Indiana: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements

The short answer

Indiana runs a comparatively lean, single-track lien process for most
claimants: a flat 90 days after finishing work or delivering the last
materials to file a sworn Notice of Intention to Hold a Lien with the county
recorder. From there, Indiana hands off a step other states leave to the
claimant — the recorder, not the lien claimant, mails a copy to the owner
within 3 business days of recording. Once filed, the claimant has a full
year to sue to foreclose, though the owner can shorten that by demanding
suit within 30 days. The one place Indiana adds real complexity is
residential work on a single or double family home: separate notice rules
apply depending on whether the job is a repair/remodel or original
construction, and satisfying them is a condition of having lien rights at
all, not just a formality.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Indiana's mechanic's lien law is Indiana Code Title 32, Article 28, Chapter
3, "Mechanic's Liens" (§§ 32-28-3-1 to -18). It was recodified into this
numbering by P.L.2-2002 from the older Title 32-8-3 sections, without
substantive change — the chapter's own history notes track "Pre-2002
Recodification Citation" for every section. It's a traditional
single-chapter statutory lien scheme, not built on any uniform act.

Who can claim

Section 32-28-3-1(a) lists "a contractor, a subcontractor, a mechanic, a
lessor leasing construction and other equipment and tools... a journeyman,
a laborer, or any other person performing labor or furnishing materials or
machinery" for construction, alteration, repair, or removal of a building or
similar structure. One notable exception exists for regulated utility work:
a contract for a "Class 2 structure" (public utility infrastructure) may
include a provision barring any lien from attaching at all, if that
provision is recorded within 5 days of the contract's execution. Outside
that narrow carve-out, Section 32-28-3-16 makes any contract clause that
waives lien rights, or that bars filing a notice of intention to hold a
lien, void.

Preliminary notice

Indiana has no general notice requirement before or during ordinary
construction work. Instead, two residential-only notice tracks function as
the real equivalent — see Homestead/residential extras below. Outside
residential work, Section 32-28-3-9 lets a subcontractor, journeyman, or
laborer give the owner written notice of an unpaid claim, but that notice's
purpose is narrower: it establishes and caps the owner's direct liability at
"not more than the amount that is due and may later become due from the
owner to the employer or lessee," rather than serving as a precondition to
the lien itself.

Deadline to file the lien

Section 32-28-3-3(a) sets one flat rule for essentially every claimant:
file a sworn "statement and notice of the person's intention to hold a lien"
with the county recorder "not later than ninety (90) days after performing
labor or furnishing materials or machinery." There's no separate, shorter
window for subcontractors or suppliers the way many other states split it.
The one exception is subsection (b): work related to a "Class 2 structure"
(regulated public utility infrastructure) gets a shorter 60-day deadline
instead.

Notice of completion effect

Indiana's chapter has no mechanism letting an owner record a notice of
completion to shorten a claimant's filing window. The 90-day deadline in
Section 32-28-3-3 always runs from the claimant's own last day of labor or
delivery, regardless of when — or whether — the overall project as a whole
is finished.

Serving the lien on the owner

Indiana puts this step on the government, not the claimant. Section
32-28-3-3(d) requires the county recorder — not the lien claimant — to
"mail, first class, one (1) of the duplicates of the statement and notice
of intention to hold a lien to the owner named in the statement and notice
not later than three (3) business days after recordation." A subcontractor,
journeyman, or laborer relying on Section 32-28-3-9 to hold the owner
directly liable separately serves its own written notice on the owner (or
the owner's agent, if the owner is absent), independent of the recorder's
mailing.

Deadline to sue to foreclose

Section 32-28-3-6(a) gives a lien claimant one year "after... the statement
and notice of intention to hold a lien was recorded" to file a complaint in
circuit or superior court, and subsection (b) is direct about the
consequence: miss that window and "the lien is void." An owner doesn't have
to wait out the full year, though — Section 32-28-3-10 lets the owner or
anyone with an interest in the property serve written notice demanding that
the lienholder file a foreclosure action; if suit isn't filed within 30 days
of that demand, "the lien is void," no matter how much of the 1-year period
remains.

Homestead/residential extras

Indiana layers two separate notice tracks onto a single or double family
dwelling, distinguished by the kind of work involved. For "the alteration
or repair of an owner occupied single or double family dwelling," anyone
selling materials, labor, or machinery on credit to someone other than the
occupying owner must give that owner written notice of the delivery and of
lien rights "not later than thirty (30) days after the date of first
delivery or labor performed" — Section 32-28-3-1(h) makes this "a condition
precedent to the right of acquiring a lien" at all. For "the original
construction of a single or double family dwelling for the intended
occupancy of the owner," the window is longer but doubled: Section
32-28-3-1(i) requires written notice to the owner and a filed copy with the
county recorder, both "not later than sixty (60) days after the date of the
first delivery or labor performed" — again a condition precedent, not a
mere formality. Subsection (j) adds a bona fide purchaser protection: an
"innocent purchaser for value" of such a dwelling takes free of an
original-construction lien unless the notice of intention was recorded
before the purchaser's deed.

What trips people up

Claimants sometimes assume the standard 90-day filing deadline is the only
clock that matters, but on a single or double family dwelling the
residential notice deadlines under Section 32-28-3-1(h)-(i) run
independently and much earlier — 30 or 60 days from first delivery, not
from last delivery — and missing them is fatal to the lien regardless of
whether the 90-day filing deadline is later met. Separately, because
Indiana has the recorder mail the notice to the owner rather than the
claimant, some claimants wrongly assume no further action is needed once
the recorder's copy goes out — but a subcontractor or laborer relying on
Section 32-28-3-9 to reach the owner directly still has to serve its own
notice independently.

Common questions

How long do I have to file after finishing a job?
90 days after your own last day of labor or delivery, under Section
32-28-3-3(a) — the same deadline whether you're the general contractor or a
supplier down the chain, except for regulated utility work, which gets only
60 days.

Do I have to mail a copy of my recorded lien to the owner myself?
No. The county recorder does that within 3 business days of recording under
Section 32-28-3-3(d) — unusual among the states in this survey, most of
which put that duty on the claimant.

What's different if I'm working on someone's house?
If it's a repair or remodel of an owner-occupied single or double family
home and you're selling on credit to someone other than the owner, you must
notify the occupying owner within 30 days of first delivery or labor. If
it's original construction of such a home, you must notify the owner and
file that notice with the recorder within 60 days. Both are conditions of
having lien rights at all.

Can the owner force me to sue sooner than the 1-year deadline?
Yes. Under Section 32-28-3-10, if the owner serves written demand that you
file a foreclosure action, you have only 30 days from receiving that demand
— even if you'd otherwise have most of the year left.

Statutes and sources

• Ind. Code § 32-28-3-1 (lien authorized; residential notice tracks) —
  https://iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_32/Article_28/Chapter_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• Ind. Code § 32-28-3-3 (filing deadline; recorder's owner-mailing duty) —
  https://iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_32/Article_28/Chapter_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• Ind. Code § 32-28-3-6 (foreclosure deadline) —
  https://iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_32/Article_28/Chapter_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• Ind. Code § 32-28-3-9 (subcontractor/journeyman/laborer notice; owner
  liability cap) —
  https://iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_32/Article_28/Chapter_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• Ind. Code § 32-28-3-10 (owner's demand-to-foreclose acceleration) —
  https://iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_32/Article_28/Chapter_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• Ind. Code § 32-28-3-16 (void lien-waiver contract provisions) —
  https://iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_32/Article_28/Chapter_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-04)