Missouri: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements

The short answer

Missouri runs on a single, flat 6-month filing deadline that applies to
almost every kind of claimant alike — general contractor, subcontractor,
supplier, or design professional — measured from the last day you furnished
labor or materials, not from when the whole project finished. The one
exception is an equipment lessor, who gets only 60 days after pulling the
rented machinery off the job. Along the way, a general contractor has its
own upfront disclosure duty to the owner, while everyone else must warn the
owner 10 days before filing. Once the lien is filed, you get another 6
months to sue to enforce it. Residential work layers extra owner-facing
paperwork on top of that base sequence.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Missouri's mechanic's lien law is Title XXVII, Chapter 429 of the Revised
Statutes of Missouri ("Statutory Liens Against Real Estate," §§ 429.010 to
429.360). It traces back to the 1939 revision and has been amended
section-by-section ever since — most recently to add the residential
owner-consent and notice-of-rights rules discussed below — rather than being
rewritten wholesale like some states' lien codes. It is not built on any
national uniform act.

Who can claim

Section 429.010 gives lien rights to anyone who does "work or labor,"
furnishes materials, fixtures, or machinery, or rents machinery or equipment
for a building or improvement under a contract with the owner or the
owner's agent, trustee, contractor, or subcontractor. Section 429.015 adds
registered architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, and
landscape architects to that list for their professional services. Equipment
lessors get a narrower version of lien rights: § 429.010.2 allows a lien for
rented machinery only when "the improvements are made on commercial
property," "the amount of the claim exceeds five thousand dollars," and the
lessor gave the owner written notice within 15 business days of starting to
use the rented equipment. For owner-occupied residential property of four
units or less, a subcontractor or supplier's lien right depends on the
owner's written consent (see Homestead/residential extras below).

Preliminary notice

Missouri splits this requirement by claimant type rather than running one
notice rule for everyone. Section 429.012 requires the original (general)
contractor to hand the owner a disclosure notice — in "ten-point bold
type" — warning that unpaid subcontractors or suppliers can file liens
against the property, and to do this before taking any payment at all;
§ 429.012.2 makes that disclosure "a condition precedent to the creation,
existence or validity of any mechanic's lien in favor of such original
contractor." Everyone else — subcontractors, suppliers, laborers who choose
to use this route — instead owes a different notice under § 429.100: "ten
days' notice before the filing of the lien ... that he holds a claim against
such building or improvement, setting forth the amount and from whom the
same is due." This isn't an early warning sent when the job starts; it's a
short window immediately before the lien itself gets filed.

Deadline to file the lien

Section 429.080 sets one filing deadline for nearly every claimant: "within
six months after the indebtedness shall have accrued" — meaning six months
after the claimant's own last day of furnishing labor or materials, not
after the whole project wraps up. The one carve-out is for rented machinery
or equipment: a lessor must file "within sixty days after the date the last
of the rental equipment or machinery was last removed from the property."

Notice of completion effect

Missouri has no equivalent to the owner-recorded "notice of completion" or
"notice of cessation" that shortens filing deadlines in some other states.
Nothing in Chapter 429 lets an owner record a document that speeds up the
clock. The 6-month (or 60-day, for equipment lessors) deadline in § 429.080
runs the same way regardless of anything the owner files.

Serving the lien on the owner

Once the lien is filed with the circuit clerk, Missouri does not require the
claimant to separately serve a copy of it on the owner — there is no
post-filing service step in Chapter 429. The claimant's only owner-facing
notice duty is the 10-day pre-filing notice under § 429.100, described
above. If that owner can't practically be served — because they live out of
state, have no local agent, or have absconded or hidden themselves —
§ 429.110 lets the claimant record the notice with the county recorder of
deeds instead, which "shall have like effect as if served upon such owner."

Deadline to sue to foreclose

Section 429.170 gives a claimant six months after filing the lien to sue to
enforce it: "no lien shall continue to exist ... for more than six months
after the lien shall be filed, unless within that time an action shall be
instituted thereon." Chapter 429 doesn't offer any statutory way to extend
that window by agreement between the parties.

Homestead/residential extras

Missouri layers two distinct residential rules on top of the base sequence,
depending on the kind of project. First, for repair, remodeling, or an
addition to an owner-occupied home of four units or less, § 429.013 blocks
any subcontractor or supplier's lien unless the owner signed a written
"Consent of Owner" in the statute's specified bold-type language; without
it, "full payment of the amount due under a contract to the contractor
shall be a complete defense to all liens" filed by anyone else. Second, for
newly built residential real property meant for sale, § 429.016 requires a
claimant to record a "Notice of Rights" with the county recorder of deeds
before the owner's sale closes — but only once the owner has recorded its
own "Notice of Intended Sale" at least 45 days ahead of that closing.
Failing to record the Notice of Rights in time "waive[s] and forfeit[s] any
right to assert a mechanic's lien against such property," and recording it
does not extend the underlying § 429.080 filing deadline.

What trips people up

The two residential overlays cover different situations and are easy to
mix up: § 429.013's owner-consent rule applies to repair/remodel/addition
work on an existing owner-occupied home, while § 429.016's notice-of-rights
rule applies to newly built residential property headed for sale — a
subcontractor working on brand-new construction doesn't get to rely on
getting a signed Consent of Owner, because that section doesn't apply to
"the building, construction or erection of any improvements constituting
the initial or original residential unit." Separately, because Missouri's
10-day notice under § 429.100 runs right up against the filing deadline
rather than at the start of the job, a claimant who waits until close to the
6-month mark to act can find there isn't enough runway left to give 10
days' notice and still file in time.

Common questions

Do I have to send a preliminary notice as soon as I start the job, like in
some other states?
No. Missouri's § 429.100 notice is a short window right before you file the
lien — ten days beforehand — not an early notice due when work begins.

Does the 6-month filing clock reset if the whole project keeps going after
I'm done?
No. It runs from your own last day of furnishing labor or materials on the
job, not from when the entire project is finished.

What if I'm doing a repair job on someone's house and they never signed
anything?
If you're not the original (general) contractor, § 429.013 makes the
owner's signed written Consent of Owner a precondition to your lien right on
an owner-occupied home of four units or less — without it, the owner's full
payment to the general contractor is a complete defense against your claim.

Statutes and sources

• RSMo § 429.010 (who may claim a lien; equipment-lessor conditions) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.010
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.015 (design-professional lien rights) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.015
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.012 (original contractor's disclosure notice) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.012
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.013 (residential subcontractor Consent of Owner) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/PageSelect.aspx?section=429.013&bid=24010
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.080 (filing deadline) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.080
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.100 (10-day pre-filing notice) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.100
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.110 (alternate notice for nonresident/absent owner) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.110
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.170 (deadline to sue to foreclose) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.170
  (accessed 2026-07-04)
• RSMo § 429.016 (residential Notice of Rights / Notice of Intended Sale) —
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=429.016
  (accessed 2026-07-04)