Mechanic’s Lien Filing Deadline
State mechanic’s lien filing deadlines.
Written and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Rules last verified · Sources · Changes & corrections
These calculators are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice.
How the Mechanic’s Lien Filing Deadline works
The Mechanic’s Lien Filing Deadline calculator returns the date a lien must be recorded, plus the preliminary-notice rule where the state requires one (a date only where the notice runs from the same date as the lien). It covers five states — California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois — and returns no date for any other, because lien deadlines are unforgiving and a plausible-looking wrong one is worse than none.
The preliminary notice is state-specific and this is where the tool used to mislead. California’s 20-day preliminary notice was previously shown for every state, which is simply not the rule elsewhere: Florida runs a 45-day notice to owner, Illinois a 90-day notice for subcontractors, Texas a monthly fund-trapping notice regime, and New York requires no preliminary notice for private work at all. The calculator now shows each state’s own requirement, or says plainly that there is none.
The trigger date is the part you have to settle before counting, and the calculator asks for the one each statute uses. In California it is completion of the whole work of improvement, for subcontractors as well as the direct contractor, and a recorded notice of completion or cessation cuts the window to 60 days (direct contractor) or 30 (everyone else) from recording, if that is earlier. In Florida it is your own final furnishing. In Texas the deadline is the 15th day of the fourth month (third for residential work) after the month the original contractor’s work was completed or, for a subcontractor or supplier, the month it last provided labor or materials. New York runs eight months from completion or your last work or materials, four for a single-family dwelling; Illinois four months from completion. A deadline that ends on a weekend or holiday moves to the next business day under each state’s computation statute, and the result says so. Lien rights are strictly construed almost everywhere: a lien filed a day late is void, not merely late, and cannot be revived.
Worked example
A California project is completed on Monday, 1 June 2026. Ninety days later is Sunday 30 August, so the tool returns Monday 31 August, moved off the weekend under Code of Civil Procedure § 12a — record by the Friday if you can. If the owner records a notice of completion on 10 June, a subcontractor’s deadline drops to Friday 10 July (30 days) and a direct contractor’s to Monday 10 August (60 days). The preliminary notice is not counted from completion: it was due within 20 days of the subcontractor’s first day on the job, so the tool states the rule rather than inventing a date. A Texas commercial subcontractor whose last work was in June 2026 has until Thursday 15 October. Switch to a state outside the five covered and the calculator returns no dates at all, naming the states it does cover.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the preliminary notice date change between states?
Because it is a different requirement in each. California’s 20-day preliminary notice, Florida’s 45-day notice to owner and Illinois’s 90-day subcontractor notice serve similar purposes but have different deadlines, different recipients and different consequences for missing them. New York requires none for private work. Showing one state’s figure everywhere — which this tool used to do — is worse than showing nothing.
What date should I count from?
From the event your state’s statute names, which the result spells out: completion of the whole work of improvement in California, your final furnishing in Florida, the month your work (or, for an original contractor, the original contractor’s work) ended in Texas, the latest of completion and your last work or materials in New York, and completion in Illinois. In California, also enter the date a notice of completion or cessation was recorded, if one was. Getting the trigger wrong moves the deadline by weeks.
What happens if the lien is late?
It is generally void rather than merely late. Lien statutes are creatures of statute and are strictly construed almost everywhere, so a deadline missed by a day usually destroys the lien right entirely, leaving only a breach-of-contract claim against whoever you contracted with. That is why this calculator declines to guess for uncovered states.
What this calculator does not do
A limitation you know about costs far less than one you find after the deadline. These are the specific things this tool cannot work out for you.
- Only the states marked with a tick have verified data. Lien deadlines are among the most jurisdiction-specific in US law and frequently differ by project type and by whether you contracted directly with the owner.
- Many states require a preliminary notice weeks or months before the lien itself. Missing that notice can forfeit the lien no matter how well you calendar this deadline.
- Texas retainage claims (§ 53.052(d)), Florida terminated contracts (§ 713.08(5)), public works and the Illinois two-year limit against the owner are not modelled.
- The weekend move follows each state’s computation statute. California’s Code of Civil Procedure § 12a covers it by its terms, but no appellate case applies it to lien recording, so record by the last business day before a weekend deadline where you can.
Where these rules come from
The periods this calculator applies are taken from the primary sources below rather than from secondary summaries. Verify against them before relying on a date that matters.
- Cal. Civ. Code §§ 8180, 8412, 8414; Code Civ. Proc. § 12a
90 days after completion of the work of improvement, or 60 (direct contractor) / 30 (others) days after a recorded notice of completion or cessation, whichever is earlier.
- Tex. Prop. Code §§ 53.003(e), 53.052, 53.056
15th day of the 4th month (3rd for residential) after the trigger month; a deadline on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday extends to the next day that is not one.
- N.Y. Lien Law § 10; Gen. Constr. Law § 25-a
Eight months, or four for a single-family dwelling; a period ending on a weekend or holiday moves to the next business day.
- Fla. Stat. §§ 713.08(5), 713.011
90 days after final furnishing; a period ending on a weekend or holiday extends to the end of the next business day.
- 770 ILCS 60/7 and 60/24
Four months after completion to bind third parties; subcontractor notice within 90 days.