the owner if the owner can be found in the county (§ 33-993(A)); the statute does not tie a missed or late service to forfeiture of the lien itself | 6 months after recording to file suit and record a notice of pendency of action (lis pendens), or the lien lapses; no extension mechanism exists in the statute (§ 33-998(A)) | No lien under this article may be recorded against the dwelling of a person who was already an owner-occupant before the work began, unless the claimant has a written contract directly with that owner-occupant; any waiver of this protection is void (§ 33-1002(B)-(C)) |
| Arkansas verified 2026-07-04 | Ark. Code §§ 18-44-101 to -135 (Subchapter 1, General Provisions), part of the Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens chapter (Title 18, Subtitle 4, Ch. 44), rooted in an 1895 act; separate subchapters in the same chapter cover wells/mines/quarries, railroads, and lien-discharge bonds | Every contractor, subcontractor, or material supplier (as defined in § 18-44-107) who supplies labor, services, material, fixtures, engines, boilers, or machinery under a contract with the owner, proprietor, contractor, or subcontractor (§ 18-44-101(a)); a separate section extends the same lien to architects, engineers, surveyors, appraisers, landscapers, abstractors, or title insurance agents, but only under a WRITTEN agreement with the owner (§ 18-44-105(a)) | Splits sharply by project type. Residential real estate of 4 or fewer units: no lien at all unless the owner received a specific pre-work notice before any claimant starts, given by the residential contractor on behalf of everyone (§ 18-44-115(a)(1),(3)) — missing it bars that contractor from lien rights (§ 18-44-115(a)(4)), though other claimants keep theirs if any one party gave the notice. Commercial real estate (or 5+-unit residential): no pre-work notice, but every subcontractor, supplier, or service provider must send a Notice of Nonpayment to the owner and contractor within 75 days of last furnishing (§ 18-44-115(b)(3)-(5)) | 120 days after the labor or materials were last furnished or the work last performed, filed with the circuit clerk of the county where the property sits (§ 18-44-117(a)(1)) | None — Arkansas has no owner-recorded notice-of-completion mechanism anywhere in this subchapter; both the 120-day filing clock and the 10-day pre-filing notice run strictly from when the claimant last furnished labor or materials | Not a post-recording step here: every claimant must instead give the owner 10 days' written notice of the claim BEFORE filing the lien (§ 18-44-114(a)); the filed lien account must include a sworn affidavit proving that notice was given, with a copy attached, and the circuit clerk must refuse to file an account missing it (§ 18-44-117(a)(3)) | 15 months after the lien is filed to both commence suit and record a lis pendens, or the lien 'shall not continue to exist' (§ 18-44-119(a)-(b)) | Only residential real estate of 4 units or fewer gets the mandatory pre-work notice described above; a residential contractor who supplies a performance-and-payment bond, or who sells directly to the owner without going through a licensed home-improvement or residential-building contractor, is exempt from giving it at all (§ 18-44-115(a)(8)) |
| California verified 2026-07-04 | Civ. Code Pt. 6, Tit. 2, Ch. 4 (§§ 8400-8494); comprehensive 2010 recast, not a Uniform Act | Direct contractors, subs, suppliers, equipment lessors, laborers, design professionals (§ 8400); unlicensed contractors barred from enforcing a lien (Bus. & Prof. Code § 7031(c)) | Required from everyone except laborers and a direct contractor dealing only with the owner; due 20 days after first furnishing (§ 8204(a)); late notice narrows, doesn't kill, the lien | Direct contractor: 90 days after completion or 60 days after a Notice of Completion/Cessation, whichever is earlier (§ 8412). Everyone else: 90 days, or 30 days after that notice (§ 8414) | An owner-recorded Notice of Completion/Cessation cuts the filing window to 60 days (direct contractor) or 30 days (everyone else), counted from recording (§§ 8412(b), 8414(b)(2)) | A copy of the recorded lien, with the statutory warning notice, must be mailed to the owner (§ 8416(c)); an unserved lien is unenforceable as a matter of law, no exception for lack of prejudice (§ 8416(e)) | 90 days after recording to sue to foreclose, or the lien expires automatically (§ 8460(a)); extendable only by a recorded credit-extension agreement, capped at 1 year after completion (§ 8460(b)) | None — the same sequence applies to a family home and a commercial building; the one universal precondition is contractor licensure (Bus. & Prof. Code § 7031(c)), which is not property-type specific |
| Colorado verified 2026-07-04 | C.R.S. Title 38, Art. 22 (§§ 38-22-101 to -133), the "General Mechanics' Lien" article; an 1899-vintage act amended piecemeal, not a modern recast or uniform act | Broadly: laborers, mechanics, materialmen, contractors, subcontractors, builders, and "all persons of every class" furnishing labor or materials, plus architects, engineers, draftsmen, and other design or skilled professionals (§ 38-22-101(1)); an owner-contractor deal over $500 must be a signed writing filed with the county clerk before work starts, or subs and laborers are deemed to deal directly with the owner (§ 38-22-101(3)) | None during the work itself. Instead, a written "notice of intent to file a lien statement" must be served on the owner (or agent) and the prime contractor (or agent) at least 10 days before the lien statement is filed, by personal service or certified/registered mail (§ 38-22-109(3)) | 4 months after the claimant's own last labor or materials furnished, for everyone except pure laborers (no materials furnished), who get only 2 months after completion of the project (§ 38-22-109(4)-(5)); abandoning the job for 3 continuous months counts as completion for this purpose (§ 38-22-109(7)) | None — Article 22 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation that shortens a filing deadline. A claimant may instead file its own optional notice of intent to claim, which only extends that claimant's filing window, to the earlier of 4 months after completion or 6 months after the notice is filed (§ 38-22-109(10)) | No separate step to serve a copy of the recorded lien statement itself. Colorado's owner-facing service happens before filing, not after: the 10-day notice of intent to file must reach both the owner and the prime contractor (§ 38-22-109(3)) | 6 months after the last work, last materials furnished, or completion (whichever the filing deadline ran from) to commence a foreclosure action and record notice that the action was commenced, or the lien stops holding the property (§ 38-22-110) | Two overlays for a single- or double-family dwelling: (1) a lien filed more than 2 months after completion can't reach a bona fide purchaser of that dwelling unless it was already recorded, or the purchaser knew, before the sale (§ 38-22-125); (2) an owner of an existing home, or one built for their own primary residence, who already paid enough to cover the contract has an affirmative defense against any lien on it (§ 38-22-102(3.5)) |
| Connecticut verified 2026-07-05 | Conn. Gen. Stat. Title 49, Chapter 847, "Liens" (§§ 49-33 to 49-40), a purely statutory right with no common-law counterpart; a separate Home Improvement Act (Title 20, Ch. 400, principally § 20-429) layers an additional contract-formality requirement onto residential improvement work -- see homestead dimension | Anyone with a claim over $10 for materials or services in constructing, raising, removing, or repairing a building, or improving/subdividing a lot or plot of land, by agreement with or consent of the owner or someone rightfully acting for the owner (§ 49-33(a)); a subcontractor gets the identical lien, subrogated to the original contractor's rights but capped at what the owner still owes that contractor (§ 49-33(e)-(f)). Connecticut courts, not the statute's text, have extended lien rights to architects, engineers, and surveyors whose work satisfies a judicially-created "physical enhancement" test | The original contractor, and a subcontractor whose contract with the original contractor is written and mutually assented to in writing, don't need to send one; every other claimant -- an unwritten-contract subcontractor or a material supplier -- must give the owner AND the original contractor written notice of intent to claim a lien, no later than 90 days after ceasing to furnish (§ 49-35(a)). An original contractor is only entitled to receive that notice if they recorded a business-name/address affidavit with the town clerk within 15 days of starting work | One flat deadline for every claimant, with no tiering by claimant type: lodge a sworn certificate with the town clerk of the town where the property sits within 90 days after ceasing to furnish services or materials (§ 49-34(1)) | None. Chapter 847 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation mechanism; the 90-day filing clock always runs from the claimant's own last day of furnishing, though Connecticut courts have held that trivial work performed after substantial completion (punch-list or warranty work) doesn't restart it | Not later than 30 days after lodging the certificate, the claimant must serve a true and attested copy on the owner, using the same personal-service, abode-service, or registered/certified-mail method set out for the § 49-35 notice; a mechanic's lien "is not valid" without both the timely certificate and this service (§ 49-34(2)) | 1 year from the date the lien was recorded to commence a foreclosure action and record a notice of lis pendens, extendable by 60 days after the final disposition of a discharge/reduction application under § 49-35a; miss it and the lien "shall be invalid and discharged as a matter of law" (§ 49-39) | No rule inside Chapter 847 itself turns on homestead status, but the separate Home Improvement Act (§ 20-429) requires a general contractor's contract for residential improvement work to be written, signed and dated by both parties, and to include the contractor's registration number, a cancellation-rights notice, and start/completion dates; Connecticut courts have held that a general contractor who fails to meet these requirements cannot enforce a mechanic's lien against the homeowner, though a subcontractor's own lien rights survive the general's noncompliance because the Act's requirements don't reach subcontractors |
| Delaware verified 2026-07-05 | Del. Code Ann. tit. 25, Part II, ch. 27, §§ 2701-2736, the Mechanics' Liens chapter — one of the country's oldest lien statutes, tracing to 16 Del. Laws c. 145 (a mid-1800s enactment) — split into three subchapters: general provisions (§§ 2701-2707+), the main enforcement track in Superior Court by writ of scire facias (§§ 2711-2729), and a now-largely-obsolete small-claims track before a justice of the peace for labor claims under $100 (§§ 2731-2736) | Section 2702(a) covers any person performing or furnishing labor or material exceeding $25 — a fixed dollar floor written into the statute and never adjusted for inflation — under a contract, express or implied, with the owner, the owner's agent, a contractor who has contracted with the owner, or, reaching multiple tiers deep, 'under a contract with or order from any subcontractor.' Section 2702(b) names specific covered trades (plumbing, paving, wharf/pier/dock construction, land drainage and filling improvements) and expressly includes 'the services rendered and labor performed and materials furnished by architects' — but doesn't name engineers; a 2018 bill that would have added engineers by name (HB 423) never passed. Section 2722 keeps a landlord's own interest out of the lien for work a tenant ordered, unless the landlord consented in writing beforehand | None required from any claimant tier to preserve lien rights on a private structure — nothing in the chapter imposes an advance-warning step before or during work. A related but different mechanism runs the other direction: § 2705 lets the OWNER demand a written list of everyone who furnished labor or materials from the contractor, and if the contractor doesn't produce it within 10 days, the contractor loses the right to receive further payment from the owner and forfeits the contractor's own ability to claim a lien — a consequence aimed at the contractor, not a notice claimants must send to protect their own rights | Deadlines differ by tier. A contractor who contracted directly with the owner and furnished both labor and material (or construction management services) must file a sworn statement of claim within 180 days of the structure's completion, which the statute defines flexibly through any of nine listed triggering events — including a contract-specified completion date, the date 90% of the contract price has been paid, the contractor's own final invoice date, issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the owner's acceptance, an architect's certificate of completion, or completion of permanent financing (§ 2711(a)). Everyone else — subcontractors, suppliers, laborers — gets 120 days from their own last labor performed or materials delivered, or alternatively from when final payment is due to them or is made to the contractor (§ 2711(b)) | Chapter 27 has no owner-recorded notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination device. The closest thing is § 2711(a)'s own list of alternative completion-triggering events for a direct contractor's 180-day deadline (a certificate of occupancy, an architect's certificate of completion, the owner's contractual acceptance) — but these come from the project's own paperwork and milestones, not from a notice the owner specifically files to shorten anyone's filing window | Delaware doesn't record a lien in land records and then separately serve a copy on the owner. The claimant instead files a 'statement of claim' with the Prothonotary of Superior Court, which 'may also serve as a complaint when so denominated' (§ 2712(a)) — combining the lien filing with commencing the lawsuit itself. The owner is then brought into that case by a writ of scire facias (§ 2714), served like other civil process: left with a person residing in the structure, or, if the structure isn't occupied, affixed by the sheriff to the door or another front part of it (§ 2715) | Chapter 27 sets no separate foreclosure or enforcement deadline distinct from the filing deadline itself. Because the statement of claim filed within the 120-or-180-day window under § 2711 can double as the complaint that commences the lawsuit (§ 2712(a)), and § 2714 describes the writ of scire facias only as the FORM the resulting proceeding takes, with no additional time limit given anywhere in the chapter for issuing it, there is no independent post-filing deadline to sue that a claimant has to separately track | Section 2707 protects an owner's own residence specifically: no lien attaches to land or a structure used solely as the owner's residence once the owner has made full or final payment to the contractor in good faith, provided the contractor gave the owner, at or before that payment, either a notarized certification that all labor and materials to date have been paid in full, or a notarized release of mechanics' liens signed by everyone who could otherwise claim one. A contractor who skips this risks 'immediate suspension, revocation or cancellation' of the contractor's occupational and business licenses. If the owner didn't pay in good faith — and any payment the owner makes AFTER being served with a lien lawsuit doesn't count as good faith — claimants can still lien the property, but only for the unpaid balance still owed to the contractor, divided pro rata among them |
| District of Columbia verified 2026-07-05 | D.C. Code Title 40, ch. 3, 'Mechanics, Materialmen, and Contractors' — Subchapter I (General, §§ 40-301.01 to .03) creates the lien and its perfection mechanism; Subchapter II (Subcontractor's Lien, §§ 40-303.01 to .20a) extends and conditions it for subcontractors. An 1901 act, substantially rewritten in 2002 and 2005 to unify the general-contractor and subcontractor notice procedure into one 'notice of intent' filing | Section 40-301.01 creates a lien for the contractor who contracted directly with the owner. Section 40-303.01 extends the same rights to anyone directly employed by that contractor — a subcontractor, materialman, or laborer — but only one tier down; a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a supplier has no lien rights. A subcontractor's lien is capped at what the owner still owes the prime contractor (§ 40-303.02(a)) and is defeated if the owner already paid the prime contractor in full in good faith, unless the subcontractor gave written notice of the amount due first (§ 40-303.02(b)). Chapter 3 itself doesn't bar an unlicensed contractor from claiming a lien | None separate from the lien itself. The 'notice of intent' that perfects the lien (§ 40-301.02) doubles as the only notice D.C. requires — there is no earlier, distinct warning that must go out before or during the work | A notice of intent must be recorded during construction or within 90 days after the earlier of the project's completion or termination (§ 40-301.02(a)(1)) — measured from the whole project's end, not the individual claimant's own last day of work, and the same rule applies to subcontractors, materialmen, and laborers via § 40-303.01. Missing the window terminates the lien by operation of law, and a notice missing any required content item is void outright | None. Chapter 3 has no owner-recorded notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination mechanism; the filing clock runs from the project's actual completion or termination, not from anything the owner files | Two overlapping requirements are both still in force. The modern rule (§ 40-301.02(a)(2)) requires mailing the owner a copy of the recorded notice of intent by certified mail within 5 business days of recording, posting a copy on the property if that mail is returned unclaimed or undelivered. A separate, unamended 1966-era provision for subcontractors specifically (§ 40-303.03) instead requires leaving a copy with the owner or the owner's agent, or posting it if neither can be found; missing that step doesn't forfeit the lien outright — it only lets the owner keep paying the prime contractor, discharging the lien to that extent | 180 days after the notice of intent is recorded to file suit enforcing the lien, plus recording a notice of pendency of action within 10 days of filing suit (§ 40-303.13(a)(1)). Missing either deadline terminates the lien, and the statute states the period cannot be extended | Chapter 3 imposes one residential-specific formality: if the project is done under a 'home improvement contract' (a written, Department-of-Buildings-approved-form agreement between the same contractor and homeowner for residential repair or remodeling, § 40-301.03(2)), the claimant must attach a copy to the notice of intent (§ 40-301.02(b)(8)). D.C.'s general homestead exemption shields a debtor's entire residence from attachment, levy, or execution with no dollar cap (§ 15-501(a)(14)) — but the same paragraph expressly exempts mechanic's liens from that protection |
