How to Put a Lien on a House in Florida: Steps and Deadlines

To put a lien on a house in Florida for unpaid construction work, you serve a Notice to Owner within 45 days of starting (if you weren’t hired directly by the owner), record a sworn Claim of Lien with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property sits within 90 days of your last day of work, and serve a copy of that recorded lien on the owner within 15 days. Florida’s construction lien statute, Chapter 713, gives contractors, subcontractors, laborers, material suppliers, and design professionals this remedy, but every deadline is rigid. Miss one and the lien rights are usually gone for good.

Confirm You Have Lien Rights

Chapter 713 limits lien rights to a defined list of “lienors”: contractors, subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, laborers, materialmen, and professional lienors such as architects, engineers, and surveyors.¹ If you don’t fit one of those categories, you don’t have a construction lien available to you, regardless of what you’re owed.

Your position in the contracting chain then decides whether you need a preliminary notice. If you signed your contract with the property owner, you’re “in privity” with the owner and can skip straight to preparing the Claim of Lien. If a general contractor or another subcontractor hired you, you’re not in privity, and the first step below is mandatory before any lien rights exist.

Step 1: Serve the Notice to Owner (If You’re Not in Privity)

The Notice to Owner tells the property owner that you’re supplying labor or materials to the project and that you may claim a lien if you aren’t paid. You must serve it before you begin work or no later than 45 days after you first furnish labor or materials to the property. Laborers are the one group exempt from this requirement.²

There is no cure for a late notice. Serve it after day 45 and the owner has a complete defense to your lien.

The notice must identify you, describe the property, describe the labor or materials you’re furnishing, and name the person who hired you. The statute provides a specific form that includes a warning to the owner about their potential exposure. If you’re a sub-subcontractor or a materialman supplying a subcontractor, you also have to serve a copy on the general contractor.²

Serve by hand delivery, certified or registered mail, or a common carrier delivery service. If you mail the notice within 40 days of first furnishing and keep a mail log recording the certified mail number and date, service is effective on the mailing date even if the owner never picks it up.³

Step 2: Prepare the Claim of Lien

The Claim of Lien is the document that, once recorded, actually encumbers the property. It has to be sworn to (or affirmed) by you or an agent with knowledge of the facts, and it must be notarized. Defects in the document can make it unenforceable, so get every field right.

The Claim of Lien must state:⁴

Your name and address as the lienor.
The name of the person or company that hired you.
A description of the labor, services, or materials you furnished, along with the total contract price. If you specially fabricated materials off-site that were never installed, list those separately.
The legal description of the property. A street address alone isn’t enough; you need the metes-and-bounds or plat description, which you can pull from the deed or the county property appraiser’s records.
The owner’s name.
The first and last dates you furnished labor or materials.
The amount unpaid, including any unpaid finance charges provided for in your contract.
If you’re not in privity with the owner, the date and method you served the Notice to Owner.

The statutory form also carries a required warning to the owner that the lien may remain on the property for up to one year.⁴

Step 3: Record the Claim of Lien and Serve the Owner

Record the notarized Claim of Lien with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property is located. If the property straddles two counties, record it in each. The deadline is 90 days after the last day you furnished labor or materials to the project.⁴

Be honest about what counts as your last day. Florida courts have held that punch-list corrections and warranty or repair work do not restart the 90-day clock; going back to fix something you were already contractually obligated to correct is not final furnishing. A site visit to assess remaining work under the contract does count. The owner’s attorney will study this date, so pick a defensible one.

Recording fees are set by state law: $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page. Bring the original notarized document to the clerk, or check whether your county accepts electronic filing.

After recording, serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner. Service must happen before recording or within 15 days after. A failure to serve doesn’t automatically void the lien, but it makes the lien voidable to the extent the owner can show they were prejudiced.⁴ Treat the 15-day window as firm. Use hand delivery, certified mail, or registered mail.³

Enforce the Lien Within One Year

A recorded lien clouds title and can block a sale or refinance, but it doesn’t compel payment on its own. To actually collect, you file a lawsuit to foreclose. If the case goes to judgment, the court can order the property sold and your claim paid from the proceeds.⁵

You have one year from the date the Claim of Lien was recorded to file that foreclosure lawsuit. Miss the year and the lien expires automatically.⁶ When you file suit, record a notice of lis pendens as well; without it, your lien won’t be enforceable against someone who buys or lends against the property after the suit is filed.

Most disputes settle before a sale is ordered. The lien itself is the leverage, because an owner who wants to sell or refinance has to deal with it.

What the Owner Can Do to Speed Up Your Clock

An owner has two tools that change what you have to do next.

Notice of Contest of Lien

By recording a Notice of Contest of Lien and serving it on you, the owner shortens your one-year enforcement window to 60 days. If you don’t file a foreclosure lawsuit within 60 days of being served, the lien is extinguished.⁶ This is a common owner move against liens they consider weak, and it works because many lienors aren’t ready to sue on short notice.

Transfer of Lien to a Bond

An owner (or anyone with an interest in the property) can also clear the lien off the real estate by posting a cash deposit or surety bond with the clerk. The bond must equal the lien amount plus three years of interest at the legal rate, plus the greater of $5,000 or 25 percent of the lien amount to cover potential attorney fees and costs.⁷ Once the bond is filed, the lien moves from the property to the bond. Your claim survives, but you’d now collect from the bond rather than from a forced sale.

Don’t Inflate the Amount

A lien is fraudulent under Florida law if you willfully exaggerate the amount owed, include charges for work you didn’t perform on the property, or compile the claim with gross negligence that amounts to willful exaggeration. A fraudulent lien costs you all lien rights on the property and exposes you to court costs, attorney fees, bond premiums the owner paid to clear the lien, and punitive damages up to the difference between what you claimed and what you were actually owed. Willfully filing a fraudulent lien is also a third-degree felony.⁸ A good-faith disagreement over the amount, or a minor clerical error, doesn’t trigger these penalties. Padding the number does.

Deadlines at a Glance

45 days after first furnishing labor or materials: serve the Notice to Owner, if you’re not in privity with the owner.²
90 days after your last day of work: record the Claim of Lien with the county clerk.⁴
15 days after recording: serve the recorded lien on the owner.⁴
1 year after recording: file the foreclosure lawsuit.⁶
60 days after a Notice of Contest of Lien is served on you: shortened deadline to file suit, if the owner uses this tool.⁶

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 713.01 – Definitions
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.06 – Liens of Persons Not in Privity
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 713.18 – Manner of Serving Documents
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.08 – Claim of Lien
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 713.015 – Mandatory Provisions for Direct Contracts
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.22 – Duration of Lien
7
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.24 – Transfer of Liens to Security
8
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.31 – Penalties for Violation