How to File a Mechanic’s Lien in Massachusetts: Notices and Deadlines

To file a mechanic’s lien in Massachusetts, you record a Notice of Contract and then a Statement of Account at the Registry of Deeds in the county where the property sits, and you file a lawsuit to enforce the lien within 90 days of recording the Statement of Account. The whole process runs under Chapter 254 of the Massachusetts General Laws, and the deadlines are unforgiving: miss any one of them and the lien dissolves automatically.¹

Before You File: Do You Have Lien Rights

Lien rights in Massachusetts belong to anyone who furnishes labor, materials, or rental equipment for construction on private property under a written contract. Section 2 covers general contractors who contract directly with the owner. Section 4 covers subcontractors, material suppliers, equipment rental companies, and design professionals who contract with the GC or with another subcontractor.²

The written contract requirement is not negotiable. A verbal agreement for a $40,000 remodel supports no lien, no matter how much work you did. If you only shook hands on the job, you have other collection options but Chapter 254 is not one of them.

Two boundaries worth knowing up front. No lien can attach to property owned by the state, a county, a city, a town, or a water or fire district. And laborers who personally perform work have a separate, narrower lien right under Section 1, which uses a different process than the one below.

Step 1: Record the Notice of Contract

The Notice of Contract is the foundational filing. It tells the world that a construction contract exists on the property and puts a cloud on the title. It must include the owner’s name, the contractor’s name, the contract date, and a legal description of the property, substantially in the form Section 2 prescribes.¹

Record it at the Registry of Deeds in the county or registry district where the property is located. You can record any time after signing the written contract, including before work starts. The outside deadline is the earliest of these three events:

60 days after a Notice of Substantial Completion is recorded
90 days after a Notice of Termination is recorded
90 days after the last day you or anyone working under you furnished labor or materials

The first of those three to happen starts your clock. The Notice of Substantial Completion and Notice of Termination are documents the owner or contractor can record to begin winding down lien exposure, and either can be filed without telling you. If you are on a project where payment feels uncertain, monitor the Registry of Deeds, because one of those filings can shorten your window dramatically.¹

Step 2 (Subcontractors Only): Extra Notices You Must Send

If you are a subcontractor, supplier, or lower-tier sub rather than the GC, recording at the Registry is not enough. Two additional steps apply.

Give Actual Notice to the Owner

After you record your Notice of Contract, you must give actual notice of that filing to the property owner. Section 4 conditions the subcontractor’s lien rights on “filing or recording a notice, as hereinbefore provided, and giving actual notice to the owner of such filing.” Until the owner is personally informed, the lien is not fully effective. This is one of the most common failure points for subcontractor liens: the paperwork is on record but no one ever told the owner.²

Send a Notice of Identification Within 30 Days (Lower-Tier Subs)

If you have no direct contractual relationship with the general contractor, meaning you contracted with a subcontractor rather than the GC, your lien is automatically capped at whatever the GC owes the subcontractor above you as of the date you file your Notice of Contract. That cap can be far less than what you are actually owed, and sometimes it is zero.

To remove the cap, send a Notice of Identification to the general contractor by certified mail with return receipt requested within 30 days of starting your work. The notice identifies you, describes the project, names the subcontractor you contracted with, and states the amount or estimated amount of your contract. Miss the 30-day window and the cap stays in place permanently.²

Step 3: Record the Statement of Account

The Statement of Account is the second required recording. Where the Notice of Contract announced that a contract exists, the Statement of Account states the actual money claim: a “just and true account” of the amount owed, with credits for every payment received, plus a brief property description and the owner’s name as listed in the Notice of Contract.³

Record it at the same Registry of Deeds. The deadline is the earliest of:

90 days after a Notice of Substantial Completion is recorded
120 days after a Notice of Termination is recorded
120 days after the last day labor or materials were furnished

Miss this one and the lien dissolves by operation of law. Section 8 uses the word “dissolved” rather than “voidable,” which means the lien ceases to exist entirely. There is no late-filing option and no equitable exception.³

Nothing in the statute stops you from recording the Statement of Account before any Notice of Substantial Completion or Notice of Termination is filed. If your work is done and payment is not coming, filing early protects you against a surprise notice from the other side.

Step 4: File Suit Within 90 Days

Recording at the Registry secures your place in line. It does not force anyone to write a check. To actually collect, you have to file a civil lawsuit to enforce the lien within 90 days after recording the Statement of Account. If you do not commence the lawsuit within that window, the lien dissolves.⁴

This deadline ends more lien claims than any other. Ninety days sounds like plenty, but negotiations, payment promises, and plain procrastination eat through it fast. The clock starts the moment you record the Statement of Account, not when you realize negotiations have broken down.

When you file suit, record a memorandum of lis pendens at the same Registry of Deeds. A lis pendens puts any prospective buyer or lender on notice that the property is subject to active litigation, which stops the owner from selling or refinancing around your claim while the case is pending.

How Much You Can Lien For

The lien amount depends on where you sit in the contracting chain. A general contractor’s lien is capped at the unpaid balance of the original contract with the owner. A subcontractor’s lien cannot exceed the amount due or to become due under the prime contract between the owner and the GC as of the date the owner receives notice of the subcontractor’s filing.²

This surprises subcontractors regularly. If the owner has already paid the GC most of the contract price before you give notice, the remaining balance may be far smaller than what the GC owes you. Your lien is capped by what the owner still owes the GC, not by what the GC owes you. The Notice of Identification helps lower-tier subs avoid the further sub-level cap, but no subcontractor can lien for more than what remains unpaid on the prime contract when the owner is notified.

Mistakes That Kill the Lien

Chapter 254’s technical requirements create several traps, and Massachusetts courts strictly construe each one. There is little room for substantial-compliance arguments.

No written contract. Verbal deals do not support a lien under Section 2 or Section 4, regardless of the amount owed.
Late Notice of Contract. Filing a day past the earliest applicable deadline dissolves the lien before it attaches. Track all three trigger events.
No actual notice to the owner. Recording the Notice of Contract is only half the job for subcontractors; the owner must be personally informed.
Missing the Notice of Identification. A lower-tier sub who fails to notify the GC within 30 days of starting work is permanently capped at whatever the GC owes the subcontractor above, which can be nothing.
Late Statement of Account. Section 8 dissolves the lien by statute.
Failing to sue within 90 days. Recording the Statement of Account is not the finish line.

Each failure is final. The safest approach at every stage is to file early rather than wait for deadlines to approach, because the trigger events that start the clocks can happen without your knowledge.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 254 Section 2 – Written Contract; Notice; Time for Filing; Form
2
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 254 Section 4
3
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 254 Section 8 – Statement of Amount Due; Time for Filing; Dissolution of Lien
4
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 254 Section 11 – Action to Enforce Lien; Time to Commence; Validity of Lien