Florida: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements
The short answer
Florida calls it a construction lien, and it runs on a strict 90-45-15-1 pattern: most claimants who didn't contract directly with the owner must serve a Notice to Owner within 45 days of starting work, the claim of lien itself must be recorded within 90 days after finishing, a copy must be served on the owner within 15 days after that, and a foreclosure suit follows within 1 year unless the owner shortens that to 60 days with a Notice of Contest of Lien. Florida courts read these deadlines strictly and treat a missed Notice to Owner as a complete bar to the lien.
| Governing law | Fla. Stat. ch. 713, Part I (§§ 713.001-713.37), the Construction Lien Law; last substantially amended by 2023 HB 331 (ch. 2023-226) |
|---|---|
| Who can claim a lien | Contractor, subcontractor, sub-subcontractor, laborer, materialman, and professional lienor (§ 713.01(19), § 713.03); unlicensed contractors/subs barred from any lien (§ 713.02(7)) |
| Preliminary notice | 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 |
| Deadline to file 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)) |
| Notice of completion effect | 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)) |
| Serving the lien on the owner | 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)) |
| Deadline to sue to foreclose | 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)) |
| Homestead/residential extras | 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 |
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The short answer
Florida's construction lien law is built around a chain of notices as much as
the lien itself. Anyone who isn't in a direct contract with the owner — most
subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and material suppliers — must serve a
Notice to Owner within 45 days of starting work, or they lose lien rights
entirely for that job. The claim of lien itself must be recorded within 90
days after the lienor's last day of work, then served on the owner within 15
days after recording. From there, a foreclosure lawsuit has to follow within
a year, unless the owner speeds that up to 60 days by recording a formal
Notice of Contest of Lien.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Florida's construction lien statute is Chapter 713, Part I of the Florida
Statutes (§§ 713.001-713.37), officially the "Construction Lien Law" (it was
called the Mechanic's Lien Law before a 1990 rewrite). The legislature most
recently overhauled large parts of it — notice of termination procedures,
notarization, service of documents — through House Bill 331 in 2023 (ch.
2023-226, effective October 1, 2023).
Who can claim
Section 713.01(19) defines "lienor" as a closed list: "a contractor... a
subcontractor... a sub-subcontractor... a laborer... a materialman who
contracts with the owner, a contractor, a subcontractor, or a
sub-subcontractor; or... a professional lienor under s. 713.03," and adds
flatly, "No other person may have a lien under this part." Section 713.03
extends lien rights to architects, engineers, landscape architects,
surveyors, and mappers who perform professional services. Licensing is a
hard gate for contractors: "no lien shall exist in favor of any contractor,
subcontractor, or sub-subcontractor who is unlicensed" under the state's
contractor-licensing statutes (§ 713.02(7)).
Preliminary notice
Anyone who isn't in privity with the owner — which covers most
subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and material suppliers, but not
laborers — must serve a "Notice to Owner" before they can record a lien.
Section 713.06(2)(a) sets the deadline "before commencing, or not later than
45 days after commencing, to furnish his or her labor, services, or
materials," and makes the consequence of missing it unusually severe: "the
failure to serve the notice, or to timely serve it, is a complete defense to
enforcement of a lien by any person." Unlike some states' softer late-notice
rules, Florida doesn't just narrow the lien for late service — it can wipe
it out entirely.
Deadline to file the lien
Section 713.08(5) sets a flat 90-day deadline: the claim of lien "may be
recorded at any time during the progress of the work or thereafter but not
later than 90 days after the final furnishing of the labor or services or
materials by the lienor." "Final furnishing" is its own defined term
(§ 713.01(12)) that specifically excludes coming back later to fix defects
in your own earlier work — so a punch-list return trip doesn't reset the
clock.
Notice of completion effect
Florida doesn't have a mechanism where an owner's paperwork shortens the
90-day window the way some states do. The one related wrinkle is contract
termination: if the original contract is terminated under § 713.07(4), the
recording deadline runs from "90 days following the date of such termination
or 90 days after the final furnishing of labor, services, or materials by
the lienor, whichever occurs first" — still a 90-day count either way, just
anchored to whichever event happened first, not a shortened window. Florida
does require an owner to record a Notice of Commencement before starting
work at all (§ 713.13), but that's a prerequisite that enables the lien
scheme in the first place, not a device that cuts a claimant's deadline
short.
Serving the lien on the owner
After recording, § 713.08(4)(c) requires the claim of lien to be "served on
the owner" either before recording "or within 15 days after recording."
Florida's consequence for missing this is softer than some states': the lien
becomes "voidable to the extent that the failure or delay is shown to have
been prejudicial to any person entitled to rely on the service" — meaning an
owner has to show actual harm from the delay, not just point to the missed
date.
Deadline to sue to foreclose
A recorded lien is good for "1 year after the claim of lien has been
recorded... unless within that time an action to enforce the lien is
commenced" (§ 713.22(1)). An owner can force the issue sooner by recording a
"Notice of Contest of Lien," which gives the lienor only 60 days from
service to sue — after that, "the lien... is extinguished automatically"
(§ 713.22(2)).
Homestead/residential extras
Florida doesn't layer any extra formality onto residential or homestead
property in this chapter — the same 90-day recording, 45-day notice, and
1-year foreclosure sequence applies whether the property is a family home or
a shopping center. The only size-based carve-out in the statute exempts a
direct contract of "$2,500 or less" from most of Part I (§ 713.02(5)), and
that threshold turns on the size of the job, not whether anyone lives there.
What trips people up
The Notice to Owner deadline is the single most consequential date in this
survey for a Florida subcontractor or supplier — miss the 45 days and the
statute calls it "a complete defense to enforcement of a lien," full stop,
with none of the softer "voidable if prejudicial" language that governs a
late-served lien copy. People also frequently treat "final furnishing" as
whenever the punch list is closed out, but the statute's own definition
excludes "correction of deficiencies in the lienor's previously performed
work," so going back to fix your own mistake doesn't buy extra time.
Common questions
Do I need to send a Notice to Owner if I contracted directly with the
owner?
No — § 713.06 applies to lienors "not in privity with the owner." A
contractor who signed the direct contract with the owner skips this step.
What if the owner never recorded a Notice of Commencement?
Section 713.06(2)(e) lets a lienor rely on the building permit application
instead to serve a Notice to Owner if there's no recorded Notice of
Commencement on file.
Can the owner just wait me out past the 1-year foreclosure deadline?
They can try to force it sooner: recording a Notice of Contest of Lien cuts
the foreclosure window from 1 year down to 60 days from when it's served,
and missing that shortened window extinguishes the lien automatically.
Statutes and sources
- Fla. Stat. § 713.01(19) (definition of "lienor") —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.01.html
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Fla. Stat. § 713.02(7) (unlicensed contractor barred from lien) —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.02.html
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Fla. Stat. § 713.02(5) ($2,500 small-job exemption) —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.02.html
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a) (Notice to Owner deadline) —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.06.html
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Fla. Stat. § 713.08(5) (claim of lien recording deadline) —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.08.html
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Fla. Stat. § 713.08(4)(c) (service of claim of lien on owner) —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.08.html
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Fla. Stat. § 713.22(1)-(2) (deadline to foreclose; Notice of Contest of
Lien) — https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.22.html
(accessed 2026-07-04)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.