Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements in Florida

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Who can claim

The defined lienor list in § 713.01(19) includes contractors, lower-tier contractors, laborers, material suppliers, and professional lienors. Section 713.03 separately covers architects, landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, and surveyors whose services improve the property. A contractor, subcontractor, or sub-subcontractor unlicensed under the cited licensing laws has no lien under § 713.02(7).

Preliminary notice

Section 713.06(2)(a) requires covered lienors other than laborers to serve a Notice to Owner before work starts or within 45 days after first furnishing. The same text says service must precede the owner's final payment after the contractor's affidavit and calls a missed or late notice “a complete defense to enforcement of a lien.” Professional lienors under § 713.03 are expressly exempt from that notice. For some lower-tier suppliers, § 713.06(2)(a) also requires copies to the contractor or subcontractor.

Deadline to file the lien

Section 713.08(5) allows recording during the work but requires it no later than 90 days after final furnishing. For a contract terminated under § 713.07(4), a prior-work claim is due by the earlier of 90 days after termination or 90 days after final furnishing. That section also allows an owner who recommences after cessation or termination to record an affidavit; a prior lienor must record within 30 days of the affidavit to preserve priority against the interests the statute names.

Section 713.13(1)(a) requires the owner to record and post a Notice of Commencement before starting covered work. Its priority role is separate from the lienor's final-furnishing filing clock.

Serving the lien on the owner

Section 713.08(4)(c) requires service before recording or within 15 days afterward. A failure makes the lien “voidable to the extent” the failure or delay prejudiced a person entitled to rely on service; the statute does not treat every late copy as automatically void.

Deadline to sue to foreclose

Under § 713.22(1)-(2), an enforcement action generally must begin within 1 year after the claim is recorded. An amended claim with a later final-furnishing date can start its own 1-year period. An owner or the owner's attorney may record a Notice of Contest of Lien; after service of that notice, the lienor has 60 days to sue or the lien is extinguished automatically.

Homestead and residential issues

Section 713.12 addresses property owned by one or both spouses when the spouses are not separated and living apart and one contracts for the improvement. The noncontracting spouse's interest may be subjected to a lien unless that spouse gives the contractor and records an objection within 10 days after learning of the contract. Section 713.02(5) separately exempts improvements under a direct contract of $2,500 or less from most of Part I; that exception is measured by contract price.

What trips people up

A Notice to Owner cannot safely wait for the end of the 45-day period if the owner makes final payment after the contractor's affidavit first: § 713.06(2)(a) requires service before that payment too.

Common questions

Does fixing a defect later reset the lien-recording clock? No. Section 713.01(12) defines “final furnishing” and says it “does not include the correction of deficiencies” in previously performed work or supplied materials.

What if the owner did not record a Notice of Commencement? Section 713.06(2)(e) lets a lienor use the building permit application's information to serve the notice required by paragraphs (a), (b), and (c).