| Florida verified 2026-07-04 | Fla. Stat. ch. 713, Part I (§§ 713.001-713.37), the Construction Lien Law; last substantially amended by 2023 HB 331 (ch. 2023-226) | Contractor, subcontractor, sub-subcontractor, laborer, materialman, and professional lienor (§ 713.01(19), § 713.03); unlicensed contractors/subs barred from any lien (§ 713.02(7)) | A 'Notice to Owner' is required from every lienor not in privity with the owner (subs, sub-subs, materialmen, but not laborers); due before starting or within 45 days of first furnishing (§ 713.06(2)(a)); a late or missing notice is a complete defense to the lien | Claim of lien must be recorded no later than 90 days after the lienor's final furnishing of labor, services, or materials (§ 713.08(5)) | No true shortening mechanism. If the owner records a notice of contract termination under § 713.07(4), the 90-day recording window instead runs from the termination date if that is earlier — still 90 days, just a different start point, not a shorter one (§ 713.08(5)) | A copy of the claim of lien must be served on the owner before recording or within 15 days after; a late or missing copy makes the lien voidable only to the extent the delay actually prejudiced someone (§ 713.08(4)(c)) | 1 year after recording the claim of lien (or an amended claim showing a later furnishing date), unless the owner records a Notice of Contest of Lien, which shortens the window to 60 days from service (§ 713.22(1)-(2)) | None — the same 90/45/15/1-year sequence applies to a house and a commercial building alike; the only project-size carve-out is the general $2,500 direct-contract-price exemption from most of Part I (§ 713.02(5)), which isn't tied to residential status |
| Georgia verified 2026-07-04 | Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens, O.C.G.A. Title 44, Ch. 14, Art. 8, Pt. 3 (§§ 44-14-360 to 44-14-369), a statutory 'special lien' scheme | Mechanics, contractors, subcontractors, materialmen furnishing to subcontractors, laborers furnishing to subcontractors/materialmen, registered architects/foresters/land surveyors/professional engineers/interior designers, machinists/manufacturers of machinery, railroad contractors, and suppliers of rental tools/equipment (§ 44-14-361(a)); a materialman who supplies a supplier (rather than the owner, contractor, or subcontractor directly) has no lien | No mandatory notice before work starts. A claimant may optionally file a 'preliminary notice of lien rights' within 30 days of first delivering labor/material (§ 44-14-361.3), but it's never a prerequisite to filing a lien. Separately, if the owner or contractor filed a 'Notice of Commencement,' any claimant without privity of contract with the general contractor must send a 'notice to contractor' within 30 days of that filing or 30 days of first furnishing, whichever is later (§ 44-14-361.5); if no Notice of Commencement was ever filed, this notice requirement doesn't apply at all | 90 days after completion of the work (or after material/machinery is furnished), filed with the clerk of superior court in the county where the property is located (§ 44-14-361.1(a)(2)) | No owner filing shortens the 90-day lien-filing deadline itself. A related but distinct device lets an owner or contractor send a 'demand for filing of claim of lien' that dissolves only an already-filed OPTIONAL preliminary notice of lien rights if the claimant doesn't record an actual lien within 10 days of the demand (§ 44-14-361.4) — it cancels a voluntary early filing, not the underlying 90-day right | No later than 2 business days after filing the claim of lien, the claimant must mail a true and accurate copy to the property owner (or, if the owner can't be found, to the contractor as the owner's agent) by registered/certified mail or statutory overnight delivery (§ 44-14-361.1(a)(2)) | 365 days from the date the claim of lien was filed to commence a lien action, plus a separate requirement to file a notice with the clerk within 30 days after starting that action (§ 44-14-361.1(a)(3)). An owner or contractor can shorten this to 60 days from receipt by recording and serving a formal 'Notice of Contest of Lien' (§ 44-14-368) | Minimal: the 90-day filing deadline, 2-day service rule, and 365-day suit deadline are identical for residential and commercial property. The only residential-specific wrinkle is in the optional demand-to-file-a-claim mechanism: on residential property a demand can be sent at any time, while on other property the demand can't be sent until the claimant's contract is substantially complete or terminated (§ 44-14-361.4(a)(3)-(4)) |
| Hawaii verified 2026-07-05 | Haw. Rev. Stat. Title 28, Chapter 507, Part II, 'Mechanic's and Materialman's Lien' (§§ 507-41 to 507-49) — a national outlier in mechanism: the lien isn't created by recording a document with a county recorder. A claimant applies to the CIRCUIT COURT for an 'Application For A Lien' and 'Notice Of Lien,' and the lien doesn't attach to the property until the court holds a hearing and finds probable cause and so orders | Broad by design (§ 507-42): 'any person or association of persons furnishing labor or material in the improvement of real property.' § 507-41 defines 'labor' to include 'professional services rendered in furnishing the plans for or in the supervision of the improvement,' so architects, engineers, and surveyors are covered by the statute's own definition. Subcontractors and materialmen have an independent lien, not derived through the general contractor. But § 507-49(b) imposes a strict, no-fault license bar: if a general contractor, or a subcontractor who was required to be licensed, wasn't actually licensed under Hawaii's contractor-licensing chapter when the work was done, then neither that party NOR anyone it subcontracted to (even a properly licensed sub-tier party) has lien rights for that work — there's no carve-out for a lower-tier party who didn't know its hiring party lacked a license | No preliminary notice is required to preserve lien rights; nothing in Part II conditions a claimant's lien on any notice sent before or during the work | 45 days after the project's 'date of completion' (§ 507-43(b)) — but 'date of completion' is itself a defined, sometimes-manipulable event rather than simply the day work wraps up; see Notice of completion effect. The claimant's Application For A Lien and accompanying Notice Of Lien must be FILED with the circuit court, not merely served, within this window | Genuinely consequential in Hawaii, unlike most states: an owner or general contractor may publish a notice of completion (twice, 7 days apart, in a newspaper of general circulation, plus a filed affidavit of publication) once substantial completion or actual abandonment has already happened; a contractor can't publish it until first making written demand on the owner to do so and waiting 5 days (§ 507-43(f)). Publishing that notice sets the 'date of completion' that starts the 45-day filing clock. If no valid notice of completion is ever published, § 507-43(g) deems the 'date of completion' to be one year after actual completion or abandonment — so a claimant effectively gets up to 12 months plus 45 days to file if nobody ever publishes one | Service is built into the lien-creation process itself, not a separate step after filing: a copy of the Application and Notice must be served 'in the manner prescribed by law for service of summons' upon the property owner, anyone with an interest in the property, and the party who contracted for the improvement if different from the owner (§ 507-43(a)). If a required party can't be served that way, the claimant may instead post notice on the improvement itself. The court cannot enter the order attaching the lien until this service is complete and the parties have had an opportunity to appear at a hearing held 3 to 10 days after service | 3 months — measured from a different event than most states: not from filing or recording, but from the circuit court's Order Directing Lien to Attach (§ 507-43(e)). The lien 'expire[s]' 3 months after that order unless the claimant commences an enforcement action within that time. A demand for payment (which can be built into the original Application itself) is a separate prerequisite the claimant must satisfy before that enforcement action can proceed (§ 507-47) | Two distinct residential-specific rules. First, § 507-49(a): for property used primarily for dwelling purposes before the work, no lien exists for a materials supplier to a contractor or subcontractor who was required to be licensed but wasn't, or if the supplier gave 'unreasonable advancement of credit' to the contractor or subcontractor regardless of that party's own licensing status; reasonableness is decided at the return-day hearing (or later if the affected party didn't appear), and obtaining a credit application with specified information, or making a reasonable credit inquiry, creates a 'prima facie reasonable' presumption. Second, Haw. Rev. Stat. § 444-25.5 (outside Chapter 507): before or when a homeowner signs a home construction or improvement contract, a licensed contractor must verbally explain in detail all parties' lien rights and the homeowner's bonding option, then provide a signed written contract containing that disclosure. Hawaii courts have held that skipping this disclosure makes the contract void as a deceptive trade practice, which in turn strips the contractor of lien rights under § 507-42 entirely |
| Idaho verified 2026-07-05 | Idaho Code Title 45, Chapter 5, §§ 45-501 to 45-525, 'Liens of Mechanics and Materialmen' — one of the nation's older lien statutes (original enactment 1893), still organized as a single chapter rather than separate notice/lien/bond articles | Broad by design (§ 45-501): anyone performing labor on, or furnishing materials for, the construction, alteration, or repair of a building, mine, or other structure, or who grades, fills, or otherwise improves land, plus any professional engineer or licensed surveyor under contract who furnishes plans, surveys, or on-site supervision. Every contractor, subcontractor, architect, or builder in charge of the work is deemed the owner's 'agent' for lien purposes, so subcontractor-furnished work still creates a lien against the owner. § 45-504 adds a separate lien for grading, surveying, or otherwise improving an incorporated city or town lot at the owner's request. A contractor not registered under the Idaho Contractor Registration Act 'shall be denied and shall be deemed to have conclusively waived' lien rights (§ 54-5208) — though a duly registered subcontractor working under an unregistered contractor, an employee of one, or a supplier who didn't know or reasonably believe the contractor was unregistered keeps lien rights regardless | No general preliminary notice is required to preserve lien rights, for any claimant tier or project type. The one notice-like step in the chapter is narrower and residential-specific — see Homestead/residential extras below for the § 45-525 disclosure a general contractor must give before contracting on residential work | 90 days after completion of the labor or services, or furnishing of materials (§ 45-507(2)) — the same count for every claimant, with no separate timeline for a prime contractor versus a subcontractor or supplier | Chapter 5 has no notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination mechanism that shortens the 90-day filing deadline; the clock always runs from the claimant's own completion or last-furnished date, regardless of any notice the owner might record | The claimant must serve a true and correct copy of the recorded claim on the owner or reputed owner within 5 business days after filing (§ 45-507(5)), either by personal delivery through 'an officer authorized by law to serve process' or by certified mail to the owner's last known address. A deed-of-trust trustee doesn't count as an 'owner' for this purpose (§ 45-507(6)) | A lien binds the property for only 6 months after the claim is filed unless suit to enforce it is commenced within that time (§ 45-510(1)). Accepting a partial payment or granting an extension of credit — if endorsed and recorded on the lien with its expiration date — resets the window to 6 months after that expiration date. A final judgment obtained on the lien stays enforceable for 10 years from when it becomes final | § 45-525 requires a general contractor to give a homeowner or residential purchaser a signed disclosure statement, with a signed acknowledgment of receipt, before entering any contract over $2,000 to build, alter, or repair residential property of 1-4 units (or to sell newly built residential property). The disclosure must cover 4 specific homeowner rights: to require lien waivers from the contractor's subcontractors, to see proof of the contractor's liability and workers' comp insurance, to be told about extended title insurance covering unfiled or unrecorded liens, and to require a surety bond up to the project's value. A separate disclosure must list every subcontractor, materialman, or rental-equipment provider owed more than $500, given before closing or final payment. Skipping either disclosure is a deceptive trade practice under the Idaho Consumer Protection Act (§ 45-525(4)), and the claim of lien itself must include proof the disclosure and acknowledgment were provided for any covered work (§ 45-507(3)(e)). An emergency-repair carve-out excuses the disclosure when the homeowner initiates contact for a bona fide emergency or a necessary electrical, plumbing, or water-system repair (§ 45-525(6)) |
| Illinois verified 2026-07-04 | Mechanics Lien Act, 770 ILCS 60/0.01 et seq. (enacted 1903, private-works lien scheme) | 'Contractor' has a direct contract with the owner (§ 1(a)); 'subcontractor' is broadly any 'mechanic, worker, or other person' who furnishes labor, services, materials, fixtures, apparatus, or machinery 'for the contractor' (§ 21(a)) — no fixed tier cap like some states | No general pre-work notice on most projects. Only on an existing owner-occupied single-family residence: a subcontractor must notify the occupant within 60 days of first furnishing labor or material to preserve the lien; late notice still preserves the lien except to the extent the owner already paid in reliance on not knowing (§ 21(c)) | Every subcontractor must also serve the owner (and lender, if known) written notice of the claim within 90 days after completing their own work, required for the subcontractor's lien to bind the owner (§ 24(a)); the recording deadline itself is covered below | No owner-filed notice of completion or termination exists in this Act; the only trigger for any deadline is the claimant's own last day of furnishing labor or material | No general duty to serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner. Exception: a contractor (not a subcontractor) on an owner-occupied single-family residence must give the owner written notice within 10 days after recording; a missed notice extinguishes the lien only to the extent the owner is shown to have suffered damages from the delay (§ 7(d)) | 2 years after completion of the claimant's contract to commence suit (§ 9); any interested party can force the issue sooner by serving a written demand to sue, after which the claimant has 30 days to sue or answer or the lien is forfeited (§ 34) | Three extra formalities on an owner-occupied single-family residence: (1) before paying the contractor, the owner must get the contractor's sworn statement listing every subcontractor and amount owed, preceded by a specific boldface statutory notice (§ 5); (2) each subcontractor must separately notify the occupant within 60 days of first furnishing (§ 21(c)); (3) a contractor must notify the owner within 10 days after recording a lien (§ 7(d)) |
| Indiana verified 2026-07-04 | Ind. Code Title 32, Art. 28, ch. 3 ("Mechanic's Liens," §§ 32-28-3-1 to -18); a traditional single-chapter statutory lien law, recodified without substantive change from the older Title 32-8-3 numbering in 2002, not tied to any uniform act | A contractor, subcontractor, mechanic, equipment lessor, journeyman, laborer, or anyone else performing labor or furnishing materials/machinery for listed improvements (§ 32-28-3-1(a)); a contract may waive lien rights entirely for "Class 2 structure" (regulated utility) projects if recorded within 5 days of execution (§ 32-28-3-1(e)-(g)), but any lien waiver in an ordinary construction contract is void (§ 32-28-3-16) | No general pre-work notice; two residential-only tracks exist instead — see Homestead/residential extras. For non-residential subcontractor/journeyman/laborer liens, written notice to the owner caps the owner's liability at what's still owed to the employer, but isn't a precondition to the lien itself (§ 32-28-3-9) | A flat 90 days after performing labor or furnishing materials/machinery to file a sworn Notice of Intention to Hold a Lien with the county recorder — the same day count for every claimant tier (§ 32-28-3-3(a)); only "Class 2 structure" (regulated utility) work gets a shorter 60-day deadline (§ 32-28-3-3(b)) | None — Indiana's chapter has no owner-recorded notice of completion; the 90-day filing clock always runs from the claimant's own last day of labor or delivery | The COUNTY RECORDER, not the claimant, mails a copy of the recorded Notice of Intention to Hold a Lien to the owner within 3 business days of recording (§ 32-28-3-3(d)); a subcontractor/journeyman/laborer separately gives the owner its own written notice under § 32-28-3-9 to establish the owner's direct liability | 1 year after the notice of intention is recorded to file suit, or the lien is void (§ 32-28-3-6(a)-(b)); an owner can force an earlier deadline by serving written demand to foreclose — if suit isn't filed within 30 days of that demand, the lien is void regardless of the 1-year clock (§ 32-28-3-10) | Two notice tracks apply only to an owner-occupied single or double family dwelling: for repair/alteration sold on credit to someone other than the occupying owner, written notice to that owner within 30 days of first delivery/labor is a condition precedent to any lien (§ 32-28-3-1(h)); for original construction, notice to the owner AND filing a copy with the recorder within 60 days is likewise a condition precedent (§ 32-28-3-1(i)), and an innocent purchaser of such a dwelling takes free of an unrecorded original-construction lien (§ 32-28-3-1(j)) |
