Virginia: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements
The short answer
A memorandum of lien must be recorded within 90 days after the last day of the month you last worked or furnished materials, and always within 90 days of the project's completion, whichever comes first. Subcontractors must also give the owner written notice of their claim to perfect the lien, and on a one- or two-family home with a named lien agent, everyone must notify that agent within 30 days of first furnishing work. Once recorded, you must sue to enforce the lien within 6 months of recording or 60 days after completion, whichever is LATER.
| Governing law | Title 43, Chapter 1 (Mechanics' and Materialmen's Liens, §§ 43-1 to 43-23.2); an old, state-specific statute, not a uniform act |
|---|---|
| Who can claim a lien | Anyone performing labor or furnishing $150+ of materials or equipment-use value for a building permanently annexed to real property; a general contractor contracts directly with the owner, a subcontractor contracts with the general contractor instead, and a person supplying labor/materials to a subcontractor can also perfect a lien (§§ 43-1, 43-3, 43-9); unlicensed contractors have no lien rights when a license was legally required (§ 43-3(D)) |
| Preliminary notice | No preliminary notice is required on most projects. The exception is a one- or two-family residential dwelling: if the building permit names a mechanics' lien agent, every claimant must notify that agent within 30 days of first furnishing labor or material (or within 30 days of the permit's issuance) to preserve the full lien; late notice only limits the lien to work done after notice was given (§ 43-4.01) |
| Deadline to file the lien | Not later than 90 days from the last day of the month in which the claimant last performs labor or furnishes material, and in no event later than 90 days from when the project is completed or the work otherwise terminated, whichever governs (§ 43-4); a memorandum can't include sums for work done more than 150 days before the claimant's last day of work (the '150-day rule') |
| Notice of completion effect | None — Virginia has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation that shortens the filing deadline; the clock runs from the claimant's own last month of work and from the project's actual completion or termination |
| Serving the lien on the owner | A general contractor (not a subcontractor) must file, along with the memorandum of lien, a certification that a copy was mailed to the owner at the owner's last known address (§ 43-4); a subcontractor instead perfects by giving the owner separate written notice of the amount and character of the claim (§ 43-7) |
| Deadline to sue to foreclose | No suit to enforce the lien may be brought after 6 months from when the memorandum was recorded OR after 60 days from when the project was completed or the work otherwise terminated, whichever period ends LATER; this deadline cannot be extended (§ 43-17) |
| Homestead/residential extras | One- and two-family residential dwellings are the only property type with the mechanics' lien agent notice system: the building permit must be posted until work is complete, and if a lien agent is named on it, every claimant (not just subcontractors) must notify that agent within 30 days of first furnishing labor or material to keep the full lien (§ 43-4.01) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
The short answer
Virginia's mechanic's lien law is one of the oldest and most detail-heavy in
the country. Most projects need no notice before you start work, but you
must record a memorandum of lien within 90 days of your last day of work
(counted from the end of that month) and always within 90 days of the whole
project wrapping up. Subcontractors have an extra step: written notice to
the owner of the claim itself. On a one- or two-family home with a named
lien agent, everyone — including general contractors — must notify that
agent within 30 days of first showing up or risk losing lien rights for
earlier work. Once recorded, you have to sue within 6 months of recording or
60 days after completion, whichever period ends later — an unusually
claimant-friendly rule, since most states pick whichever is shorter.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Virginia's mechanics' lien law is Title 43, Chapter 1 of the Code of
Virginia (§§ 43-1 to 43-23.2), one of the older statutory lien schemes still
in force, not built on any national uniform act. It has been amended
piecemeal many times, most recently around the mechanics' lien agent
provisions.
Who can claim
§ 43-3(A) gives a lien to "all persons performing labor or furnishing
materials of the value of $150 or more ... for the construction, removal,
repair or improvement of any building or structure permanently annexed to
the freehold." § 43-1 splits claimants into a "general contractor," who
"contract[s] directly with the owner," and a "subcontractor," who doesn't
contract with the owner but with the general contractor instead; § 43-9
extends a lien further to a person who furnishes labor or materials to a
subcontractor. Licensing matters: § 43-3(D) strips lien rights from "a
person who performs labor without a valid license or certificate ... when
such a license or certificate is required by law for the labor performed."
