Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements in Connecticut

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Connecticut's mechanic's lien law is Title 49, Chapter 847, "Liens" (§§ 49-33 to 49-40). It is a statutory lien system, so there is no independent common-law mechanic's lien to fall back on if the statutory requirements are not met. A separate statute, the Home Improvement Act (Title 20, Chapter 400), layers additional contract-formality requirements onto residential improvement work; see Homestead/residential extras below.

Who can claim

Section 49-33(a) covers "any person" with a claim over ten dollars for materials or services in constructing, raising, removing, or repairing a building, or in improving or subdividing a lot or plot of land, "by virtue of an agreement with or by consent of the owner" or someone "rightfully acting for the owner." A subcontractor gets the same lien, but subsection (e) caps it "to a greater extent in the whole than the amount which the owner has agreed to pay" the party through whom the subcontractor claims, and subsection (f) makes the subcontractor "subrogated to the rights of the person through whom" they claim. The statute's own text never mentions architects, engineers, or surveyors; Connecticut courts, not the statute, have extended lien rights to their work when it satisfies a judicially created "physical enhancement" test, meaning the services must actually lead to or be an essential part of the physical construction, not just planning that never gets built.

Preliminary notice

Section 49-35(a) draws the line at contract formality. The original contractor, and "a subcontractor whose contract with the original contractor is in writing and has been assented to in writing by the other party," don't need to send anything before filing. Every other claimant must, "after commencing, and not later than ninety days after ceasing, to furnish materials or render services," give "written notice to the owner ... and to the original contractor" that they've furnished or begun furnishing, and "intend[] to claim a lien." An original contractor is only entitled to receive that notice if they recorded a business-name and address affidavit with the town clerk "not later than fifteen days after commencing" the work, though failing to record it doesn't cost the original contractor their own lien rights, only their right to be notified of other claimants' liens.

Deadline to file the lien

Section 49-34(1) sets one flat deadline for every claimant, with no tiering by contract position: "within ninety days after he has ceased to" furnish services or materials, lodge a sworn certificate with "the town clerk of the town in which the building, lot or plot of land is situated." The certificate has to describe the property, state the amount claimed and that it's justly due, and be "subscribed and sworn to by the claimant."

Notice of completion effect

Connecticut has no such mechanism. Chapter 847 doesn't let an owner record a notice of completion or cessation that shortens any claimant's 90-day window; the clock always runs from that claimant's own last day of furnishing. Connecticut courts have added a related gloss: trivial work performed after the job is already substantially complete, punch-list items, warranty repairs, doesn't restart that 90-day clock.

Serving the lien on the owner

Filing the certificate with the town clerk isn't the last step. Section 49-34(2) requires the claimant, "not later than thirty days after lodging the certificate," to "serves a true and attested copy of the certificate upon the owner," using the same delivery method set out for the § 49-35 notice of intent (personal or abode service if the owner lives in town, registered or certified mail if not, publication if that's returned unclaimed). The opening sentence of § 49-34 makes both steps equally essential: "A mechanic's lien is not valid unless" the claimant does both the timely certificate and the timely service.

Deadline to sue to foreclose

Section 49-39 gives a claimant "one year from the date the lien was recorded" to "commence[] an action to foreclose it" and "record[] a notice of lis pendens" on the land records, both steps required, not just the lawsuit. That deadline extends to "sixty days of any final disposition" of a discharge-or-reduction application under § 49-35a, whichever is later. Miss the window and the statute is explicit: the lien "shall be invalid and discharged as a matter of law."

Homestead/residential extras

Nothing inside Chapter 847 itself singles out homestead property. But a separate statute, the Home Improvement Act's § 20-429(a)(1)(A), makes a general contractor's residential-improvement contract unenforceable against the homeowner unless it is "in writing," "signed by the owner and the contractor," dated, states "the contractor's registration number," includes "a notice of the owner's cancellation rights," and shows "a starting date and completion date," among other requirements. Connecticut's Supreme Court held in Barrett Builders v. Miller that a general contractor who fails to meet these requirements can't recover from the homeowner at all, including through a mechanic's lien, even for work performed in good faith. That bar doesn't extend down the chain, though: appellate courts have held that a subcontractor's own mechanic's lien survives the general contractor's noncompliance with the Act, because subcontractors do not fit the Act's statutory definition of a home improvement contractor and aren't required to have a written contract themselves.

What trips people up

General contractors sometimes assume that doing good work is enough to protect their right to be paid on a residential job, without realizing that a contract missing even one of the Home Improvement Act's required elements, commonly the registration number, the cancellation notice, or a start/completion date, can bar recovery entirely, mechanic's lien included, once the homeowner raises the defect. Separately, the two-part 90-day notice-and-30-day-service structure in §§ 49-34 and 49-35 is easy to compress into a single mental deadline; missing the SEPARATE 30-day service window after an otherwise-timely certificate is just as fatal as missing the certificate itself.

Common questions

I'm a subcontractor and the general contractor's homeowner contract didn't include a cancellation-rights notice, does that affect my lien? No. Connecticut courts have held that a subcontractor's own mechanic's lien survives even if the general contractor's contract violates the Home Improvement Act, since the Act's writing requirements don't apply to subcontractors.

Do I need to send a notice before I even start work to protect my lien rights? Only if you're a subcontractor without a written, owner-assented contract, or a material supplier. In that case, send written notice of intent to both the owner and the original contractor sometime after starting and no later than 90 days after your last day of work.

Does recording my lien certificate finish the process? No, § 49-34(2) also requires you to serve a true copy on the owner within 30 days of recording. Miss that separate deadline and the lien "is not valid," even if the certificate itself was recorded on time.

Statutes and sources

• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-33 (who can claim; subcontractor cap and subrogation) — https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_847.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-34 (90-day filing; 30-day service on owner) — https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_847.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-35 (notice of intent; original-contractor affidavit) — https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_847.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-39 (1-year deadline to foreclose; lis pendens) — https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_847.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-429 (Home Improvement Act; required residential contract terms) — https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_400.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)