| Iowa verified 2026-07-04 | Iowa Code Title XIV, Ch. 572, 'Mechanic's Lien' (§§ 572.1-.34), a single lien chapter rather than a modern comprehensive recast; liens and notices are posted to the state's online Mechanics' Notice and Lien Registry (MNLR) run by the Secretary of State, not filed with the county recorder | § 572.2(1)-(2): anyone who furnishes material or labor (or rents material/equipment) for construction, alteration, repair, grading, sodding, or fencing work, under contract with the owner, an owner-builder, a general contractor, or a subcontractor; 'subcontractor' is defined to sweep in every non-owner-privity supplier as well as trade subs (§ 572.1(11)) | Residential construction only: the general contractor/owner-builder must post a notice of commencement on the MNLR within 10 days of starting work, and every subcontractor/supplier must post its own preliminary notice before the owner finishes paying the general contractor (no fixed day count) — missing either bars that party's lien entirely (§§ 572.13A(1),(4), 572.13B(1),(4)). Commercial construction only requires a narrower 30-day written notice to the general contractor, and only from someone furnishing labor/materials to a subcontractor (§ 572.33(2)(a)) | 90 days after last furnishing labor or materials for full, unqualified lien rights (§ 572.9); a claimant may still post up to 2 years and 90 days after last furnishing by also giving the owner written notice, but the lien is then capped to whatever the owner still owed the general contractor at that time (§§ 572.10, 572.11) | None — Iowa has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation mechanism; every deadline in this chapter runs from the date labor or materials were last furnished, not from any project-completion notice | No claimant-driven service step for a timely lien: the MNLR administrator (Secretary of State) automatically mails the owner a copy once the lien is posted (§ 572.8(2)). Only a claimant posting after the 90-day window must personally give the owner written notice, since that notice is what triggers the balance-due cap (§ 572.10) | 2 years from the expiration of the 90-day filing window after last furnishing labor/materials — roughly 2 years and 90 days total (§ 572.27); an owner can force an earlier suit by serving written demand, cutting the deadline to 30 days from service or the lien is forfeited (§ 572.28(1)) | Residential projects (single- or two-family dwellings) carry a mandatory notice track found nowhere else in the chapter: the general contractor/owner-builder must post a notice of commencement within 10 days (§ 572.13A) and give the owner a specific boldface notice of lien rights, and every subcontractor/supplier must post a preliminary notice before the general contractor is paid in full (§ 572.13B) — skipping either one bars that party's lien outright, stricter than commercial construction's narrower § 572.33 notice |
| Kansas verified 2026-07-05 | K.S.A. Chapter 60, Article 11, 'Liens for Labor and Material,' §§ 60-1101 to 60-1112 — a compact, single-article scheme (original codification 1963, consolidating an 1862-era lien law) covering both private construction liens (§§ 60-1101 to 60-1110, this survey's scope) and public-works payment bonds (§§ 60-1111 to 60-1112, excluded) | A contractor with a direct contract with the owner, or the owner's trustee, agent, or spouse, has a lien under § 60-1101. A 'supplier, subcontractor or other person' working 'under an agreement with the contractor, subcontractor or owner contractor' gets the same lien under § 60-1103(a) — courts have confirmed this reaches only one tier below the contractor; a supplier hired by a second-tier subcontractor has no lien rights at all. Kansas doesn't gate lien rights on licensure, and doesn't define 'laborer' as a separate category — anyone furnishing 'labor, equipment, material, or supplies' under a qualifying contract is covered | No notice at all on commercial or other non-residential property. Two separate, narrower notices apply only to residential property: on a pre-existing structure the owner already occupies as a 1-2-family residence, a subcontractor/supplier claimant must mail the owner a statutory 'warning statement' (or hold the owner's signed acknowledgment that the general contractor already gave one) before the lien can attach at all, unless the claim is $250 or less (§ 60-1103a) — proven by an affidavit attached to the lien statement (§ 60-1103(a)(2)). On new 1-2-family residential construction, a claimant needs a 'notice of intent to perform' filed with the district court clerk only if the owner sells and records a deed to a good-faith purchaser before the lien is filed; the notice has no effect on the claim against the original owner (§ 60-1103b) | 4 months after last furnishing for a contractor with a direct contract with the owner (§ 60-1102(a)); 3 months for a subcontractor, supplier, or other person (§ 60-1103(a)(1)). Either can get a 1-month extension (to 5 months) by filing a notice of extension within the original period and mailing it to the owner (contractor) or to the general contractor/construction manager and owner (subcontractor) — but only 'on property other than residential property' (§§ 60-1102(c), 60-1103(e)) | None — nothing in Article 11 lets an owner record a notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination to shorten the 4-month or 3-month filing deadline. The only extension mechanism in the statute lengthens the claimant's own deadline (and only on non-residential property); it isn't a tool the owner controls | Only a claimant filing under § 60-1103 (a subcontractor, supplier, or other non-privity person) must separately serve the lien statement — personally, by restricted mail, or, if an address is unknown, by posting on the premises — on any one owner, any holder of a recorded equitable interest, and any party obligated to pay (§ 60-1103(c)). For residential real property specifically, the statute is explicit that no foreclosure action 'may proceed or be entered' unless the holder of a recorded equitable interest was served; missing that service blocks foreclosure outright on a home. A contractor filing under § 60-1102 alone has no equivalent separate service requirement in the statute | 1 year from the date the lien statement was filed (or, if a promissory note was attached instead of an itemized statement, 1 year from the note's maturity) to bring a foreclosure action (§ 60-1105(a)). Kansas courts treat this as a statute of duration rather than an ordinary limitations period — the lienholder must actively defend the lien in a foreclosure suit to keep the clock from running against it — and an unforeclosed lien is 'considered canceled by limitation of law' once the year expires (§ 60-1108) | Kansas defines 'residential property' narrowly as a structure built for use as a residence by no more than 2 families (§ 60-1102(d)), and layers three separate residential-only rules on the general scheme: the pre-existing-residence warning statement and new-residential notice of intent described above (§§ 60-1103a, 60-1103b), each with its own, slightly different definition of what counts as residential; loss of the 1-month filing extension, available only on non-residential property (§§ 60-1102(c), 60-1103(e)); and mandatory service on any recorded-equitable-interest holder before foreclosure can proceed against residential real property (§ 60-1103(c)) |
| Kentucky verified 2026-07-05 | KRS Chapter 376, "Statutory Liens" -- the private-improvement mechanic's/materialman's lien provisions, §§ 376.010 to 376.100, recodified in 1942 from 19th-century Kentucky Statutes sections and amended piecemeal since (most recently 2023); a separate public-improvement lien track runs under §§ 376.210-376.260 | Anyone who performs labor or furnishes materials for erecting, altering, or repairing a structure, or otherwise improving real property, under contract with or written consent of the owner, lessee, contractor, subcontractor, architect, or authorized agent (§ 376.010(1)(a)); licensed design professionals have a separate lien under § 376.075, outside this survey's scope | Required only from claimants who didn't contract directly with the owner, the owner's agent, or a lessee: written notice of intent to claim a lien and its amount within 75 days (claims under $1,000) or 120 days (claims over $1,000) of last furnishing labor or materials (§ 376.010(4)); work on an owner-occupied single or double family dwelling instead always uses a flat 75-day notice that replaces the (4) notice (§ 376.010(5)) | One flat deadline for every claimant, with no tiering by claimant type: file a sworn lien statement with the county clerk of the county where the property sits within 6 months after the claimant ceases to labor or furnish materials (§ 376.080(1)) | None. Chapter 376's private-improvement sections have no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation mechanism; the 6-month filing clock always runs from the claimant's own last day of work or delivery, regardless of when the overall project finished | The claimant must mail a copy of the filed lien statement to the owner's last known address within 7 days of filing with the county clerk; missing this mailing dissolves the lien outright, not merely to the extent it prejudiced someone (§ 376.080(1)) | 12 months from the day the lien statement was filed with the county clerk to bring an action enforcing it, extended by a further 6 months from a deceased debtor's personal representative qualifying if the debtor dies before the 12 months run (§ 376.090(1)) | Work on an owner-occupied single or double family dwelling (or related agricultural/personal-use improvements on contiguous land) swaps the general notice for a flat 75-day notice regardless of claim size, bars the contractor or subcontractor from acting as the owner's 'authorized agent' for receiving that notice, and shields the owner from lien liability for any amount already paid to the contractor before the notice arrives (§ 376.010(5)) |
| Louisiana verified 2026-07-05 | La. R.S. 9:4801 et seq., the "Private Works Act" (Title 9, Ch. 2, Part I); a civil-law privilege scheme, not a common-law lien, comprehensively revised in 1981 and again in 2019 (Act 325, eff. 2020-01-01) | Two tiers by privity: those contracting directly with the owner (contractors, the owner's laborers/employees, sellers/lessors of movables, and professional consultants) get a privilege under § 9:4801; those without direct owner privity (subcontractors, laborers/employees of the contractor or a subcontractor, sellers, lessors, and professional consultants of the contractor/subcontractor) get a claim against both owner and contractor, secured by a privilege, under § 9:4802 | No advance notice is required from most claimants before work starts. Instead the general contractor must record a "notice of contract" before beginning work on any job over $100,000 (§ 9:4811); whether it's filed determines which of two filing-deadline tracks every other claimant falls into, and a GC who skips it on a qualifying job loses the privilege entirely and cannot file any statement of claim (§ 9:4811(D)) | Two tracks depending on whether a notice of contract was filed: if not filed, everyone files within 60 days after a notice of termination or after substantial completion/abandonment (§ 9:4822(A)); if filed, non-GC claimants get 30 days after the termination notice or 6 months after completion/abandonment, and the GC gets 60 days after the termination notice or 7 months after completion/abandonment (§ 9:4822(B)-(C)) | Central to the whole scheme: the owner's recorded "notice of termination of the work" collapses every claimant's deadline from months down to just 30 or 60 days after its filing (§ 9:4822); an owner who won't file it after substantial completion can be compelled to by the general contractor's summary court proceeding (§ 9:4822(F)) | Only on the notice-of-contract track: a non-GC claimant must deliver a copy of the filed statement of claim or privilege to the owner within the same 30-day/6-month deadline as filing, but only if the owner's address was given in the notice of contract (§ 9:4822(B)); no delivery duty exists on the default (no-notice-of-contract) track | 1 year after filing the statement of claim or privilege to institute an enforcement action, or the claim and privilege are extinguished (§ 9:4823(A)(2)) | The "Residential Truth in Construction Act" (§§ 9:4851-4855) requires a contractor, before or when contracting for improvements to an owner-occupied single-family home, to give the owner a statutory "Notice of Lien Rights" disclosure (§ 9:4852); skipping it doesn't void the contract, but falsifying it or fraudulently obtaining the owner's signature exposes the contractor to civil damages and attorney fees (§ 9:4855). Separately, a residential claimant who gives 10-day advance notice of nonpayment gets a 70-day, not 60-day, filing window when no notice of contract was filed (§ 9:4822(D)) |
| Maine verified 2026-07-05 | 10 M.R.S. Part 7, Chapter 603, 'Buildings, Lots, Wharves and Piers; Labor and Materials' (§§ 3251-3269) — an older, single-chapter scheme, recently touched by a 2025 technical-corrections act (PL 2025, c. 390) that only updated gendered pronouns and cross-references, not substance. The lien arises by virtue of a contract WITH or by mere CONSENT of the owner (§ 3251) — broader than the 'by contract' language most states use | Unusually broad (§ 3251): anyone performing labor or furnishing labor or materials (including machine repair parts), or performing services as a surveyor, architect, licensed forester, engineer, or REAL ESTATE LICENSEE, or as an owner-renter/owner-lessor/owner-supplier of equipment, for erecting/altering/moving/repairing a house, building, or appurtenances (expressly including certain municipally-owned public buildings within this same private-lien chapter), constructing/altering/repairing a wharf or pier, or 'selling any interest in land, improvements or structures' — meaning a real estate agent's unpaid commission can itself carry a lien. Separately, §§ 3266-3268 let a labor union or organization bring a lien action collectively on behalf of workers it represents for wage-based liens, including fringe benefits | Two notices run in opposite directions, and neither is mandatory to have SOME lien rights. First, an owner-initiated 'opt out': if the claimant isn't under contract with the owner, § 3252 lets the owner head off a lien for labor/materials 'not then performed or furnished' by giving that claimant written notice the owner won't be responsible. Second, a claimant-initiated protective notice: § 3255(3) lets a non-privity claimant give the owner written notice, carrying a mandatory statutory warning ('your failure to assure that [claimant] is paid before further payment ... may result in your paying twice'), which caps the owner's total exposure to non-privity claimants at whatever remains owed to the general contractor at that point | Splits by privity. A claimant with a direct owner contract only needs to file a court action within 120 days (see Deadline to sue to foreclose) — no separate recording step (§ 3253(2) exempts them). A claimant WITHOUT a direct owner contract must, within 90 days after ceasing to labor, furnish materials, or perform services, record a sworn statement of the amount due with the register of deeds AND mail a copy to the owner (ordinary mail; a post-office mailing certificate is conclusive proof of receipt) — or 'the lien ... is dissolved' (§ 3253(1)) | No mechanism in Chapter 603 lets an owner record a notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination to shorten any of the chapter's deadlines; the 90-day recording window and the 120-day suit deadline both run from the claimant's own last day of labor or furnishing | For a claimant without a direct owner contract, § 3255(1) delays rather than accelerates service: the claimant 'may not serve the complaint and summons ... on the owner until 30 days after the date of filing of the complaint,' with the civil-rules return-of-service deadline tolled for that same 30 days. Separately, whoever records the 90-day statement under § 3253(1) must mail a copy to the owner by ordinary mail, and a post-office certificate of mailing alone is conclusive proof the owner received it — no certified mail or signed receipt required | 120 days after the claimant's last labor or furnishing to file the court action that both preserves and enforces the lien (§ 3255(1)) — filing and foreclosing are the same act, not two separate deadlines. If the owner dies, is adjudicated bankrupt, or has an insolvency warrant issued within those 120 days and before an action starts, the action may instead be brought within 90 days of that event (§ 3256). Separately, if the claimant enforces by attachment rather than by the underlying lawsuit alone, that attachment must be made within a longer, distinct 180-day window (§ 3262) | No general homestead or residential execution formality applies to an ordinary contractor's, subcontractor's, or supplier's lien claim under §§ 3251-3265 — the same rules and deadlines apply regardless of property type. The one residential-specific carve-out in the chapter is narrower and different in kind: § 3269 exempts 'any building designed for occupancy by not more than 4 families' from the labor-organization collective-lien mechanism in §§ 3266-3268, meaning a union can't bring that collective wage-lien action on small residential buildings — individual workers must pursue their own claims there instead |
| Maryland verified 2026-07-04 | Md. Code, Real Property, Title 9, Subtitle 1 (§§ 9-101 to -114); a judicial-petition lien system — no lien attaches until a court enters an order, unlike the self-executing recorded-lien states in this survey | A contractor (direct contract with the owner) or a subcontractor (contract with anyone else, catching every lower tier) who does work, furnishes materials, or provides listed services — including architectural, engineering, land-surveying, and certified interior-design services — for a new building or a repair/improvement adding at least 15% (25% for a tenant's own improvements) of the building's value (§§ 9-101, 9-102, 9-103) | None before or during the work. A subcontractor (anyone without a direct contract with the owner) must instead give the owner written notice of intent to claim a lien within 120 days after finishing its own work or delivery — a precondition to the lien right itself, not a step that merely narrows it; a contractor with a direct owner contract owes no such notice (§ 9-104(a)) | 180 days after the claimant's own last work or delivery to file a petition asking the circuit court to establish the lien; filing the petition itself doesn't create a lien, only starts the judicial process described below (§ 9-105(a)) | None — Subtitle 1 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation; the 180-day petition deadline and 120-day subcontractor notice both run from the claimant's own last furnishing regardless of anything the owner files | No separate step to serve a recorded lien, because nothing is recorded first. Once the petition is filed, the court reviews it and, if warranted, orders the owner served with a show-cause order and the petition papers, giving the owner 15 days to respond before any lien can attach (§ 9-106(a)(1)) | 1 year from the day the petition to establish the lien was first filed to file a petition to enforce it (or execute on any bond given to release the property), or the right to enforce the lien expires (§ 9-109) | For a single-family dwelling the owner is having built for their own residence, a subcontractor's 120-day notice carries two extra conditions found nowhere else in the chapter: the lien fails entirely if the owner already paid the contractor in full before the notice arrived, and even a timely lien is capped at whatever the owner still owed the contractor when the notice was received (§ 9-104(a)(2), (f)(3)) |