Statutes and sources

• Fla. Stat. § 713.01(19) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: “Lienor” means a person who is: (a) A contractor; (b) A subcontractor; (c) A sub-subcontractor; (d) A laborer; (e) A materialman who contracts with the owner, a contractor, a subcontractor, or a sub-subcontractor; or (f) A professional lienor under s. 713.03; and who has a lien or prospective lien upon real property under this part, and includes his or her successor in interest. No other person may have a lien under this part.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.01(12) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: “Final furnishing” means the last date that the lienor furnishes labor, services, or materials. Such date may not be measured by other standards, such as the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or the issuance of a certificate of final completion, and does not include the correction of deficiencies in the lienor’s previously performed work or materials supplied.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.02(7) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, no lien shall exist in favor of any contractor, subcontractor, or sub-subcontractor who is unlicensed as provided in s. 489.128 or s. 489.532.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.02(5) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: Any improvement for which the direct contract price is $2,500 or less shall be exempt from all other provisions of this part except the provisions of s. 713.05.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.03 — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: Any person who performs services as architect, landscape architect, interior designer, engineer, or surveyor and mapper, subject to compliance with and the limitations imposed by this part, has a lien on the real property improved for any money that is owing to him or her for his or her services used in connection with improving the real property or for his or her services in supervising any portion of the work of improving the real property, rendered in accordance with his or her contract and with the direct contract. No liens under this section shall be acquired until a claim of lien is recorded. No lienor under this section shall be required to serve a notice to owner as provided in s. 713.06(2) or an affidavit concerning unpaid lienors as provided in s. 713.06(3).
• Fla. Stat. § 713.07(4) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: If construction ceases or the direct contract is terminated before completion and the owner desires to recommence construction, he or she may pay all lienors in full or pro rata in accordance with s. 713.06(4) prior to recommencement in which event all liens for the recommenced construction shall take priority from such recommencement; or the owner may record an affidavit in the clerk’s office stating his or her intention to recommence construction and that all lienors giving notice have been paid in full except those listed therein as not having been so paid in which event 30 days after such recording, the rights of any person acquiring any interest, lien, or encumbrance on said property or of any lienor on the recommenced construction shall be paramount to any lien on the prior construction unless such prior lienor records a claim of lien within said 30-day period.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: All lienors under this section, except laborers, as a prerequisite to perfecting a lien under this chapter and recording a claim of lien, must serve a notice on the owner setting forth the lienor’s name and address, a description sufficient for identification of the real property, and the nature of the services or materials furnished or to be furnished. A sub-subcontractor or a materialman to a subcontractor must serve a copy of the notice on the contractor as a prerequisite to perfecting a lien under this chapter and recording a claim of lien. A materialman to a sub-subcontractor must serve a copy of the notice to owner on the contractor as a prerequisite to perfecting a lien under this chapter and recording a claim of lien. A materialman to a sub-subcontractor shall serve the notice to owner on the subcontractor if the materialman knows the name and address of the subcontractor. The notice must be served before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing, to furnish his or her labor, services, or materials, but, in any event, before the date of the owner’s disbursement of the final payment after the contractor has furnished the affidavit under subparagraph (3)(d)1. The notice must be served regardless of the method of payments by the owner, whether proper or improper, and does not give to the lienor serving the notice any priority over other lienors in the same category; and the failure to serve the notice, or to timely serve it, is a complete defense to enforcement of a lien by any person.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.08(5) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: 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. However, if the original contract is terminated under s. 713.07(4), a claim for a lien attaching prior to such termination may not be recorded after 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.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.08(4)(c) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: The claim of lien shall be served on the owner. Failure to serve any claim of lien in the manner provided in s. 713.18 before recording or within 15 days after recording shall render the claim of lien voidable to the extent that the failure or delay is shown to have been prejudicial to any person entitled to rely on the service.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.12 — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: When the contract for improving real property is made with a husband or wife who is not separated and living apart from his or her spouse and the property is owned by the other or by both, the spouse who contracts shall be deemed to be the agent of the other to the extent of subjecting the right, title, or interest of the other in said property to liens under this part unless such other shall, within 10 days after learning of such contract, give the contractor and record in the clerk’s office, notice of his or her objection thereto.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(e) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: A lienor, in the absence of a recorded notice of commencement, may rely on the information contained in the building permit application to serve the notice prescribed in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c).
• Fla. Stat. § 713.13(1)(a) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: Except for an improvement that is exempt under s. 713.02(5), an owner or the owner’s authorized agent before actually commencing to improve any real property, or recommencing completion of any improvement after default or abandonment, whether or not a project has a payment bond complying with s. 713.23, shall record a notice of commencement in the clerk’s office and post either a certified copy thereof or a notarized statement that the notice of commencement has been filed for recording along with a copy thereof.
• Fla. Stat. § 713.22(1)-(2) — official section (accessed 2026-10-04). Quote: A lien provided by this part does not continue for a longer period than 1 year after the claim of lien has been recorded or 1 year after the recording of an amended claim of lien that shows a later date of final furnishing of labor, services, or materials, unless within that time an action to enforce the lien is commenced in a court of competent jurisdiction. An owner or the owner’s attorney may elect to shorten the time prescribed in subsection (1) within which to commence an action to enforce any claim of lien or claim against a bond or other security under s. 713.23 or s. 713.24 by recording in the clerk’s office a notice in substantially the following form: The lien of any lienor upon whom such notice is served and who fails to institute a suit to enforce his or her lien within 60 days after service of such notice is extinguished automatically.