Preliminary notice
Most Virginia projects require no notice before you start work at all. The
exception is a one- or two-family residential dwelling with a mechanics'
lien agent named on the building permit: § 43-4.01(C) bars "any" claimant
from perfecting a lien "with respect to a one or two family residential
dwelling unit" unless they notify that agent "within 30 days of the first
date that he performs labor or furnishes material," or within 30 days of the
permit's issuance if work began earlier. A late notice doesn't forfeit the
whole lien — it just limits the claim to work performed on or after the date
notice was actually given.
Deadline to file the lien
§ 43-4 sets a dual trigger: the memorandum of lien must be filed "not later
than 90 days from the last day of the month in which he last performs labor
or furnishes material, and in no event later than 90 days from the time
such building, structure, or railroad is completed, or the work thereon
otherwise terminated." The same section also caps how far back a memorandum
can reach: no memorandum may include "sums due for labor or materials
furnished more than 150 days prior to the last day on which labor was
performed or material furnished to the job preceding the filing of such
memorandum" — the state's well-known "150-day rule."
Notice of completion effect
Virginia has no owner-recorded notice of completion or cessation that
shortens a claimant's deadline. Both triggers under § 43-4 — the 90 days
from the claimant's own last month of work, and the 90 days from actual
completion or termination of the whole project — are independent of any
filing the owner makes.
Serving the lien on the owner
Only a general contractor has a formal mailing duty tied to filing: § 43-4
requires a general contractor to "file along with the memorandum of lien, a
certification of mailing of a copy of the memorandum of lien on the owner of
the property at the owner's last known address." Subcontractors perfect
differently — § 43-7(A) requires a subcontractor to "give notice in writing
to the owner of the property or his agent of the amount and character of
his claim," which functions as the subcontractor's version of notifying the
owner, rather than a separate post-recording mailing step.
Deadline to sue to foreclose
§ 43-17 sets an unusual "later of" rule: no suit to enforce the lien "shall
be brought after six months from the time when the memorandum of lien was
recorded or after sixty days from the time the building, structure or
railroad was completed or the work thereon otherwise terminated, whichever
time shall last occur." The statute is explicit that this deadline "shall
not extend the time within which such lien may be perfected" — it only
governs the enforcement suit, not the filing itself.
Homestead/residential extras
The mechanics' lien agent system in § 43-4.01 is Virginia's one
residential-specific formality, and it runs the opposite direction from a
typical state's homestead rule: instead of exempting small residential jobs
from a general notice requirement, Virginia imposes the ONLY preliminary
notice requirement in its whole lien scheme specifically on "any one- or
two-family residential dwelling unit," requiring the building permit to
stay "conspicuously and continuously posted" until work is done and every
claimant to notify a named lien agent within 30 days.
What trips people up
The 150-day rule catches claimants who let unpaid invoices pile up over a
long job: even a timely-filed memorandum can't reach back further than 150
days from the last day worked, so waiting too long to file can mean losing
the earliest, largest invoices even though the lien itself is still timely.
On the enforcement side, § 43-17's "whichever comes LATER" rule is easy to
misread as the more common "whichever comes first" pattern used for the
90-day filing deadline — mixing the two up can lead a claimant to sue too
early or, worse, to think a deadline has passed when it hasn't.
Common questions
Do I need to send a notice before I start work?
Only on a one- or two-family residential dwelling with a named mechanics'
lien agent on the building permit — everywhere else, no preliminary notice
is required to have lien rights.
I'm a subcontractor — do I have the same filing deadline as a general contractor?
Yes, the 90-day/150-day filing rules in § 43-4 apply to everyone, but a
subcontractor also has to separately notify the owner in writing of the
amount and character of the claim under § 43-7 to perfect the lien.
What happens if I record my lien on day 91 after the project's completion?
You've missed both triggers under § 43-4, and the lien can't be perfected at
all — there's no cure once both the last-furnished-labor and
project-completion deadlines have passed.
Statutes and sources
- Va. Code § 43-3(A) (lien for work done and materials furnished) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-3/
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Va. Code § 43-3(D) (unlicensed contractor has no lien) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-3/
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Va. Code § 43-1 (definitions: general contractor, subcontractor) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-1/
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Va. Code § 43-4.01(C) (mechanics' lien agent notice, residential dwellings) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-4.01/
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Va. Code § 43-4 (90-day/150-day filing deadline, GC mailing certification) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-4/
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Va. Code § 43-7(A) (subcontractor's written notice to owner) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-7/
(accessed 2026-07-04) - Va. Code § 43-17 (6-month/60-day suit deadline, whichever is later) —
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title43/chapter1/section43-17/
(accessed 2026-07-04)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.