| Massachusetts verified 2026-07-04 | M.G.L. c. 254, "Liens on Buildings and Land" (§§ 1-33); a heavily proceduralized, form-driven statute substantially rewritten by St. 1996, c. 364 (eff. Feb. 7, 1997), not tied to any uniform act | A general/prime contractor with a written contract directly with the owner (§ 2); a design professional — architect, engineer, licensed site professional, or surveyor — with a written contract with the owner (§ 2C); any subcontractor or sub-subcontractor with a written contract (§ 4); a laborer performing personal labor needs no written contract at all, capped at 30 days of work in the 90 days before filing (§ 1) | No pre-work notice to the owner exists; the functional analog is the Notice of Identification a lower-tier subcontractor (no direct contract with the general contractor) must send the general contractor by certified mail within 30 days of starting work — missing it caps, but doesn't eliminate, the lien amount (§ 4) | Two recorded filings: (1) a Notice of Contract, due the earliest of 60 days after a recorded notice of substantial completion, 90 days after a notice of termination, or 90 days after last furnishing (§§ 2, 2C, 4); then (2) a Statement of Account, due the earliest of 90 days after that completion notice, 120 days after the termination notice, or 120 days after last furnishing (§ 8) | An owner-and-contractor-executed notice of substantial completion accelerates both filings — the Notice of Contract deadline drops to 60 days and the Statement of Account deadline to 90 days after it's recorded, for every claimant on the project (§§ 2A, 8) | A subcontractor's lien does not attach on recording alone — § 4 also requires "giving actual notice to the owner" of the filing; a general contractor's § 2 lien has no separate owner-notice step since the owner is already a contracting party. Once suit is filed, an attested copy of the complaint must itself be recorded within 30 days or the lien dissolves (§ 5) | 90 days after recording the Statement of Account to commence a civil action to enforce the lien, or the lien is dissolved by operation of law (§ 11); the complaint itself must then be recorded within 30 days of filing suit (§ 5) | None — Chapter 254 runs the identical sequence for a single-family home and a commercial project; the only universal precondition is a written contract (except for personal-labor liens under § 1), not property type |
| Michigan verified 2026-07-04 | Construction Lien Act, 1980 PA 497, MCL 570.1101-570.1305; a comprehensive, state-specific act, not a uniform law | Every contractor, subcontractor, supplier, and laborer who provides an improvement to real property has a construction lien on the interest of the owner or lessee who contracted for it (§ 107(1)); a contractor's direct contract is with the owner or lessee, a subcontractor's and supplier's is with someone else in the chain (§§ 103, 106) | The owner or lessee records a Notice of Commencement before work starts, naming a 'designee' to receive notices (§ 108); subcontractors and suppliers must then serve a Notice of Furnishing on that designee within 20 days of first furnishing labor or material, laborers within 30 days of unpaid wages coming due, to preserve full lien rights (§ 109); contractors need not serve one at all | 90 days after the claimant's last furnishing of labor or material, for every claimant type alike (§ 570.1111(1)) | None — Michigan has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation that shortens a claimant's deadline; the Notice of Commencement operates at the START of a project to enable the preliminary-notice system, not at the end to cut anyone's filing window short | Within 15 days after recording the claim of lien, the claimant must serve a copy of it (and proof of service of any required Notice of Furnishing) on the designee named in the Notice of Commencement, or on the owner/lessee if none was named (§ 570.1111(5)) | 1 year after the date the claim of lien was recorded to bring suit to enforce it through foreclosure, with a notice of lis pendens recorded when suit is filed (§ 570.1117(1)-(2)) | A contractor has no construction lien at all on a residential structure (a condo unit or a building of 2 or fewer residential units) unless the work was done under a signed written contract disclosing any required contractor/electrician/plumbing/mechanical licensing and license number (§ 570.1114); a residential improvement is also exempt from the Notice of Commencement/designee system entirely (§ 570.1108(18)) |
| Minnesota verified 2026-07-05 | Minn. Stat. Ch. 514 ("Liens Against Property"), §§ 514.01-.135; an older single-chapter statutory scheme, not a modern recast lien code | Anyone performing engineering or land surveying services, or contributing labor, skill, material, or machinery to the improvement, whether under direct contract with the owner or at the instance of an agent, trustee, contractor, or subcontractor (§ 514.01); a person who knowingly does residential-contracting work without the required license has no lien at all and any lien claimed is void (§ 326B.845, subd. 2) | Two different notices by tier: a prime contractor must build the statutory warning into its written contract with the owner, or deliver it separately within 10 days of the work being agreed on, or lose the lien entirely (§ 514.011, subd. 1); a subcontractor or supplier must serve its own notice on the owner within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials, though a good-faith near-miss doesn't forfeit the lien absent proven prejudice (§ 514.011, subd. 2) | One flat deadline for every claimant tier: the lien ceases 120 days after the claimant's own last labor or materials furnished unless a lien statement is filed for record within that period (§ 514.08, subd. 1) | None. Chapter 514 has no owner-recorded notice of completion, substantial completion, or cessation that shortens any claimant's 120-day filing deadline | Not a separate post-filing step: service on the owner, personally or by certified mail, must happen within the same 120-day window as filing, and both filing and service are conditions the lien depends on to keep existing at all (§ 514.08, subd. 1) | One year after the last item of the claim as set out in the recorded lien statement to assert the lien by filing a complaint or answer, or it can no longer be enforced (§ 514.12, subd. 3) | No heightened execution formality for homestead property. The one residential-specific rule runs the other way: the pre-lien notice requirement doesn't apply to wholly residential improvements of more than 4 dwelling units (§ 514.011, subd. 4b); separately, diverting payments owed to subs on a "residential real estate" project carries extra individual officer/shareholder liability (§ 514.02, subd. 1(b)) |
| Mississippi verified 2026-07-05 | Miss. Code Ann. §§ 85-7-401 to 85-7-433 (Title 85, Ch. 7, Art. 21), the Construction Lien Law, added by Laws 2014, ch. 487 (SB 2622), eff. 4/11/2014; replaced the pre-2014 scheme that gave a real-property lien only to a contractor or design professional in privity with the owner (former §§ 85-7-131 to 85-7-201, now narrowed to water, oil, and gas wells only) | Contractors and subcontractors up to two tiers from the owner — a subcontractor of a subcontractor, but no further (§ 85-7-401(k)); materialmen only as far as a contractor or first-tier subcontractor (§ 85-7-401(g)); registered architects, professional engineers, and registered land surveyors (§ 85-7-403(1)); no lien for an unlicensed contractor or subcontractor, or for one who contracts with an unlicensed party (§ 85-7-403(5)); individual laborers are not a separate lien-holding category under this Act | No notice is required before work starts. A claimant without privity with the contractor (a second-tier subcontractor, or a materialman supplying a first-tier subcontractor) must notify the contractor, or the owner if there is none, within 30 days of first furnishing labor or materials or forfeit lien rights (§ 85-7-407(2)) — this does not apply to single-family residential construction (§ 85-7-407(4)). On single-family residential construction only, a claimant without privity with the OWNER must instead send a written pre-lien notice at least 10 days before filing, as a condition of having any lien right at all (§ 85-7-409(2)) | 90 days after the claimant's last work performed, or labor, services, or materials provided (the same count for every claimant tier), filed with the clerk of the chancery court of the county where the property is located (§ 85-7-405(1)(a)-(b)) | None — Mississippi's Construction Lien Law has no owner-recorded notice of completion, cessation, or termination that shortens the 90-day lien-filing deadline; that clock always runs from the claimant's own last-furnished date. (A different device, the Notice of Contest of Lien, instead shortens the later foreclosure deadline — see below.) | Within 2 business days after filing, the claimant must mail a true and accurate copy of the claim of lien to the owner by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery; if the claimant isn't the contractor, a copy must also go to the contractor in the same 2 days (§ 85-7-405(1)(b)). The statute doesn't spell out a separate penalty for a late mailing, but omitting the lien's own required on-its-face expiration warning and right-to-contest notice invalidates the lien outright | 180 days after the lien is filed to commence a payment action (a lawsuit, a bankruptcy proof of claim, or binding arbitration) and record a lis pendens, or the claim of lien becomes unenforceable (§§ 85-7-405(1)(c), 85-7-421(1)). An owner or contractor can shorten that window by recording a Notice of Contest of Lien; the lien is then extinguished unless a payment action follows within the earlier of 90 days after the contest notice or the original 180-day mark (§ 85-7-423) | Only 'single-family residential construction' — narrower than the Act's separately defined, 1-to-4-unit 'residential property' (§ 85-7-401(i)) — is exempt from the general-contractor subcontractor-list notice (§ 85-7-407(4)) and instead requires the 10-day pre-lien notice above, which doubles as a payment defense: payment the owner already made to the contractor or design professional is an absolute defense to a non-privity claimant's lien, up to the amount paid, unless that notice arrived before the payment (§ 85-7-409(1)-(2)) |
| Missouri verified 2026-07-04 | RSMo Title XXVII, Ch. 429 (Statutory Liens Against Real Estate, §§ 429.010-.360); a 1939-vintage chapter amended piecemeal, not a modern recast or uniform act | General/prime contractors, subcontractors, laborers, material suppliers, and design professionals (§§ 429.010, 429.015); equipment lessors only on commercial jobs with claims over $5,000 plus a 15-business-day use notice (§ 429.010.2); owner-occupied residential (4 units or less) subs/suppliers additionally need the owner's signed written Consent of Owner (§ 429.013) | Two separate tracks: the original contractor must give the owner a 10-point-bold 'Notice to Owner' disclosure before receiving any payment, a condition precedent to its own lien (§ 429.012); every other claimant must instead give the owner 10 days' written notice of the claim before filing the lien (§ 429.100) — not an earlier pre-work notice | 6 months after the indebtedness accrues (last labor or materials furnished), the same for every claimant tier; equipment lessors get only 60 days after removing the last rented equipment from the property (§ 429.080) | None — Chapter 429 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation mechanism; the 6-month (or 60-day equipment-lessor) filing clock runs from last furnishing no matter what the owner records | No duty to serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner. The claimant's only owner-facing step is the pre-filing 10-day notice under § 429.100; if the owner is a nonresident, has absconded, or can't be found, recording that notice with the county recorder of deeds has the same effect as serving it (§ 429.110) | 6 months after the lien is filed to commence suit to enforce it, or the lien stops existing (§ 429.170); the chapter provides no mechanism to extend that deadline by agreement | Two separate overlays: (1) repair, remodeling, or an addition to an owner-occupied home of 4 units or less — a subcontractor, supplier, or design professional has no lien at all without the owner's signed written Consent of Owner, and full payment to the contractor is a complete defense in its absence (§ 429.013); (2) newly built residential real property intended for sale — a claimant must record a Notice of Rights before the owner's Notice-of-Intended-Sale closing or forfeit lien rights entirely (§ 429.016) |
| Montana verified 2026-07-05 | Mont. Code Ann. Title 71, ch. 3, part 5, §§ 71-3-521 to 71-3-564, 'Construction Liens' — comprehensively rewritten by 1987 Mont. Laws ch. 202, which repealed the older single-track lien statute and renumbered the surviving sections into the current scheme | Broad and tier-neutral: § 71-3-523 lets any person who furnishes services or materials under a 'real estate improvement contract' claim a lien to secure that contract price, with no separate track for a general contractor versus a subcontractor of any tier or a supplier. § 71-3-522(6)(a) defines 'real estate improvement contract' broadly enough to include a subcontract (not just a direct contract with the owner) and expressly covers 'preparation of plans, surveys, or architectural or engineering plans or drawings,' so design professionals qualify too, even for work never actually built. Excluded: contracts for mining, timber, or crop-type work (§ 71-3-522(6)(b)) | Required for most claimants, but with broad carve-outs: § 71-3-531(1) exempts an original contractor dealing directly with the owner, a wage earner or laborer, anyone working on a dwelling for 5 or more families, and anyone working on a project that is partly or wholly commercial — so the notice mainly matters for subcontractors and suppliers on smaller (1-4 unit) residential jobs. Deadline: within 20 days of first furnishing labor or materials, or 45 days if the owner is paying with funds from a regulated lender secured against the project — except that extension never applies to a contract on an owner-occupied residence, which always stays on the 20-day clock (§ 71-3-531(4)). Missing the deadline doesn't forfeit the lien outright; it narrows the lien to only the work furnished within the 20 (or 45) days before notice was actually given (§ 71-3-531(3)). The notice must also be filed with the county clerk within 5 business days of being given to the owner, lapses after 1 year unless renewed, and an unexpired notice on file is itself a precondition to filing the lien at all (§ 71-3-531(6)) | 90 days after either (a) the claimant's own final furnishing of services or materials, or (b) the owner's filing of a notice of completion (§ 71-3-535(1)) — the same 90 days for every claimant tier, with no separate window for a prime contractor. One exception: a lien based solely on preparing plans, surveys, or architectural or engineering drawings not used to actually change the property attaches only when it is filed, not at the 'commencement of work' that governs every other lien (§ 71-3-535(5)-(6)) | An owner may file a notice of completion any time after 'completion,' which the statute defines as either the owner's written acceptance of the work or 30 days of cessation of labor on the project (§ 71-3-533(1)-(2)). Filing it gives claimants an alternate 90-day filing trigger under § 71-3-535(1)(b) alongside their own last-furnished date. The owner must also publish the notice weekly for 3 successive weeks in a local newspaper and send a copy to anyone who already gave a preliminary Notice of Right to Claim Lien (§ 71-3-533(5)-(6)) | Unlike states where a claimant serves the lien after recording it, Montana makes service a precondition to filing: the county clerk 'may not file the lien' at all unless the claimant certifies, at the time of filing, that a copy has already been served on every owner of record, by personal service or by certified mail with return receipt requested (§ 71-3-534(2); § 71-3-535(2)(b)). There's no separate post-filing grace period for service, since an unserved lien can't be filed in the first place | All actions to enforce a construction lien must be commenced within 2 years from the date the lien was filed (§ 71-3-562) — a flat window, with no statutory notice-of-contest procedure that shortens it and no provision in the chapter letting the parties extend it by agreement | Two distinct rules, one inside the lien chapter and one outside it. Inside: § 71-3-531(4)'s extended 45-day preliminary-notice deadline for lender-funded projects expressly excludes 'a contract on an owner-occupied residence,' so notice on an owner-occupied home is always due within the standard 20 days even when a lender is funding draws. Outside the lien chapter entirely: § 28-2-2201(1)-(2) (Title 28, Contracts) requires a 'residential construction contract' — an agreement between a general contractor and owner to build a new residence — to be in writing and to contain specific insurance, payment, inspection, and warranty disclosures. The Montana Supreme Court held in Mandell v. Bayliss, 2016 MT 205, 384 Mont. 377, that an oral residential construction contract is void under § 28-2-2201(2), and because lien rights arise from a 'real estate improvement contract' under § 71-3-523, voiding the contract eliminates the contractor's lien rights for the construction-services portion of the work — though the statute doesn't bar a separate equitable claim (quantum meruit/unjust enrichment) for the value the owner actually received |
