Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements in Massachusetts
At a glance
| Governing law | M.G.L. c. 254, §§ 1-33; recorded notices and statements establish and preserve private construction liens |
|---|---|
| Who can claim a lien | Written owner-contract claimants (§ 2), design professionals (§ 2C), written-contract subcontractors (§ 4), and personal laborers on a limited § 1 route |
| Preliminary notice | No universal prework notice; a lower-tier claimant without a direct prime-contractor contract may send a notice of identification within 30 days to avoid the narrower § 4 lien cap |
| Deadline to file the lien | Contractor/sub notice: earliest of 60 days after completion notice, 90 after termination notice, or 90 after specified last work (§§ 2, 4); account: 90/120/120 days (§ 8). Design and labor routes differ (§§ 1, 2C, 8) |
| Notice of completion effect | Owner and contractor record a substantial-completion notice (§ 2A); it starts the 60-day contractor/sub/design notice clock and 90-day contractor/sub account clock (§§ 2, 2C, 4, 8) |
| Serving the lien on the owner | Subcontractor lien attaches after recording its notice of contract and giving the owner actual notice (§ 4); record an attested complaint within 30 days after suit (§ 5) |
| Deadline to sue to foreclose | Sue within 90 days after filing the § 8 statement or lien dissolves (§ 11); record attested complaint within 30 days after suit or lien dissolves (§ 5) |
| Homestead/residential extras | The cited current filing clocks do not set a separate dwelling-unit period (§§ 2, 4, 8); H.1870 proposes one for statements of account |
Requirements one by one
Claimants and first filing
M.G.L. c. 254, §§ 1-33 governs these liens. Section 1 gives a personal laborer a limited lien for up to 30 days of work in the 90 days before the statement is filed (§ 1). A person with a written owner contract may record a notice of contract under § 2; a design professional with a written contract uses § 2C; and a written-contract subcontractor uses § 4. The subcontractor's lien attaches on recording only after the owner receives actual notice of that filing (§ 4).
Notice and statement deadlines
For the § 2 contractor and § 4 subcontractor, the notice of contract is due by the earliest of three events: 60 days after a recorded substantial-completion notice, 90 days after a recorded termination notice, or 90 days after the work specified in the relevant section. Their statement of account has a separate earliest-of clock: 90 days after substantial completion, 120 after termination, or 120 after specified last work (§ 8).
Design professionals have a different notice clock under § 2C: the earlier of 60 days after a recorded substantial-completion notice or 90 days after their last professional services. Section 8 then gives a § 2C claimant 30 days after the last day its notice of contract could be filed to record its statement. A § 1 personal laborer follows that section's 90-day statement window instead of the contractor/subcontractor two-filing timetable (§§ 1, 8).
Notice of identification and completion
Under § 4, a claimant without a direct contract with the original contractor may give that contractor a notice of identification by certified mail within 30 days after starting performance. Without it, the lien is capped by the amount due under the intermediate subcontract when the claimant records its notice. Section 2A has the owner and contractor record a notice of substantial completion and send copies to the listed downstream parties; failure to send copies does not prejudice a good-faith third party relying on the recorded notice.
Enforcement
Section 11 dissolves the lien unless suit starts within 90 days after the § 8 statement. Section 5 also requires an attested copy of the complaint to be recorded within 30 days after suit begins, or the lien dissolves.
What trips people up
The § 8 statement deadline can arrive before the longest last-work period when a completion or termination notice has been recorded. Design professionals should use § 2C and the separate 30-day-after-notice-window statement rule in § 8.
Common questions
Does a lower-tier subcontractor lose its entire lien by missing notice of identification? Section 4 instead limits its amount to what remains due under the intermediate subcontract, if the claimant lacks a direct prime-contractor contract.
Is filing the enforcement lawsuit enough? No. Section 5 also requires the attested complaint to be recorded within 30 days.
Statutes and sources
- M.G.L. c. 254, §§ 1-33 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 1 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section1 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 2 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section2 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 2A — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section2A (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 2C — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section2C (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 4 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section4 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 5 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section5 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 8 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section8 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- M.G.L. c. 254, § 11 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter254/Section11 (accessed 2026-10-06)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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