How Long Does It Take to Get a Mechanic’s Lien?

There are two ways to look at this question.

How long past the payment date do you need to wait to file a mechanic lien?
How much of your valuable time will you need to invest to file a mechanic lien?

Question #1: How long does it take to get a mechanic’s lien?

When people ask this question, they often want to know the deadline to file a lien.

As a professional in the building trades, you must stay up to date in your invoice process. However, the date requirements for filing mechanic’s liens are not determined by how overdue the payment is. The filing dates depend on when your work on the project was done.

In Texas, construction projects fall into three categories: public works, private residential work, and private non-residential projects. Deadlines to file mechanic liens vary for these categories.

In addition, there are different requirements for original contractors and subcontractors.

Original contractors, also called general or lead contractors, don’t have to provide advance notice before filing a lien.

The deadline for the original contractor to file an affidavit claiming a lien for construction projects that are not residential is no later than the 15th day of the 4th month after their work was completed, terminated, or abandoned.

On a residential construction project, the original contractor must file an affidavit claiming lien no later than the 15th day of the 3rd month after their work was completed, terminated, or abandoned.

Subcontractors, either first tier or lower, must send advance Notice to Claim to the original contractor and the property owner before filing a lien on private projects. All subs must file this notice by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the work was performed or the services or materials were delivered. Subsequently, the deadline to file the lien is the 15th day of the 4th month.

If you are a subcontractor, you must file this pre-lien notice on time for the specific month the work was done. If you miss the deadline and don’t file the lien affidavit by the 15^th of the 4^th month, you have 30 days to file after the completion of the whole project if you have correctly filed the advance notice.

To summarize, keep track of all unpaid invoices, and the dates work was done. Know whether pre-lien notice requirements apply to you and keep track of those dates. And adhere to the filing dates for filing any necessary liens.

Question #2: How much time does it take to file a mechanic’s lien?

In addition, to untangling the dates and determining whether your claim qualifies, you need to gather the following information before filing a mechanic’s lien:

A description of the work you did or materials you provided that remain unpaid.
The month you did the job or delivered the supplies.
Include the address and legal description of the property where the work was done.
You need the name and mailing address of the property owner and the original contractor if you are a subcontractor.
Preferably, the date the Pre-lien Notice was sent.

Next, you need to get and complete the proper forms and file them with the County Clerk in the county where the job is located.

To do this, you must locate the County Clerk in one of the . Whether your job was in Harris County, which has four million residents, or Loving County, with only 100 residents, you must find the Clerk’s office.

You can access a database of all the County Clerks in Texas and search by the county you need. Get the address and phone number to determine the hours the office is open and which payment method they accept.

Then deliver the Affidavit of Lien to the clerk, who will file it and give you a copy of the lien once it was recorded.

The last thing you must do is send copies of the recorded Lien to the property owner and the original contractor – if you are a subcontractor. This must be done within 5 days after the county clerk recorded the lien.