| Nebraska verified 2026-07-05 | Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 52-125 to 52-159, the Nebraska Construction Lien Act (Laws 1981, LB 512) — deliberately titled 'construction lien' rather than 'mechanic's lien' (§ 52-125), and one of the few states to adopt Article 5 of the Uniform Simplification of Land Transfers Act nearly verbatim (confirmed by Nebraska's own courts, Omaha Constr. Indus. Pension Plan v. Children's Hosp., 11 Neb. App. 35 (2002)) | Broad by design: § 52-131(1) gives a lien to 'a person who furnishes services or materials pursuant to a real estate improvement contract,' and Nebraska courts have extended this to a supplier to a subcontractor and to a subcontractor's own union employees (or their benefit-plan trustees) for unpaid wage contributions. The limit courts have drawn: a supplier to a supplier or materialman has no lien (Blue Tee Corp. v. CDI Contractors, 247 Neb. 397 (1995), as explained in Omaha Constr. Indus. Pension Plan, supra). A 'real estate improvement contract' (§ 52-130) covers labor and materials for physical changes to land or structures, including design, survey, and engineering plans whether or not actually used, but excludes mining, timber, and crop contracts | No preliminary notice is required from any claimant to preserve lien rights (§ 52-135(1): claimant 'may' give notice). For an ordinary commercial owner, this optional 'Notice of Right to Assert a Lien' has no described legal effect under the Act at all: § 52-135(6) says the section 'shall apply to a lien claimant only when the contracting owner is a protected party.' For a protected-party (residential) owner, sending it early matters because it helps fix the claimant's lien cap under § 52-136(2) as of an earlier date — see Homestead/residential extras below | 120 days after the claimant's final furnishing of services or materials, to be recorded with the register of deeds — the same count for every claimant regardless of tier (§ 52-137(1)) | No mechanism shortens the 120-day filing deadline. Nebraska does have a distinct 'Notice of Commencement,' recordable by the owner or by a claimant (§ 52-145), but it governs lien PRIORITY against competing lenders and purchasers, not the filing deadline: while an effective notice is on record, a later-recorded lien attaches, for priority purposes, as of the notice's recording date rather than the date work actually visibly began (§ 52-137(2)) | The claimant must send a copy of the recorded lien to the contracting owner within 10 days after recording (§ 52-135(3)). The statute doesn't attach a separate forfeiture penalty to missing just this step, but for a protected-party owner, the owner's receipt of that copy is one of the events that can fix the reduced lien-amount cap described below (§ 52-136(2)(b),(5)) | A recorded lien is generally enforceable for 2 years after recording (§ 52-140(1)). That window can be cut short: if an owner, a security-interest holder, or any other interested person serves the claimant a written demand to sue, the lien lapses unless the claimant institutes judicial proceedings, or records an affidavit that the full contract price isn't yet due, within 30 days after receiving the demand (§ 52-140(2)) | Nebraska's residential mechanism turns on 'protected party' status (§ 52-129): an individual who contracts to buy, improve, or give a security interest in residential real estate of 4 or fewer dwelling units that they occupy or intend to occupy (or someone related to such an occupant). Only for a protected-party owner does the optional preliminary notice actually do anything, and only for a protected-party owner is a non-prime-contractor's lien capped at the lesser of (a) what's unpaid on the claimant's own contract, or (b) what remains unpaid on the prime contract as of when the owner received the claimant's notice of the right to assert a lien or a copy of the recorded lien (§ 52-136(2),(5)) — a real, structurally different amount-of-lien rule that doesn't exist for a non-protected-party owner |
| Nevada verified 2026-07-04 | Nev. Rev. Stat. Ch. 108 (Title 9), the mechanics' and materialmen's liens article (§§ 108.221-108.246), comprehensively revised 2003; generally excludes government-owned property from lien exposure except property the government uses for a private or nongovernmental purpose (§ 108.22148) | Any 'lien claimant' furnishing $500 or more of work, material, or equipment for construction, alteration, or repair, expressly including artisans, builders, contractors, laborers, equipment lessors/renters, materialmen, miners, subcontractors, and design professionals (architects, engineers, land surveyors, geologists) (§ 108.2214); a contractor or professional required to be licensed has no lien at all if unlicensed (§ 108.222(2)) | Every claimant except laborers and anyone who contracted directly with (or sold materials directly to) the owner must deliver a 'Notice of Right to Lien' at some point after first furnishing (§ 108.245(1),(5)); giving none bars perfecting or enforcing a lien at all (§ 108.245(3)), and a late notice only protects work furnished from 31 days before the notice forward (§ 108.245(6)) | 90 days after the latest of: completion of the work of improvement, the claimant's last delivery of material/equipment, or the claimant's last performed work; or 40 days after a validly recorded AND served notice of completion, whichever applies (§ 108.226(1)) | An owner may record a notice of completion once the work is done, cutting every remaining claimant's filing window to 40 days from that recording — but only if the owner also delivers a copy within 10 days to each prime contractor and to any claimant who already gave notice or requested one; skipping that delivery makes the notice of completion ineffective as to that claimant, who keeps the full 90-day rule instead (§ 108.228) | A copy of the recorded notice of lien (separate from the earlier Notice of Right to Lien) must be served on the owner within 30 days after recording, by personal delivery, certified mail, or a posting-plus-mailing combination if the owner can't be located (§ 108.227(1)); the statute does not spell out a penalty for a claimant's own missed service the way it does for some other steps | The lien binds the property for only 6 months after recording unless suit is filed or a signed, recorded written extension is obtained (§ 108.233(1)); suit can't even be filed until 30 days after recording (§ 108.244), and filing it requires recording a notice of pendency and publishing a foreclosure notice weekly for 3 successive weeks (§ 108.239(2)) | Residential construction (single- or two-family dwellings, including apartment houses) layers on a mandatory 15-day 'Notice of Intent to Lien,' required of every claimant except laborers, served on both the owner and the reputed prime contractor before recording the lien itself; it extends the recording deadline by 15 days and a lien 'may not be perfected or enforced' without it (§ 108.226(6)-(7)); none of this applies to nonresidential construction |
| New Hampshire verified 2026-07-05 | RSA Title XLI, Chapter 447, 'Liens for Labor and Materials' (§§ 447:1-18; this survey covers the private building lien at § 447:2 and the surrounding subcontractor-notice, duration, and attachment sections, §§ 447:5-12-b). A genuine national outlier: the lien arises automatically by operation of law from a qualifying contract — there is no recording step anywhere in the process. To survive past a short window, the claimant must sue and obtain a court-ordered, officer-executed writ of attachment against the property (§ 447:10) | § 447:2(I): anyone performing labor, providing 'professional design services,' or furnishing $15 or more of materials for erecting or repairing a house, building, or appurtenance, or building a dam, canal, sluiceway, well, or bridge, 'by virtue of a contract with the owner.' § 447:2(II) defines 'professional design services' to include a licensed architect, licensed landscape architect, licensed engineer, permitted septic designer, certified wetland scientist, certified soil scientist, or licensed land surveyor. § 447:5 extends the identical lien to anyone contracting 'with an agent, contractor or subcontractor of the owner' — one tier of subcontracting beyond direct owner privity — conditioned on the notice described below. The statute's plain text doesn't extend the lien any further down the contracting chain | The defining feature of New Hampshire's scheme. Under § 447:5, a subcontractor (anyone not in direct contract with the owner) only gets the same lien as a direct contractor if it 'gives notice in writing to the owner ... that he or she shall claim such lien BEFORE performing the labor or furnishing the material.' § 447:6 allows the notice to be given later instead — 'after the labor is performed ... or the material is furnished' — but then 'said lien shall be valid [only] to the extent of the amount then due or that may thereafter become due,' meaning a late notice sacrifices lien value for work already completed before the notice went out. A subcontractor who notifies the owner up front protects the full contract value from day one; one who waits only protects future billings | The automatic lien 'shall continue for 120 days after the services are performed, or the materials ... are furnished' (§ 447:9) — but that's a duration/expiration window, not a document-filing deadline. To survive past 120 days, § 447:10 requires the claimant to have already sued and secured the property 'by attachment ... at any time while the lien continues, the writ and return thereon distinctly expressing that purpose' — i.e., the lawsuit and attachment must happen within the same 120 days | No mechanism in Chapter 447 lets an owner record a notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination to shorten the 120-day window; the duration always runs from the claimant's own last day of labor or last furnishing | RSA 447 has no separate 'serve the recorded lien on the owner' step distinct from the notice and account rules above, because there's no recorded lien document to serve — perfecting the lien means suing to attach the property, so the owner is brought in and served as a defendant under ordinary civil procedure rather than under a lien-specific service statute | New Hampshire collapses what most states treat as two separate deadlines into one: the same lawsuit-and-attachment action that must happen within the 120-day window (§§ 447:9, 447:10) is itself the enforcement proceeding — there is no additional, later foreclosure-suit deadline layered on top. Once made, the attachment takes precedence over later-arising lien claims except work under a contract that already existed when the attachment was made, or work necessary to preserve the attached property (§ 447:11), and gets a further, qualified priority over a 'construction mortgage' recorded on the same project unless the mortgagee shows the loan proceeds actually went to pay subcontractors/suppliers or were backed by a completion-and-payment affidavit (§ 447:12-a) | None. Chapter 447 applies the same $15 threshold, the same subcontractor-notice rule, and the same 120-day window regardless of whether the property is a private home, a commercial building, or another structure; no separate homestead or residential formality appears anywhere in the chapter |
| New Jersey verified 2026-07-04 | Construction Lien Law, N.J.S.A. 2A:44A-1 to -38 (P.L.1993, c.318, substantially revised 2011); replaced the older Mechanics' Lien Law | Only the first three tiers in the contract chain: the contractor in direct privity with the owner (which also covers a design professional or construction manager in privity), the subcontractor or supplier under the contractor, and the sub-subcontractor or supplier one tier below that (§§ 2A:44A-2, 2A:44A-3); a written, signed contract (or signed delivery slip for a supplier) is required to claim at all | No preliminary notice is required to create lien rights on commercial work. Residential work is the exception: a Notice of Unpaid Balance and Right to File Lien must be lodged within 60 days of last furnishing, as a condition precedent to filing any lien at all (§ 2A:44A-21(b)(1)) | Commercial: 90 days after the date the last work, services, material, or equipment was provided (§ 2A:44A-6(a)(2)). Residential: 120 days after the same trigger, but the lien claim itself can't be lodged until 10 days after an arbitrator rules on the underlying Notice of Unpaid Balance (§§ 2A:44A-6(a)(2), 2A:44A-21(b)(8)) | None — no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation shortens either the commercial or residential filing deadline; both run from the claimant's own last date of furnishing | Within 10 days after lodging the lien claim for record, the claimant must serve a copy on the owner (and any contractor/subcontractor against whom the claim is asserted) by personal service or simultaneous certified/registered mail plus ordinary mail; late service isn't automatically fatal, but the burden shifts to the claimant to prove the late service didn't materially prejudice the other party (§ 2A:44A-7) | 1 year after the date of last work, services, material, or equipment provided, OR 30 days after receiving the owner's (or contractor's) written demand to sue, whichever comes first; missing either forfeits all rights to enforce the lien (§ 2A:44A-14(a)) | Residential construction liens are prohibited outright unless the claimant strictly complies with the separate Notice of Unpaid Balance-and-arbitration process in §§ 2A:44A-20 and -21: file the Notice within 60 days, demand AAA arbitration within 10 days after that, then lodge the actual lien claim within 10 days of the arbitrator's ruling and within the 120-day outside deadline (§§ 2A:44A-5(c), 2A:44A-21(b)) |
| New Mexico verified 2026-07-05 | N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 48-2-1 to 48-2-17, the Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens Act (Chapter 48, Article 2), dating to an 1880 territorial act and periodically amended since (most recently 2023, HB 179). A separate, parallel Stop Notice Act (§§ 48-2A-1 to 48-2-12) gives residential claimants an alternative remedy reaching construction funds held by the owner or lender rather than a lien on the property — a different remedy, outside this survey's scope | Broad by statute: § 48-2-2 covers 'every person performing labor upon, providing or hauling equipment, tools or machinery for or furnishing materials to be used' in a covered improvement, plus registered surveyors; courts have extended it to architects and engineers whose plans were actually used. Case law denies a lien to a supplier who only sold to another supplier (no lien for suppliers-to-suppliers). An unlicensed contractor who needed a license under the Construction Industries Licensing Act cannot claim a lien at all (cross-referenced at NMSA 60-13-30) | Required only in a narrow band of cases: a claimant who is not the original contractor and did not contract directly with the original contractor must send a written Notice of Right to Claim a Lien within 60 days of first furnishing labor or materials, but only if the claim exceeds $5,000 AND the project is not residential property with 4 or fewer dwelling units (§ 48-2-2.1(A)-(B)). A late notice doesn't forfeit the lien — it limits the claim to work furnished starting 30 days before the notice was actually given (§ 48-2-2.1(E)) | 120 days after completion of the contract for the original contractor; 90 days after completion of the building, improvement, or structure (or repair, alteration, or mining labor) for every other claimant (§ 48-2-6(A)). Unlike states that measure from the individual claimant's own last day of work, New Mexico's clock for every claimant starts from completion of the whole project | None — there is no separate owner-recorded notice of completion that shortens the deadline, because completion of the whole project is already what starts the 120-day/90-day clock for every claimant in the first place (§ 48-2-6(A)); there's no earlier trigger for an owner to invoke | Within 15 days of filing the claim with the county clerk, the claimant must mail, email, send by certified mail with return receipt requested, or hand-deliver a copy of the filed lien claim to the owner or reputed owner at their last-known address, or the address on file with the county assessor if unknown (§ 48-2-6(B), added 2023). Missing this step doesn't invalidate the lien itself: 'the failure of the claimant to serve the notice may preclude the recovery of interest, attorney's fees or costs' — a fee-shifting consequence, not forfeiture | 2 years after the claim of lien is filed to commence either a court proceeding or binding arbitration to enforce it, or the lien no longer remains valid (§ 48-2-10). A contract's contingent-payment (pay-if-paid) clause cannot be read as a waiver of the right to file or enforce the lien | New Mexico's residential rule removes an obligation rather than adding one: residential property with 4 or fewer dwelling units is entirely exempt from the § 48-2-2.1 preliminary-notice scheme, regardless of claim size or privity (§ 48-2-2.1(A)). The lien statute itself imposes no extra formality for residential property beyond that exemption; residential claimants instead have the option of the separate Stop Notice Act remedy described above, which is not a lien on the property and is outside this survey's scope |
| New York verified 2026-07-04 | Lien Law Article 2, §§ 3-24 (Mechanics' Liens); a separate Article 3-A (§§ 70-79) makes construction payments a statutory trust for the benefit of subs and suppliers, layered on top of the lien itself | A contractor, subcontractor, laborer, materialman, landscape gardener, nurseryman, or seller of trees/shrubbery who works with the owner's consent or request, plus certain laborer benefit trust funds (§ 3); no direct privity with the owner is required | None. New York has no notice-before-filing step — the notice of lien itself is the first filing a claimant makes, unlike states that require a separate preliminary or pre-lien notice | 8 months after completion of the contract, final performance, or final furnishing of materials; shortened to 4 months where the improvement is to a single-family dwelling (§ 10) | None — the deadline runs from the lienor's own completion or last furnishing (§ 10), not from anything the owner records; New York's Lien Law has no owner-filed notice that shortens it | A copy of the filed notice of lien must be served on the owner within 5 days before or 30 days after filing (§ 11); proof of that service must then be filed with the county clerk within 35 days after filing or the notice automatically 'terminate[s]... as a lien' | 1 year after filing the notice of lien, unless a foreclosure action is commenced and a notice of pendency filed, or the lien is extended by filing (once) or later by court order (§§ 17, 19(2)) | A single-family-dwelling lien gets the shorter 4-month filing deadline above, and — unlike other property — can only be extended past its first year by a court order, never by simply filing a written extension (§ 17) |
