South Carolina: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements

The short answer

South Carolina's mechanic's lien law, Title 29, Chapter 5 of the state code,
runs on a single 90-day clock for filing and service combined, but the
notice rules leading up to that deadline are unusually layered. There's no
one universal preliminary notice every claimant must send. Instead, a
subcontractor or supplier without a direct contract with the owner has to
give the owner written notice of the work and its value just to get a lien
against the true owner at all, and a sub-subcontractor or supplier one tier
further removed needs its own more detailed notice to avoid being capped at
what the contractor still owes its hiring subcontractor. Whatever the
claimant's tier, once the 90-day statement is filed and served, the
claimant has six months from the same last-furnished date to sue to
foreclose and record a notice of pendency, or the lien dissolves on its
own.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

South Carolina's mechanic's lien statute is Title 29, Chapter 5,
"Mechanics' Liens" (§§ 29-5-10 to 29-5-440). Its core provisions trace back
to 19th-century acts, and it has been amended piecemeal since, most
notably by 1990s-era additions creating the sub-subcontractor notice regime
and the Notice of Project Commencement, and by a 2000s-2010s payment-bond
statute (§ 29-5-440). It is not built on a modern recast or uniform lien
code.

Who can claim

Section 29-5-10(a) gives a lien to anyone "to whom a debt is due for labor
performed or furnished or for materials furnished and actually used" in
erecting, altering, or repairing a building or structure, or boring and
equipping wells, done "by virtue of an agreement with, or by consent of,
the owner" or someone rightfully acting for the owner. Later sections
extend that reach: surveyors (§ 29-5-21(A)), private security guards on
site (§ 29-5-25), construction and demolition debris haulers (§ 29-5-27),
landscape-service providers under a written agreement exceeding $5,000
(§ 29-5-26), and anyone renting out tools, machinery, or equipment, to the
extent of its reasonable rental value (§ 29-5-22). There's a licensing gate
on top: § 29-5-15(A) requires a contractor to prove a required license or
registration and record that number on the lien document just to file one.

Preliminary notice

South Carolina doesn't have one universal pre-work notice. Instead, the
notice requirement depends on how far removed the claimant is from the
owner. A subcontractor, laborer, or materialman working through a
contractor rather than directly for the owner must give the owner written
notice of "the furnishing of such labor or material and the amount or
value thereof" before the lien "shall attach ... as against the true
owner" at all — and even then it's capped at "the amount due by the owner
on the contract price of the improvement" (§ 29-5-40). A sub-subcontractor
or supplier one tier further removed faces a separate, more detailed
notice: without a certified- or registered-mail notice covering six
specific items (who's claiming, who hired them, what was furnished, the
project, the dates, and the amount owed), its lien is capped at whatever
the contractor still owes the subcontractor who hired it (§ 29-5-20(B)).
Layered on top of both is an optional step for the prime contractor: filing
a Notice of Project Commencement within 15 days of starting work
(§ 29-5-23). Nothing requires it, but skipping it "render[s] the
provisions of Sections 29-5-20(B) and 29-5-60(B) inapplicable" — undercutting
the sub-subcontractor notice regime and the proration rules that depend on
it.

Deadline to file the lien

Section 29-5-90 gives every claimant, regardless of tier, the same 90 days
"after he ceases to labor on or furnish labor or materials for such
building or structure" to act, or "such a lien shall be dissolved." Within
that window the claimant must file "a statement of a just and true account
of the amount due," sworn to and describing the property "sufficiently
accurate for identification."

Notice of completion effect

South Carolina has no owner-recorded notice of completion or substantial
completion that shortens this deadline. A different tool exists — the
owner's "notice of nonresponsibility" under § 29-5-80 — but it does
something else entirely: it lets an owner who isn't the one who contracted
for particular labor or materials disclaim liability for work "not at the
time performed or materials not then furnished," by notifying the person
doing that work in writing. It doesn't touch anyone's filing deadline.

Serving the lien on the owner

Service isn't a separate step that follows filing — both happen inside the
same 90-day window under § 29-5-90. The claimant must serve "upon the
owner or, in the event the owner cannot be found, upon the person in
possession," and if neither can be located after a diligent search, the
statute lets the claimant substitute a sheriff's affidavit confirming that
search in place of service.

Deadline to sue to foreclose

Section 29-5-120(A) gives the claimant six months, measured from the same
event that started the 90-day filing clock — when the claimant "ceases to
labor on or furnish labor or material for the building or structure" — to
both "commence[]" a suit enforcing the lien and file "notice of pendency of
the action." Missing either one means "the lien must be dissolved."

Homestead/residential extras

Chapter 5 doesn't add any extra execution formality for homestead property
generally — no special written-contract, notarization, or witness rule
tied to a residence. The one place residential status changes the outcome
at all is narrower than that: the special lien South Carolina gives a real
estate licensee for marketing or leasing commercial property under
§ 29-5-21(B) explicitly "shall not acquire a lien ... upon residential real
estate" — a carve-out for that one claimant category, not a rule that
touches contractors, subcontractors, or suppliers working on a home.

What trips people up

Because the sub-subcontractor notice under § 29-5-20(B) and the prime
contractor's optional Notice of Project Commencement under § 29-5-23 are
linked, a sub-subcontractor or supplier can do everything right on their
own notice and still find it worth less than expected if the prime
contractor never filed the commencement notice — § 29-5-23 says skipping it
makes § 29-5-20(B)'s protection "inapplicable." Separately, claimants
sometimes assume the 90-day filing deadline and the six-month foreclosure
deadline both run from the filing date; they don't — both are measured
independently from the claimant's own last day of labor or last materials
furnished, not from when the lien statement was recorded.

Common questions

Do I need to send a notice before I even start the job, like in some
other states?
Not automatically. South Carolina's notices depend on your position in the
chain: if you're working through a contractor rather than directly for the
owner, § 29-5-40 requires written notice of the work and its value for
your lien to attach against the owner at all, and a more removed
sub-subcontractor or supplier has its own separate notice under
§ 29-5-20(B).

Does the 90-day filing deadline run from when the whole project finished,
or just from my own work?
From your own last day of labor or last materials furnished — § 29-5-90
runs the clock separately for each claimant, not from any project-wide
completion date, and South Carolina has no notice-of-completion mechanism
that would change that.

I'm a sub-subcontractor — can my lien exceed what the contractor still
owes my subcontractor?
Only if you sent the certified- or registered-mail notice required by
§ 29-5-20(B). Without it, your lien is capped at whatever the contractor
still owes the subcontractor who hired you, even if you're owed more.

Statutes and sources

• S.C. Code § 29-5-10(a) (who has lien rights) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-15(A) (licensing prerequisite to file) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-21(A) (surveyors) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-21(B)(3) (real estate licensee lien excludes residential
  real estate) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-40 (notice for lien to attach against true owner) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-20(B) (sub-subcontractor/supplier notice, payment cap) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-23 (optional Notice of Project Commencement) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-90 (90-day filing and service deadline) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-80 (owner's notice of nonresponsibility) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• S.C. Code § 29-5-120(A) (6-month deadline to sue and file lis pendens) —
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t29c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-05)