Michigan: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements

The short answer

Michigan's version of a mechanic's lien is officially a "construction lien,"
governed by its own 1980 act rather than a uniform law. The system runs on an
owner-recorded Notice of Commencement filed before work begins: once one is
recorded, subcontractors and suppliers must serve a Notice of Furnishing
within 20 days of first showing up on the job (laborers get 30 days for
unpaid wages) to protect their lien rights. The claim of lien itself must be
recorded within 90 days of last furnishing labor or material, then served on
the project's designated contact within 15 days after recording. From
there, a claimant has 1 year to sue to foreclose. Residential jobs carry
their own extra rule: a contractor has no lien at all without a signed
written contract that discloses any required license.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Michigan's lien law is the Construction Lien Act, 1980 PA 497, codified at
MCL 570.1101 through 570.1305. It's a comprehensive, state-specific statute
(not built on a national uniform act) that has been amended repeatedly,
most substantially in 2018.

Who can claim

MCL § 570.1107(1) gives a construction lien to "each contractor,
subcontractor, supplier, or laborer who provides an improvement to real
property," secured against the interest of whoever contracted for the
improvement. A contractor's contract runs directly to the owner or lessee;
subcontractors and suppliers are defined as contracting with someone else in
the chain. The lien amount is capped at the claimant's own contract price
less whatever has already been paid.

Preliminary notice

Michigan's notice system starts before work begins, not after. The owner or
lessee records a Notice of Commencement naming a "designee" to receive
lien-related notices. Once that's recorded, MCL § 570.1109(1) requires a
subcontractor or supplier to "provide a notice of furnishing to the designee
... within 20 days after furnishing the first labor or material," and
§ 570.1109(2) gives a laborer 30 days after unpaid wages come due. A missed
notice doesn't kill a subcontractor's or supplier's whole lien, just the
part attributable to work paid for before the notice went out — but for a
laborer, missing the wage-notice deadline "defeats the laborer's lien"
outright. A contractor with a direct contract with the owner never has to
serve this notice at all.

Deadline to file the lien

Every claimant type files on the same 90-day clock. MCL § 570.1111(1) says a
lien claimant's right "shall cease to exist unless, within 90 days after the
lien claimant's last furnishing of labor or material for the improvement ...
a claim of lien is recorded" with the county register of deeds. There's no
separate, shorter window for any particular tier of claimant.

Notice of completion effect

Michigan has no mechanism where an owner's filing shortens a claimant's
deadline. The Notice of Commencement — the closest thing Michigan has to a
completion-adjacent filing — is recorded before the project starts and only
triggers the subcontractor/supplier Notice of Furnishing requirement. There
is no equivalent notice of completion or cessation that accelerates the
90-day filing clock or the 1-year suit clock.

Serving the lien on the owner

Recording alone isn't the end of it. MCL § 570.1111(5) requires the claimant,
"within 15 days after the date of the recording," to serve a copy of the
claim of lien — plus proof of service of any required Notice of Furnishing —
on the designee named in the Notice of Commencement, personally or by
certified mail. If no designee was named, service goes to the owner or
lessee directly.

Deadline to sue to foreclose

MCL § 570.1117(1) sets the outside limit: "Proceedings for the enforcement
of a construction lien and the foreclosure of any interests subject to the
construction lien shall not be brought later than 1 year after the date the
claim of lien was recorded." A claimant who sues must also record a notice
of lis pendens for the county where the property sits at the time the
action is filed.

Homestead/residential extras

Residential work carries its own gate. MCL § 570.1114 says "a contractor
does not have a right to a construction lien on the interest of an owner or
lessee in a residential structure" — a condo unit or a building with 2 or
fewer residential units where the owner lives or will live — unless the
improvement was made under a signed written contract that discloses any
required contractor, electrician, plumbing, or mechanical license and its
number. Separately, § 570.1108(18) exempts residential structures from the
Notice of Commencement/designee system entirely, so the preliminary-notice
mechanics above don't apply the same way on a residential job.

What trips people up

Because the preliminary-notice deadlines run from the Notice of
Commencement rather than a fixed calendar date, a subcontractor who never
checks whether one was recorded can miss the 20-day window without
realizing the clock had already started. On residential jobs, contractors
sometimes treat the written-contract-with-license-disclosure requirement as
a formality — but § 570.1114 makes it an absolute precondition to having any
lien at all, not just good practice.

Common questions

What if the owner never records a Notice of Commencement?
Then the notice-of-furnishing system built around it doesn't function the
normal way for that project; check the specific carve-outs in §§ 108 and
109 rather than assuming no notice is ever required.

Does missing my Notice of Furnishing kill my lien?
For a subcontractor or supplier, no — it only limits the lien to unpaid
amounts as of when the late notice went out. For a laborer's unpaid-wage
claim, a missed notice defeats that part of the lien entirely.

Do I need a written contract to have lien rights on a house?
If you're a contractor working on a residential structure, yes — § 570.1114
makes a lien right conditional on a signed written contract disclosing
required licensing, not optional paperwork.

Statutes and sources

• MCL 570.1107(1) (who has a construction lien) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1107
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1109(1) (subcontractor/supplier notice of furnishing) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1109
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1109(2) (laborer notice of furnishing) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1109
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1111(1) (90-day filing deadline) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1111
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1111(5) (15-day service-on-designee requirement) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1111
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1117(1)-(2) (1-year foreclosure deadline, lis pendens) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1117
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1114 (residential written-contract requirement) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1114
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1108(18) (residential exemption from Notice of Commencement) —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1108
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• MCL 570.1106(4) (definition of "residential structure") —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-570-1106
  (accessed 2026-07-04)