| North Carolina verified 2026-07-04 | G.S. Chapter 44A, Article 2 (Statutory Liens on Real Property), Parts 1-2; not a uniform act | Anyone contracting directly with the owner to improve real property (§ 44A-8); subcontractors of any tier instead get a lien on funds (§ 44A-18) and can reach the real property only by subrogation (§ 44A-23) | No notice is required to create lien rights, but on projects with a designated lien agent, a Notice to Lien Agent within 15 days of first furnishing preserves priority over a later-recorded mortgage or sale (§ 44A-11.2(l)-(m)); missing it doesn't kill the lien, only its priority | 120 days after the claimant's last furnishing of labor or materials at the site, for every tier alike (§ 44A-12(b)) | None — North Carolina has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation mechanism; every deadline runs from the claimant's own last furnishing of labor or materials | The claim of lien must be served on the record owner (and, for subrogated subcontractor claims, on the contractor) to be perfected at all, alongside filing; no proof of actual receipt is required if the statutory delivery methods are used (§ 44A-11) | 180 days after the claimant's last furnishing of labor or materials to commence suit to enforce the lien, the same trigger date as the filing deadline (§ 44A-13(a)) | An owner improving an existing single-family residence they occupy (or adding an incidental accessory structure) need not designate a lien agent at all, removing the 15-day priority-notice mechanism for that project (§ 44A-11.1(a)) |
| North Dakota verified 2026-07-05 | N.D. Cent. Code Title 35, ch. 27, §§ 35-27-01 to -28, 'Construction Lien' — a chapter substantially streamlined by 2009 S.L. ch. 293, which repealed several older notice and recording sections (former §§ 35-27-05, -08, -11, -12, -15, -26) and consolidated their substance into the sections now in force | Section 35-27-02(1) covers any person improving real estate under a contract with the owner OR under a contract with any agent, trustee, contractor, or subcontractor of the owner — reaching every tier. Section 35-27-01(2)'s definition of 'improve' is broad, expressly covering architectural services, construction staking, engineering, land surveying, mapping, and soil testing, not just physical construction. Two built-in limits cut the other way: the lien amount is capped at the difference between what the owner already paid and the value of the contribution, so 'if the owner... has paid the full price or value of the contribution, no lien is allowed' regardless of whether that payment reached the actual claimant (§ 35-27-02(2)), and a signed lien waiver bars the lien entirely (§ 35-27-02(3)). Anyone covered by the separate well-or-pipeline lien chapter (ch. 35-24) is barred from also claiming under this chapter (§ 35-27-02(5)) | Written notice that a lien will be claimed must be sent to the owner by certified mail at least 10 days before the construction lien is recorded (§ 35-27-02(4)) — the statute's own text frames this in the context of someone extending credit through an intermediary (an agent, trustee, contractor, or subcontractor of the owner) rather than contracting directly, but the chapter provides no separate exception for a direct contractor, and multiple independent practitioner sources treat the 10-day certified-mail notice as a practical prerequisite for every claimant, including a prime contractor in privity with the owner. There's no stated consequence for a late notice beyond a delayed recording date, since the notice period simply has to run before the lien is filed | A lien statement must be recorded within 90 days after the claimant's own last contribution is done (§ 35-27-13) — but unlike most states, missing that 90 days doesn't defeat the lien outright. Section 35-27-14 softens it: a late filing only loses out against good-faith purchasers or encumbrancers whose rights accrued before the lien was filed, and against the owner to the extent the owner already paid the contractor before recording. The true outer limit is separate and stricter in one sense: 'A lien may not be filed more than three years after the date of the first item of material is furnished' — measured from the FIRST contribution, not the last | Chapter 27 has no owner-recorded notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination mechanism anywhere in its sections. A related but different tool exists: within 15 days after the contract is completed, the owner may demand an itemized, verified account from any lien claimant, and no enforcement action may be brought until 10 days after that statement is furnished (§ 35-27-09) — this delays enforcement, it doesn't shorten the filing deadline itself | North Dakota puts its one notice requirement before recording rather than after: the certified-mail notice under § 35-27-02(4) functions as the owner-facing step, sent at least 10 days before the lien is filed. The chapter has no separate 'serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner' step following the recording itself | A lien 'is not valid, effective, nor enforceable' unless the claimant commences an action and records a lis pendens within 3 years after the date the lien was RECORDED (§ 35-27-25) — a separate 3-year clock from the 3-year filing deadline in § 35-27-14, which instead runs from the claimant's first contribution. That baseline can be cut sharply: upon written demand delivered to the lienholder and filed with the county recorder, suit must be commenced and a lis pendens recorded within 30 days of delivery 'regardless of the method of delivery,' or the lien is forfeited (§ 35-27-25). Before actually enforcing the lien, the claimant must also give the owner a separate notice of intent to sue — by personal service at least 10 days before the action, or by registered mail at least 20 days before it (§ 35-27-24) | Chapter 27 itself adds no residential-specific formality. North Dakota's general homestead exemption law goes the opposite direction from some neighboring states: N.D. Cent. Code § 47-18-04(1) expressly lists debts 'secured by mechanics', construction, or laborers' liens for work or labor done or performed or material furnished exclusively for the improvement' of the homestead as one of the categories where the homestead IS 'subject to execution or forced sale' despite the exemption — meaning a mechanic's lien for work on the home itself can reach the homestead even though the general $150,000 homestead exemption otherwise protects it from most creditors |
| Ohio verified 2026-07-04 | Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens, R.C. Chapter 1311, §§ 1311.01-1311.22 (private-improvement lien scheme; other sections of the same chapter cover public improvements and unrelated lien types) | 'Original contractor' has a direct contract with the owner (includes a construction manager in privity with the owner); 'subcontractor' is anyone who undertakes any part of the improvement under contract with someone other than the owner, with no fixed tier cap; 'material supplier' and 'laborer' also have lien rights (§ 1311.01, § 1311.02) | No claimant-filed notice before work starts. Instead, the OWNER may record a 'Notice of Commencement' before work begins (§ 1311.04); once one is recorded, most subcontractors and material suppliers (not original contractors, not laborers, not suppliers in direct privity with the owner) must serve a 'Notice of Furnishing' within 21 days of first furnishing labor or material to preserve lien rights (§ 1311.05); if the owner never records a Notice of Commencement, no Notice of Furnishing is required at all | 60 days after last furnishing labor or material for a one- or two-family dwelling or a residential condominium unit; 75 days for any other private improvement; 120 days for an oil or gas well lien under § 1311.021 (§ 1311.06(B)) | No owner filing shortens any claimant's deadline. The Notice of Commencement is filed BEFORE work starts, not after completion, and only triggers the subcontractor's Notice of Furnishing duty; an owner's post-completion 'affidavit of completion' merely marks the Notice of Commencement expired in the county records and by its own terms does not affect any lien-filing time period (§ 1311.04(T)(4)) | The claimant must serve a copy of the recorded lien affidavit on the owner or the owner's designee within 30 days after filing; if service can't be made under the Act's general service-of-process section, the claimant must instead post the copy in a conspicuous place on the property within 10 days after that 30-day period ends (§ 1311.07) | A lien continues in force for 6 years after the affidavit is filed, or until final adjudication if suit is brought within that time (§ 1311.13(C)). The owner or another interested party can force an earlier deadline by serving a written notice to commence suit; the lienholder then has 60 days after completion of that service to sue, or the lien is void (§ 1311.11) | A 'home construction contract' (improving an owner-occupied single- or double-family dwelling or condo unit) or 'home purchase contract' runs on an entirely separate track: no Notice of Commencement/Notice of Furnishing procedure applies at all, and no contractor, subcontractor, supplier, or laborer has any lien if the owner or purchaser paid the original contractor in full before receiving a copy of the lien affidavit (§ 1311.011); short of full payment, a subcontractor's lien is capped at whatever the owner still owes the original contractor. The 60-day (vs. 75-day) filing deadline for one-/two-family dwellings under § 1311.06(B)(1) is the other residential-specific rule |
| Oklahoma verified 2026-07-05 | Title 42 O.S. Chapter 3, "Mechanics and Materialmen" (§§ 141-150), with enforcement procedure in Chapter 5 (§§ 171-178); traces to the 1910 Revised Laws, most recently substantively amended for the pre-lien notice mechanism effective January 1, 2026. A separate oil-and-gas well lien track runs under §§ 144-149 and 150, outside this survey's scope | Anyone who performs labor, furnishes material, or leases/rents equipment for erecting, altering, or repairing a building or improvement, under oral or written contract with the owner (§ 141); subcontractors, artisans or day laborers employed by the contractor, and sub-subcontractors/suppliers get the identical lien "from the same time, in the same manner, and to the same extent" (§ 143). Oklahoma courts, not the statute's text itself, have extended this to architects, engineers, and surveyors whose plans result in actual construction on the land. Equipment lessors are excluded entirely on homestead-exempt or agricultural property (§ 143.3) | Every claimant except the original contractor must send a written "pre-lien notice" to both the original contractor and the property owner, no later than 75 days after last furnishing (§ 142.6(B)(1)); exempt are claims under $10,000 and claims on a non-owner-occupied residential project of 4 or fewer units (§ 142.6(B)(3)) -- but that exemption never applies if the property is "then occupied as a dwelling by an owner," where the notice is mandatory and the whole lien is invalid without it | An original contractor (direct contract with the owner) has 4 months after last furnishing labor, material, or equipment to file a verified lien statement with the county clerk (§ 142); a subcontractor, artisan/day laborer, or sub-subcontractor/supplier gets only 90 days from their own last furnishing (§ 143) | None. Chapter 3 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation mechanism; the 4-month or 90-day filing clock always runs from the claimant's own last-furnished date, regardless of when the overall project actually finished | The county clerk, not the claimant, mails notice of the filed lien to the owner by certified mail within 5 business days of filing, using the address the claimant furnishes and a fee the claimant pays (§ 143.1(A)); if the owner can't be found with due diligence, the claimant may, within 60 days of filing, serve an occupant instead or post notice on the property if it's unoccupied (§ 143.1(B)) | 1 year from the date the lien statement was filed with the county clerk to bring a civil action enforcing it (§ 172); the current statute text sets no minimum waiting period before suit may be filed | Two separate rules layer on for homestead property: a pre-lien notice becomes mandatory, with no dollar-amount or small-project exemption, for any lien on property "then occupied as a dwelling by an owner," and the entire lien is invalid without it (§ 142.6(B)(1)); separately, an equipment lessor has no lien rights at all against real property that qualifies for the homestead exemption or is used for agricultural purposes (§ 143.3) |
| Oregon verified 2026-07-05 | Oregon's Construction Lien Law, ORS 87.001 to 87.060 and 87.075 to 87.093, sits inside the broader Chapter 87 "Statutory Liens" (which also covers unrelated chattel, medical, and agricultural liens, not part of this survey); enacted 1975, amended piecemeal through 2010 | Anyone performing labor, transporting or furnishing material, or renting equipment used in constructing an improvement at the owner's or the owner's construction agent's instance (§ 87.010(1)-(2)); trustees of an employee benefit plan owed contributions for labor on the improvement (§ 87.010(4)); and, unlike states that wall design professionals off into a separate statute, architects, landscape architects, land surveyors, and registered engineers who prepare plans or supervise construction at the owner's or agent's request, covered in this same section (§ 87.010(5)-(6)) | Anyone who didn't furnish at the owner's own request must give a "notice of right to a lien" at some point during the project -- it isn't a strict pre-filing deadline, but only protects work done in the 8 business days before it's delivered and afterward (§ 87.021(1)); claimants on a purely commercial improvement are exempt from sending this notice at all (§ 87.021(3)(b)), so in practice it mainly matters for residential claimants without owner privity | General contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and equipment lessors (§ 87.010(1)-(2)) must perfect the lien within 75 days after their own last day of work or 75 days after completion of construction, whichever is earlier; every other claimant (design professionals, employee-benefit trustees) gets only the completion-based 75 days, with no own-last-day alternative (§ 87.035(1)) | Rather than shortening a separately running deadline, a posted-and-recorded completion notice (or an abandonment notice, or 75 days of no work with no nonabandonment notice filed) is how "completion of construction" itself gets fixed for the § 87.035 75-day clock, since the fallback trigger is only "substantial completion," a fact-specific date the notice mechanism lets an owner, contractor, or mortgagee pin down in the county record instead (§ 87.045) | The claimant must mail the owner and any mortgagee notice that the claim has been filed, with a copy attached, within 20 days of filing; missing this deadline doesn't dissolve the lien, it only forfeits the claimant's right to costs, disbursements, and attorney fees in a later foreclosure suit (§ 87.039) | 120 days after the claim of lien is filed to bring suit enforcing it, or 120 days after an extended-payment period stated in the claim itself expires, but never more than 2 years total from filing under any payment-plan extension; a separate notice of intent to foreclose must also reach the owner and mortgagee at least 10 days before suit is filed, on pain of losing costs and attorney fees (§§ 87.055, 87.057) | Several residential-only rules layer on top of the general scheme: a subcontractor can't lien an owner-occupied residence being renovated at all if the contractor they dealt with was unlicensed when hired (§ 87.036); an original contractor loses all lien rights on residential work over $2,000 if a written contract was legally required and none exists (§ 87.037); and that same contractor must deliver a board-approved "Information Notice to Owner" at signing of any residential contract over $2,000, again forfeiting every lien right on the job if it's skipped (§ 87.093) |
| Pennsylvania verified 2026-07-04 | Mechanics' Lien Law of 1963, 49 P.S. §§ 1101-1902 (an unconsolidated act, not part of the numbered Pa.C.S. titles) | Only a 'contractor' (direct contract with the owner) or 'subcontractor' (contract with the contractor, or with another subcontractor in direct privity with the contractor) may claim; sub-subcontractors and remote suppliers have no lien right at all (§ 1201(4)-(6)) | No notice is required at or before the start of work. A subcontractor (never a contractor) must instead give the owner 30 days' written formal notice of intent to file before filing the lien itself; missing it makes the claim invalid unless filed under a court-ordered rule to file (§ 1501(b.1)) | 6 months after completion of the claimant's work, same count for contractors and subcontractors (§ 1502(a)(1)) | No such mechanism exists in this act; an owner's optional 'Notice of Completion' filed on the state construction-notices directory is expressly informational only and cannot be used to determine any deadline (§ 1501.4(c)-(d)) | Written notice of the filing must be served on the owner within 1 month after filing; failure to serve, or to file proof of service within 20 days after service, is grounds to strike the claim (§ 1502(a)(2)) | 2 years from the date the claim was filed to commence an action to obtain judgment on it, extendable only by the owner's written agreement (§ 1701(b)) | A subcontractor has no lien right at all on a paid-up-front residential job: no lien if the owner or tenant already paid the contractor in full for a single/two-unit dwelling or townhouse the owner occupies or will occupy (§ 301(b)); an existing claim on such a property must be discharged, or reduced to the unpaid balance, on the owner's petition (§ 510(f)) |
