Massachusetts: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements
The short answer
Massachusetts runs its lien through two separate recorded filings, not one: first a Notice of Contract at the registry of deeds, then later a Statement of Account. Both deadlines float against whichever comes earliest of three triggers — an owner's recorded notice of substantial completion, a notice of termination, or the claimant's own last day of work — so the actual day count depends entirely on what the owner does. A subcontractor's lien only attaches once the subcontractor both records the Notice of Contract and gives the owner actual notice of that filing; a general contractor's does not need that extra step, since the owner is already a party to the contract. Once the Statement of Account is recorded, the claimant has just 90 days to sue to enforce it, and must record an attested copy of the complaint within 30 days of filing suit or the lien dissolves regardless of the underlying debt.
| Governing law | 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 |
|---|---|
| Who can claim a lien | 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) |
| Preliminary notice | 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) |
| Deadline to file the lien | 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) |
| Notice of completion effect | 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) |
| Serving the lien on the owner | 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) |
| Deadline to sue to foreclose | 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) |
| Homestead/residential extras | 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 |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
The short answer
Massachusetts's mechanic's lien is built from two separate recorded filings,
not one, and courts read the timing rules for both strictly. A claimant
first records a Notice of Contract — the filing that actually attaches the
lien to the property — and later records a Statement of Account itemizing
what's owed. Both deadlines aren't fixed day counts from the claimant's own
work alone; they float against whichever of three triggers happens earliest,
including notices the owner controls. A subcontractor also has to clear an
extra hurdle a general contractor doesn't: giving the owner actual notice of
the recorded filing before the lien attaches at all. Once the Statement of
Account is on file, the claimant has 90 days to sue, and 30 more days after
that to record the lawsuit itself at the registry — miss either step and the
lien is gone, no matter how solid the underlying debt is.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Massachusetts's mechanic's lien law is M.G.L. Chapter 254, "Liens on
Buildings and Land" (§§ 1-33). It was substantially rewritten by Chapter 364
of the Acts of 1996 (effective February 7, 1997), which moved the law away
from tying lien rights to a contractually agreed completion date and toward
the recorded-notice system described below. It is a heavily proceduralized,
form-driven statute — several sections dictate the exact wording a notice
must use — and isn't built on any national uniform act.
Who can claim
Four separate sections grant lien rights to four different roles. Section 2
covers a "person entering into a written contract with the owner" — the
general or prime contractor. Section 2C extends the same right to a "design
professional" (architect, landscape architect, engineer, licensed site
professional, or surveyor) with a written contract with the owner. Section 4
covers "whoever furnishes labor... or who performs professional services,
under a written contract with a contractor, or with a subcontractor of such
contractor" — subcontractors and sub-subcontractors of any tier. Section 1
stands apart: a person doing "personal labor" needs no written contract at
all, but the lien is capped at "not more than thirty days' work actually
performed for the ninety days next prior to" filing.
Preliminary notice
Massachusetts has no step requiring notice to the owner before or during the
work the way some states do. The closest analog only applies to a
subcontractor with no direct contract with the general contractor: Section 4
lets that claimant's lien reach only "the amount due or to become due under
the subcontract" between the general contractor and whoever they contracted
with — a narrower figure — "unless the person claiming such lien has, within
thirty days of commencement of his performance, given written notice of
identification by certified mail return receipt requested to the original
contractor." Sending that notice lets the lien reach the full amount still
owed under the prime contract instead. Skipping it narrows the lien; it
doesn't eliminate it.
Deadline to file the lien
Massachusetts requires two separate recorded filings. First, a Notice of
Contract: Section 2 lets a general contractor or design professional record
it "at any time after execution of the written contract... whether or not
the work... has been performed," but "not later than the earliest of" three
triggers — 60 days after a recorded notice of substantial completion, 90
days after a recorded notice of termination, or 90 days after last
furnishing labor or materials. A subcontractor's Notice of Contract under
Section 4 runs off the same three triggers, but the last-furnishing trigger
is keyed to "the last day a person entitled to enforce a lien under section
two or anyone claiming by, through or under him" furnished work — the
project's own chain, not just the subcontractor's personal last day. Second,
after that, a Statement of Account: Section 8 requires it "not later than
the earliest of" 90 days after the completion notice, 120 days after the
termination notice, or 120 days after last furnishing.