| Rhode Island verified 2026-07-05 | R.I. Gen. Laws Title 34, ch. 28, §§ 34-28-1 to -37, the 'Rhode Island Mechanics' Lien Law' (short title, § 34-28-36) — an older, consent-based scheme where the lien arises directly from a contract with, or at the request of, the owner (or a tenant or limited owner), rather than a modern lien code split into separate preliminary-notice and lien-recording articles; substantially revised by P.L. 1991, ch. 328 and again by P.L. 2006, ch. 630 | Any person who does work or furnishes materials, supplies, or equipment (rental/lease of equipment counts as 'materials' under § 34-28-3.1) under a contract with, or at the request of, the owner (§ 34-28-1), a tenant or lessee (§ 34-28-2 — this reaches only the tenant's own interest, not the landlord's, unless the landlord consented in writing), or an owner of less than the full fee such as a life tenant or tenant in common (§ 34-28-3). The chapter names no tier limit and directs itself to be read as 'a liberal remedy to all who have contributed labor, material, or equipment towards adding to the value of property' (§ 34-28-32.2). Architects, engineers, and their own subcontractors get the identical lien, but only if they meet a separate, tighter timing rule (§ 34-28-7) | Rhode Island folds what other states call 'preliminary notice' into the lien-perfecting notice itself (see Deadline to file the lien) — there's no separate advance warning most claimants must send before starting work. A narrower, different notice applies only to someone contracting DIRECTLY with the owner, lessee, tenant, or limited owner (not material suppliers): § 34-28-4.1 requires that person to give the owner a statutory notice, either written into the contract or sent by certified mail, any time before starting work or delivering materials. Skipping it doesn't cost that contractor — or anyone claiming under them — their lien rights; it only obligates the contractor to indemnify the owner against subs' or suppliers' lien claims the owner has already paid for | The Notice of Intention to Claim a Lien must be mailed to the owner by prepaid registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, AND a copy filed in the land evidence records of the city or town where the property sits — both 'before or within two hundred (200) days' after the claimant's own work or materials (§ 34-28-4(a)). This single combined step does the job most states split into separate preliminary-notice and lien-recording steps; missing the 200-day window voids the lien entirely for that work. Architects, engineers, and their subcontractors face a tighter, accelerated alternative: they must mail and file by the EARLIER of 200 days after their own work or 10 days after the 'actual and visible commencement' of construction (§ 34-28-7) — which can force a far shorter deadline than 200 days on a fast-moving project | Chapter 28 has no owner-recorded notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination mechanism at all. Nothing in the chapter lets an owner shorten the 200-day filing window (or the architect/engineer's 10-day-from-commencement alternative) by recording anything | There's no separate post-filing 'serve the recorded lien' step here — Rhode Island builds service into the front end instead. Mailing the Notice of Intention to the owner and filing a copy in the land evidence records are both required within the SAME 200-day window (§ 34-28-4(a)), not filing first and serving afterward. If the mailed notice comes back undelivered, the claimant gets a 30-day grace period — never extending past the outer 200-day mark — to file the notice together with the returned envelope instead of an ordinary copy | Unusually short: the claimant must file BOTH a complaint to enforce the lien in Superior Court AND a notice of lis pendens in the land evidence records, with both landing within 40 days of the date the Notice of Intention was recorded, and the complaint and lis pendens no more than 7 days apart from each other (§ 34-28-10(a)). Missing that 40-day window makes the lien 'void and wholly lost' as to the work it covered, even if the claimant keeps working on the same project afterward | Chapter 28 itself sets no special formality for a homeowner's own property — no separate residential deadline or disclosure lives inside the lien chapter. A different consumer-protection statute does touch residential work: Title 5, ch. 65 (Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board), § 5-65-18 requires every written contract between a registered contractor and a property owner to state that the contractor, subcontractors, or material suppliers may file a mechanics' lien, but § 5-65-24(a)(6) limits that specific disclosure duty to a contractor who 'regularly... engage[s] in construction activities... on residential structures.' Unlike some states, skipping this disclosure doesn't void the lien itself under Chapter 28 — the consequence runs through the contractor's registration instead, since the board may suspend it until any resulting lien is satisfied (§ 5-65-18) |
| South Carolina verified 2026-07-05 | S.C. Code Title 29, Ch. 5, "Mechanics' Liens" (§§ 29-5-10 to -440); a statutory scheme tracing to 1869-era acts, amended piecemeal (notice-of-project-commencement and payment-bond provisions added in 1992-2014), not a modern recast lien code | Anyone owed a debt for labor performed or materials furnished and actually used in erecting, altering, or repairing a building or structure, or boring/equipping wells, by agreement with or consent of the owner or someone rightfully acting for the owner (§ 29-5-10(a)); separately extended to surveyors (§ 29-5-21(A)), private security guards on-site (§ 29-5-25), construction/demolition debris haulers (§ 29-5-27), landscape-service providers under a written agreement over $5,000 (§ 29-5-26), and equipment/tool renters for reasonable rental value (§ 29-5-22); a contractor must be able to show a required license or registration to file at all (§ 29-5-15(A)) | No single mandatory pre-work notice for every claimant. A subcontractor, laborer, or materialman with no direct contract with the owner must give the owner written notice of the labor or materials furnished and their value just for the lien to attach against the true owner at all, capped at what the owner still owes the contractor (§ 29-5-40); a sub-subcontractor or supplier one tier further removed must send a more detailed certified/registered-mail notice to avoid having its lien capped at what the contractor owes its own hiring subcontractor (§ 29-5-20(B)); separately, a prime contractor may (but need not) file a Notice of Project Commencement within 15 days of starting work, and skipping it strips the sub-subcontractor notice of its full effect (§ 29-5-23) | 90 days after the claimant's own last day of labor or last materials furnished to both serve the owner and file a sworn statement of account, or the lien is dissolved (§ 29-5-90); one flat deadline for every claimant tier | None. Chapter 5 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or substantial completion that shortens any claimant's 90-day deadline; a separate tool, the owner's "notice of nonresponsibility" (§ 29-5-80), only disclaims liability for work the owner didn't authorize and does not shorten any filing deadline | Bundled into the same 90-day deadline as filing, not a separate later step: the claimant must serve the owner (or, if the owner can't be found, the person in possession, or proceed by sheriff's affidavit of diligent search) within the same 90 days as filing the sworn statement (§ 29-5-90) | 6 months after the claimant ceased laboring on or furnishing labor or material for the project to both commence suit and file a notice of pendency of the action (lis pendens), or the lien is dissolved (§ 29-5-120(A)) | No heightened execution formality for homestead property in Chapter 5 itself. The one residential-specific rule is a narrower carve-out for a single claimant category: a real estate licensee's special commercial-marketing lien under § 29-5-21(B) explicitly cannot attach to residential real estate at all (§ 29-5-21(B)(3)) |
| South Dakota verified 2026-07-05 | S.D. Codified Laws Title 44, ch. 9, §§ 44-9-1 to -53, 'Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens' — an older lien statute whose core structure dates to 1913 (SL 1913, ch. 263), with the conditional Notice of Project Commencement / Notice of Furnishing system layered on top later (SL 1999, ch. 217) | Section 44-9-1 covers anyone who, at the request of the owner, the owner's agent, or ANY contractor or subcontractor, furnishes 'skill, labor, services, including light, power, or water, equipment, or materials' for an improvement — reaching every tier down the contracting chain, not just those in direct contact with the owner. The lien this creates is a 'first lien... prior and superior to all other liens except those of the state or of the United States' and any encumbrance already of record or actually known to the claimant. The chapter separately covers improvements to buildings and structures (§ 44-9-1(1)), public utility lines (§ 44-9-1(2)), and mines, oil wells, and gas wells (§ 44-9-1(3)) | No preliminary notice is required for most claimants. A conditional system applies only when the owner or general contractor chooses to file a 'Notice of Project Commencement' with the register of deeds and post a matching location notice at the job site (§§ 44-9-50, 44-9-51). Once both of those are done, any sub-subcontractor or supplier to a subcontractor must send a 'Notice of Furnishing Labor or Materials' by certified or registered mail to the contractor named in the filed notice, with a copy to the owner, within 60 days of their own last labor or materials furnished, or they cannot claim a lien for a building-type improvement at all (§ 44-9-53). This notice requirement doesn't apply to an individual laborer whose lien claim is under $2,000 | A flat 120 days after the claimant's own last work performed or last item furnished, for every claimant regardless of tier — the lien 'shall cease' if no lien statement is filed with the register of deeds (or the secretary of state, for a public-utility-line lien) within that window (§ 44-9-15). The sworn statement must include an itemized account, the dates of first and last contribution, a property description, and the owner's name and address (§ 44-9-16) | Chapter 9 has no owner-recorded notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination mechanism anywhere in its 53 sections. The 120-day clock always runs from the claimant's own last work or last delivery, regardless of anything the owner might record about the project's status | South Dakota puts service BEFORE filing rather than after: § 44-9-17 makes mailing a copy of the lien statement to the owner's last known address, by registered or certified mail, a 'condition precedent to filing,' and the post office mailing receipt itself must be physically attached to the lien statement when it's filed with the register of deeds. There's no separate post-filing service step because filing without that attached receipt isn't valid in the first place | Two tracks. Absent any demand, a claimant has 6 years from the date of the last item of the claim (not from the filing date) to assert the lien by complaint or answer, or it can't be enforced (§ 44-9-24). But if the owner, the owner's agent, or the contractor serves a WRITTEN DEMAND on the lien holder to sue, the lien holder must commence suit within 30 days of that service or the lien is forfeited outright, and the owner can force the register of deeds to cancel it by affidavit starting on the 40th day after the demand was served (§ 44-9-26) | Section 44-9-5 ties the mechanic's lien directly to South Dakota's general homestead exemption: 'The lien shall not extend to nor affect any rights in any homestead so far as the same is exempt from levy and sale on execution.' Rather than adding a residential notice or disclosure requirement, this rule simply carves the exempt portion of a homeowner's residence out of the lien's reach entirely, to the same extent state law already protects that interest from ordinary creditors |
| Tennessee verified 2026-07-04 | Tenn. Code Ann. Title 66, ch. 11, Part 1, "General Provisions" (§§ 66-11-101 to -150); a traditional single-chapter statutory lien law, substantially reorganized by 2007 Tenn. Acts ch. 189, not tied to any uniform act | A prime contractor (direct privity with the owner) and a remote contractor (any tier below) who complies with the contractor-licensing statute, Title 62 ch. 6 — an unlicensed lienor gets no lien at all (§ 66-11-102(a)); land surveyors and architects/engineers under contract with the owner also qualify, except design-professional liens don't reach an owner-occupied one- or two-family detached home (§ 66-11-102(b)-(c)); on residential real property generally, only the prime contractor has lien rights at all (§ 66-11-146(a)) | No pre-work notice; the closest analog is a monthly Notice of Nonpayment a remote contractor must serve on the owner and prime contractor within 90 days of the last day of each unpaid month, required only for non-residential work — missing any month's notice permanently forfeits lien rights for that month (§ 66-11-145) | A prime contractor records a sworn notice within 90 days of completion or abandonment to preserve priority against later purchasers/encumbrancers, though recording isn't required as against the owner itself (§ 66-11-112(a)); a remote contractor must instead serve a written notice of lien on the owner within that same 90-day window (§ 66-11-115(a)) | An owner-recorded notice of completion accelerates any unregistered claimant's deadline to serve written notice of claim: 10 days for a one- to four-family residential project, 30 days for everything else, or lien rights expire outright (§ 66-11-143(e)) | A remote contractor's lien requires actually serving a written notice of lien on the owner (§ 66-11-115(a)); a prime contractor's lien needs no owner service, only recording to protect priority. Service by registered/certified mail, hand delivery, or a tracked commercial carrier, presumed complete on a set schedule for each method (§ 66-11-149) | A prime contractor's lien continues, and suit must be brought, for 1 year after completion or abandonment (§ 66-11-106); a remote contractor's lien continues only 90 days from the date its notice of lien was served, and suit must be filed within that same 90 days (§ 66-11-115(b)) | On residential real property (a building of 1-4 dwelling units where the owner resides or intends to reside), lien rights exist only in favor of the prime contractor — no subcontractor, supplier, or other remote contractor has lien rights there at all (§ 66-11-146(a)); an unlicensed firm doing licensed residential construction/home improvement gets no lien on residential property either (§ 66-11-150); the completion-notice deadline is also shorter there (10 vs. 30 days) |
| Texas verified 2026-07-04 | Prop. Code Ch. 53, extensively rewritten by 2021 HB 2237 (eff. 2022-01-01, contracts from that date only); a separate self-executing constitutional lien also exists (Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 37) | Anyone who labors or furnishes labor/materials for an improvement, specially fabricates material, is a licensed architect/engineer/surveyor, a landscaper, or a demolition contractor (§ 53.021); design professionals no longer need direct privity with the owner | No single up-front notice. Instead, a subcontractor/supplier must send a monthly notice of unpaid claim to both the owner and original contractor, due the 15th day of the 3rd month (commercial) or 2nd month (residential) after the month worked (§ 53.056) | Original contractor: 15th day of the 4th month (commercial) or 3rd month (residential) after the month its work was completed, terminated, or abandoned. Other claimants: same formula, measured from the month they last furnished labor/materials (§ 53.052) | None for this deadline — it runs from the claimant's own last work or the contract's completion/termination/abandonment, not from anything the owner files. An owner's optional affidavit of completion is only prima facie evidence of the completion date and separately affects retainage-fund liens (§ 53.106) | A copy of the filed affidavit must be sent to the owner at their last known address no later than the 5th day after filing (§ 53.055(a)) | Suit to foreclose must be brought within 1 year after the last day the claimant could have filed the lien affidavit; extendable to 2 years by a recorded written agreement with the current owner (§ 53.158) | A lien on homestead property requires a written contract executed and filed as Prop. Code § 53.254 requires, on top of the constitutional requirement that the work be contracted for in writing with both spouses' consent for a family homestead (Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 50(a)(5)(A)); a missing § 53.254 contract or notice content is an independent ground to invalidate the lien (§ 53.160(b)(6)) |
| Utah verified 2026-07-04 | Utah Code Title 38, Ch. 1a, Preconstruction and Construction Liens (§§ 38-1a-101 to -805), a 2012 recast splitting 'preconstruction' liens (design/planning) from 'construction' liens (building work); Ch. 11 layers extra residential rules; public projects run under a separate Ch. 1b | Anyone who provides 'preconstruction service' (design, engineering, surveying) or 'construction work' (labor, material, equipment, materials testing/inspection) has lien rights (§ 38-1a-301(1)): original contractors, subs of any tier, suppliers, equipment lessors, design professionals, laborers. No contractor-license gate on lien rights themselves | Nearly everyone must file a preliminary notice with the State Construction Registry within 20 days of first providing work (§ 38-1a-501(1)(a)); a late filer can still lien work performed from 5 days after the late filing onward, but the notice has NO effect at all if filed more than 10 days after an owner's notice of completion (§ 38-1a-501(1)(d)), and filing none at all bars a lien completely | 180 days after final completion of the whole original contract if no notice of completion is filed, or 90 days after a notice of completion is filed but never later than 180 days after final completion (§ 38-1a-502(1)(a)); a subcontractor doing substantial work after a certificate of occupancy or final inspection instead gets 180 days from its own completion (§ 38-1a-502(1)(b)) | An owner, lender, surety, or title company may file a notice of completion once the project is done (§ 38-1a-507(1)(a)); filing it shortens every claimant's recording window to 90 days from that filing (still capped at 180 days after actual completion) and cuts off any preliminary notice filed more than 10 days later | The claimant must deliver or mail (certified mail) a copy of the recorded lien to the owner within 30 days of filing (§ 38-1a-502(4)(a)); missing this step is not fatal to the lien itself, it only bars the claimant from recovering costs and attorney fees from the owner in a later enforcement suit (§ 38-1a-502(4)(c)) | 180 days after filing the lien notice to sue to enforce it, or 90 days after a bankruptcy automatic stay lifts if the owner filed bankruptcy first (§ 38-1a-701(2)); a lis pendens must also be recorded within that window or the lien is void as to anyone but named parties or those with actual knowledge (§ 38-1a-701(3)(a)); missing the 180 days voids the lien automatically with no court able to save it (§ 38-1a-701(4)(a)) | The Residence Lien Restriction and Lien Recovery Fund Act (Ch. 11) bars a subcontractor or supplier without a direct contract with the owner from filing or enforcing any lien on an owner-occupied residence once the owner has paid a licensed (or exempt) original contractor in full under a written contract (§§ 38-11-107(1)(a), 38-11-204(4)(a)-(b)); that claimant's remedy shifts to the state Lien Recovery Fund instead. Any lien recorded against an owner-occupied residence must also state the owner's rights under Ch. 11 (§ 38-1a-502(2)(i)), and a claimant suing on a residence must serve statutory rights instructions or lose the right to enforce that lien on the residence (§ 38-1a-701(6)(c)) |