Notice of completion effect
An owner-and-contractor-executed notice of substantial completion under
Section 2A accelerates both filing deadlines for everyone on the project at
once: the Notice of Contract deadline drops from 90 days to 60 days after it
is recorded, and the Statement of Account deadline drops from 120 days to 90
days. Section 2A requires the owner to mail a copy of the recorded notice to
every claimant who has already filed a Notice of Contract, and the general
contractor to do the same for anyone under written contract with the
contractor or who has sent a notice of identification — but Section 2A also
makes clear that a failure to send that copy "shall not prejudice the rights
of third parties who rely upon said notice... in good faith," so it doesn't
undo the acceleration itself.
Serving the lien on the owner
Massachusetts splits this requirement by claimant type. A subcontractor's
lien under Section 4 doesn't attach from recording alone — the statute
requires "filing or recording a notice, as hereinbefore provided, and
giving actual notice to the owner of such filing" before "the subcontractor
shall have a lien." A general contractor's Section 2 lien has no matching
owner-notice step, since the owner is already a party to the written
contract that created it. Later, once a lawsuit to enforce the lien is
filed, Section 5 imposes its own recording requirement: "an attested copy of
the complaint... shall be filed in the registry of deeds... within thirty
days of the commencement of the action, or such lien shall be dissolved."
Deadline to sue to foreclose
Section 11 is direct: "the lien shall be dissolved unless a civil action to
enforce it is commenced within ninety days after the filing of the statement
required by section eight" — the Statement of Account. The same section
protects a claimant from having the whole lien invalidated over a paperwork
slip: an inaccurate property description or amount claimed doesn't affect
validity "unless it is shown that the person filing the statement has
wilfully and knowingly claimed more than is due him."
Homestead/residential extras
Chapter 254 itself carries no residential- or homestead-specific formality.
The same Notice of Contract, Statement of Account, and enforcement sequence
applies whether the property is a single-family home or a commercial
building. The one requirement that applies broadly — a written contract,
for every claimant except a Section 1 personal-labor lien — isn't tied to
property type at all.
What trips people up
The two-filing structure catches claimants off guard because each filing has
its own independent deadline, and missing either one is fatal on its own —
recording a timely Statement of Account doesn't rescue a lien if the earlier
Notice of Contract was late, and vice versa. Subcontractors face a second
trap: Section 4's requirement to give the owner "actual notice" of the
recorded Notice of Contract is easy to treat as a formality once the filing
itself is done, but the statute makes it a condition of the lien attaching
at all, not an afterthought. Finally, even a claimant who wins the recording
race can lose the lien at the courthouse: Section 5's 30-day deadline to
record the lawsuit itself, separate from the 90-day deadline to file it
under Section 11, is a step easy to miss once litigation is already underway.
Common questions
Do I need a written contract to have lien rights in Massachusetts?
Almost always, yes. Sections 2, 2C, and 4 all require one. The one exception
is Section 1's personal-labor lien, which needs no written contract but caps
recovery at 30 days of work in the 90 days before filing.
What's the difference between a Notice of Contract and a Statement of
Account?
The Notice of Contract is what attaches the lien to the property in the
first place; the Statement of Account, filed later, itemizes the actual
amount owed. Both have their own independent deadline, and both must be
timely for the lien to survive.
Does it matter if I'm a subcontractor instead of the general contractor?
Yes in two ways: your lien amount can be capped to what's owed under your
own subcontract unless you send a notice of identification within 30 days
of starting work, and your lien doesn't attach until you also give the owner
actual notice of your recorded filing — a step the general contractor
doesn't need.
How much time do I have to sue once my Statement of Account is recorded?
90 days under Section 11 — and you then have 30 more days after filing suit
to record an attested copy of the complaint at the registry of deeds under
Section 5, or the lien dissolves regardless of how the lawsuit itself is
going.
Statutes and sources
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 1 (personal-labor lien) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section1
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 2 (general contractor's lien; Notice of Contract
deadline) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section2
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 2A (notice of substantial completion) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section2A
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 2C (design professional's lien) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section2C
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 4 (subcontractor's lien; actual notice to owner; notice
of identification) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section4
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 5 (enforcement procedure; 30-day recording of complaint) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section5
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 8 (Statement of Account deadline) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section8
(accessed 2026-07-04) - M.G.L. c. 254, § 11 (foreclosure deadline) —
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section11
(accessed 2026-07-04)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.