| Vermont verified 2026-07-05 | 9 V.S.A. ch. 51, subch. 1, 'Contractors' Liens for Labor or Material,' §§ 1921-1928 — a short, old-style single-subchapter lien law (last amended 1985 and 2003), not a modern comprehensive lien code | Section 1921(a) gives an automatic lien to anyone proceeding under a direct contract or agreement, written or oral, with the property owner. Section 1921(b) extends a lien to anyone working under a contract with 'an agent, contractor, or subcontractor of the owner' — the statute doesn't cap how many contracts removed from the owner — but only if that person gives the owner written notice claiming the lien; without a direct contract, there is no lien until that notice is given. No licensing prerequisite appears in the chapter; whether a design professional can claim a lien isn't addressed | Required only for claimants without a direct contract with the owner, and it isn't optional for them: without giving the owner written notice that a lien will be claimed (§ 1921(b)), a non-privity claimant has no lien at all. The notice can be given at any point; the lien it creates reaches only 'portions of the contract price remaining unpaid... at the time such notice is received,' so earlier notice generally preserves a bigger unpaid balance to lien against. A claimant with a direct contract with the owner needs no notice | A signed memorandum asserting the lien must be filed with the clerk of the TOWN where the property sits within 180 days from when payment became due for the claimant's last labor or materials, or the lien stops continuing in force (§ 1921(c)). Vermont's land records are kept by town, not by county — filing in the wrong office defeats the lien. The recorded memorandum relates back to charge the property as of the visible commencement of work or delivery of material (§ 1923) | None. Chapter 51 gives owners no mechanism to record a notice of completion or termination that would shorten anyone's filing deadline | None. Nothing in the chapter requires serving a copy of the recorded memorandum on the owner. The only owner-facing communication the chapter requires is the pre-recording § 1921(b) notice, and that applies only to claimants without a direct contract with the owner | Within 180 days from the memorandum's filing date (if payment was already due when filed) or within 180 days from when payment later becomes due (if not yet due at filing), the claimant must both commence a lawsuit for the debt AND get the real estate attached in that action (§ 1924) — recording the memorandum alone does not keep the lien alive. If the claimant wins, they then have 5 months from the judgment date to record a certified copy with the town clerk, converting it into a lien enforceable like a mortgage, retroactive to the visible commencement of work (§ 1925) | No extra formality, and no protection either: § 1927 states plainly that 'the provisions of this subchapter shall apply to property held as a homestead.' A separate, still-uncodified-out provision (§ 1928) allows a mechanic's lien to attach to 'the real estate of a married woman' only 'when she assents to the contract' — an old coverture-era rule that remains in the chapter's text |
| Virginia verified 2026-07-04 | Title 43, Chapter 1 (Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens, §§ 43-1 to 43-23.2); an old, state-specific statute, not a uniform act | Anyone performing labor or furnishing $150+ of materials or equipment-use value for a building permanently annexed to real property; a general contractor contracts directly with the owner, a subcontractor contracts with the general contractor instead, and a person supplying labor/materials to a subcontractor can also perfect a lien (§§ 43-1, 43-3, 43-9); unlicensed contractors have no lien rights when a license was legally required (§ 43-3(D)) | No preliminary notice is required on most projects. The exception is a one- or two-family residential dwelling: if the building permit names a mechanics' lien agent, every claimant must notify that agent within 30 days of first furnishing labor or material (or within 30 days of the permit's issuance) to preserve the full lien; late notice only limits the lien to work done after notice was given (§ 43-4.01) | Not later than 90 days from the last day of the month in which the claimant last performs labor or furnishes material, and in no event later than 90 days from when the project is completed or the work otherwise terminated, whichever governs (§ 43-4); a memorandum can't include sums for work done more than 150 days before the claimant's last day of work (the '150-day rule') | None — Virginia has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation that shortens the filing deadline; the clock runs from the claimant's own last month of work and from the project's actual completion or termination | A general contractor (not a subcontractor) must file, along with the memorandum of lien, a certification that a copy was mailed to the owner at the owner's last known address (§ 43-4); a subcontractor instead perfects by giving the owner separate written notice of the amount and character of the claim (§ 43-7) | No suit to enforce the lien may be brought after 6 months from when the memorandum was recorded OR after 60 days from when the project was completed or the work otherwise terminated, whichever period ends LATER; this deadline cannot be extended (§ 43-17) | One- and two-family residential dwellings are the only property type with the mechanics' lien agent notice system: the building permit must be posted until work is complete, and if a lien agent is named on it, every claimant (not just subcontractors) must notify that agent within 30 days of first furnishing labor or material to keep the full lien (§ 43-4.01) |
| Washington verified 2026-07-04 | RCW Title 60, ch. 60.04 (Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens); a single-chapter statutory lien law, substantially rewritten by 1991 c 281, not tied to any uniform act | Anyone furnishing labor, professional services, materials, or equipment for an improvement, at the owner's or their agent's instance (RCW 60.04.021); a contractor/subcontractor only counts as the owner's lien-establishing "construction agent" if registered under ch. 18.27 or licensed under ch. 19.28 (RCW 60.04.041) | A written notice of the right to claim a lien is required of everyone except those contracting directly with the owner, laborers, and subs contracting directly with the prime; it can be sent anytime but only protects work from 60 days before it's sent (10 days for new single-family residential construction) (RCW 60.04.031) | Flat 90 days after the claimant personally ceases furnishing labor, services, materials, or equipment — no split by claimant tier (RCW 60.04.091); each unit in a multi-unit residential project gets its own 90-day clock (RCW 60.04.101) | None — Washington's chapter has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation; the 90-day filing clock always runs from the individual claimant's own last date of furnishing | The claimant must mail (certified/registered) or personally serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner within 14 days of recording; missing that deadline only forfeits the claimant's right to attorneys' fees and costs, it does not invalidate the lien (RCW 60.04.091) | 8 calendar months after recording to file a foreclosure suit and serve the owner within 90 days of filing, or the lien expires; a court may also dismiss for want of prosecution if judgment isn't reached within 2 years of filing (RCW 60.04.141) | Existing owner-occupied home repairs/remodels: a claimant dealing directly with the owner-occupier needs no notice and gets a lien for the full contract amount; anyone else must give notice and their lien is capped to what the owner still owed the prime contractor when the notice was received (RCW 60.04.031(3)) |
| West Virginia verified 2026-07-05 | W. Va. Code Chapter 38, Article 2, 'Mechanics' Liens' (§§ 38-2-1 to 38-2-41) — an older single-article scheme where the lien itself arises automatically by operation of law from performing work or furnishing materials under a qualifying contract; separate 'notice and recordation' sections then govern how each category of claimant perfects and preserves that lien | Six separate sections create the lien depending on who the claimant contracted with, plus a catch-all for design professionals: § 38-2-1 (a contractor in direct contract with the owner), § 38-2-2 (a subcontractor under contract with the general contractor 'or with a subcontractor for a part of such work' — reaching a subcontractor's own subcontractor), § 38-2-3 (a materialman supplying the owner directly), § 38-2-4 (a materialman supplying the general contractor or a § 38-2-2 subcontractor), § 38-2-5 (a mechanic or laborer working directly for the owner), and § 38-2-6 (a mechanic or laborer employed by the general contractor or a subcontractor). Section 38-2-6a gives an architect, surveyor, engineer, or landscape architect the same lien as whichever of those six roles they occupy. The statute's own privity chain caps out two tiers below the owner (subcontractor-of-a-subcontractor, or a materialman supplying either of them) — it doesn't reach a third tier | No notice or filing is required before or during work to create the lien; it attaches automatically by operation of law. West Virginia does have a genuinely optional 'preliminary notice' with a real legal effect (§ 38-2-20): a laborer or other person not in direct contract with the owner may, before starting work, give the owner written notice that they'll look to the owner for payment if their own employer doesn't pay. Sending it isn't required to preserve lien rights, but it exempts the claimant from the owner's separate power (§ 38-2-19) to demand, at any time and in writing, an itemized account of work or materials — someone who ignores that demand for 10 days loses lien rights for everything furnished before the demand, unless they'd already sent the § 38-2-20 notice | 100 days, but the trigger depends on the claimant's category (§ 38-2-7): from completion of the contract for a contractor, from completion of the subcontract for a subcontractor, or from the last date of furnishing materials or performing work/labor for a materialman, mechanic, or laborer | No mechanism in Article 2 lets an owner record a notice of completion, substantial completion, or termination to shorten the 100-day perfection window. A related but distinct owner tool exists: at any time, the owner may demand in writing (§ 38-2-19) that a subcontractor, laborer, or materialman file an itemized account; failing to respond within 10 days releases the owner from lien liability for everything furnished before that demand — a use-it-or-lose-it tool tied to the owner's demand, not to project completion | Splits by privity. A contractor (§ 38-2-8), a materialman supplying the owner directly (§ 38-2-10), and a mechanic or laborer working for the owner (§ 38-2-12) only need to record notice of the lien with the county clerk within the 100-day window — no separate service on the owner, since the owner is already a party. A subcontractor (§ 38-2-9), a materialman supplying a contractor or subcontractor (§ 38-2-11), and a mechanic or laborer employed by a contractor or subcontractor (§ 38-2-13) — none of whom are in privity with the owner — must both give the owner notice of the lien (by any method used to serve a legal notice or summons) and record that same notice with the clerk, both within the 100 days; missing the recordation step 'discharge[s] and avoid[s]' the lien | 6 months after the claimant files notice of the lien in the clerk's office to commence an action in circuit court to enforce it, or the lien is discharged (§ 38-2-34(a)). One claimant's timely-filed suit preserves every other lienholder's rights on the same property, and other lienholders may intervene in that same action rather than filing their own | An affirmative defense added effective July 1, 2015 (identical language appears in both § 38-2-21(b) and § 38-2-34(b)): in any suit to enforce a lien, the owner can defend, fully or partially, by showing the owner isn't indebted to the contractor, or owes less than the lien amount, when the property is (1) an existing single-family dwelling, (2) a residence the owner built or had built before occupying it as a primary residence, or (3) any single-family, owner-occupied dwelling — a carve-out that excludes a developer or builder of multiple residences except for the one they personally occupy. In effect, an owner who already paid the general contractor in full for a qualifying home can defeat a subcontractor's or supplier's lien even though § 38-2-21(a) otherwise says an owner's payment to the contractor doesn't limit a subcontractor's lien |
| Wisconsin verified 2026-07-04 | Wis. Stat. ch. 779, Subch. I, the "construction lien law" (§§ 779.01-.17); a single continuously amended chapter, not a Uniform Act | Any person who performs, furnishes, or procures work, labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications for an improvement, at any tier, so long as any notice required by § 779.02 is given; "prime contractor" includes an architect, engineer, construction manager, or surveyor hired directly by the owner, and an owner who acts as their own prime contractor (§ 779.01(2)-(3)) | A prime contractor must include a lien-rights notice in its written contract with the owner, or serve one within 10 days of first furnishing if there's no written contract; every other claimant must serve the owner a written notice within 60 days of first furnishing, losing lien rights only for work done before a late notice goes out; neither notice is required on a project adding more than 4 residential units or one that's partly or wholly nonresidential (§ 779.02(1)-(2)) | 6 months after the claimant's own last labor, services, or materials furnished, to file a claim for lien with the clerk of circuit court — but only after first serving the separate 30-day notice of intent to file described below; skip either step and "no lien... shall exist" (§ 779.06(1)-(2)) | None — Chapter 779 has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation; the 6-month filing clock runs from the claimant's own last furnishing regardless of anything the owner files | A copy of the filed claim for lien must be served on the owner within 30 days after filing (§ 779.06(1)) — a separate, later step from the 30-day notice of intent to file that must precede the filing itself (§ 779.06(2)) | 2 years from the date the claim for lien is filed to bring an action (summons and complaint filed) to enforce it, or the lien is unenforceable (§ 779.06(1)) | Wisconsin runs this backward from most states: its notice requirements exist specifically to protect smaller residential owners. Both preliminary notices under § 779.02 apply to a project adding 4 or fewer residential units, but neither is required at all once a project adds more than 4 units (if wholly residential) or is partly or wholly nonresidential (§ 779.02(1)(c)) |
| Wyoming verified 2026-07-05 | W.S. Title 29, ch. 1 (General Provisions — definitions in art. 2, lien-statement and perfection rules in art. 3, foreclosure procedure in art. 4) together with ch. 2 ('Contractors or Materialmen,' §§ 29-2-101 to -113) — collectively the 'Revised Wyoming Statutory Lien Act,' substantially overhauled by 2010 Wyoming Session Laws ch. 92, which repealed and renumbered much of the older chapter | Every contractor, subcontractor, or materialman performing work or furnishing materials under a contract has a lien (§ 29-2-101(a)-(b)). 'Contractor' expressly includes an architect, professional engineer, or surveyor who contracts directly with the owner (§ 29-1-201(a)(i)) — design professionals are covered outright. 'Subcontractor' is defined broadly as anyone other than a contractor performing work for a contractor or another subcontractor, reaching multiple tiers; 'materialman' is anyone other than a contractor furnishing material to an owner, contractor, or subcontractor, so a supplier who only sells to another materialman falls outside the definition. No contractor-licensing prerequisite appears in the chapter | Two separate notices are both required. First, § 29-2-112 requires every contractor, subcontractor, and materialman to send the owner written notice of the right to assert a lien — a contractor sends it before receiving any payment from the owner, including advances; a subcontractor or materialman sends it within 30 days after first providing services or materials. Missing this one is explicitly fatal: § 29-2-112(a)(iii) says failure to send it 'shall bar the right... to assert a lien.' Second, before actually filing, § 29-2-107 requires a further written 'notice of intention to file lien,' stating the amount claimed and from whom it's due, no later than 20 days before filing | A contractor with a direct contract with the owner must file the lien statement within 150 days; every other claimant (subcontractor, materialman) within 120 days (§ 29-2-106(a)) — both measured from the earlier of the last day work was performed or materials furnished under the contract, or the date of the project's substantial completion. All parties to the underlying contract may agree in a notarized writing to extend this period, up to double the normal time (§ 29-2-106(e)) | An owner may record a 'notice of substantial completion' with the county clerk (§ 29-2-106(c)), which creates only a rebuttable presumption fixing the substantial-completion date used within the existing 150/120-day formula. The statute is explicit that this notice 'shall not extend the date by which a lien statement shall be filed,' and the filing deadline is unaffected even if the owner never sends claimants a copy — it doesn't independently shorten anyone's window | The claimant must send the last record owner or agent notice that the lien statement was filed, within 30 days AFTER filing (§ 29-1-312(c)). Missing this step is explicitly not fatal: the same subsection states 'failure to send the notice required under this subsection shall not affect the validity of the lien' | All actions to foreclose or enforce a lien must be commenced within 180 days after the lien statement is filed, and the lien itself stops existing after that point unless a foreclosure action has been started (§ 29-2-109). Unlike the filing deadline, the statute provides no mechanism to extend this 180-day window | Chapter 2 imposes no residential-specific formality of its own. Wyoming's homestead exemption (§ 1-20-101) shields up to $100,000 of a resident's home equity from 'execution and attachment arising from any debt, contract or civil obligation' — but unlike some neighboring states, that exemption statute names no exception for a mechanic's, contractor's, or construction lien anywhere in its text; the only named exception is for 'the purchase money of the property' (§ 1-20-108(a)). Neither chapter cross-references the other |
All 51 jurisdictions verified. Each state page shows the statute text and verification date behind its row.