Ohio lien laws let creditors, contractors, and government agencies attach an unpaid debt to your property so it can’t be sold or refinanced cleanly until the claim is resolved. The rules differ sharply depending on whether the debt comes from construction work, a court judgment, unpaid taxes, or another statute, and some of the filing windows are as short as 21 days. Miss a deadline and an otherwise valid claim can disappear.
Mechanic’s Liens
A mechanic’s lien secures payment for labor or materials furnished to improve real property. Under Ohio Revised Code 1311.02, anyone who supplies work or materials on a construction project and goes unpaid can record a lien against the property.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.02 – Lien of Subcontractor, Laborer or Materialman
The 21-Day Notice for Subcontractors
If you don’t have a direct contract with the property owner, you have to serve a Notice of Furnishing on the owner within 21 days of first providing labor or materials. Skip this step and your lien rights are gone before the project even wraps up.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.02 – Lien of Subcontractor, Laborer or Materialman
Filing Deadlines
The lien itself has to be recorded with the county recorder within 75 days after your last day of work or delivery on a residential project, and within 120 days on a commercial project. These windows are firm. Once they close, the lien route is closed and you’re left pursuing payment through ordinary contract remedies.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.02 – Lien of Subcontractor, Laborer or Materialman
What the Filing Requires
The recorded lien must state your name, describe the property, list the amount owed, and include a sworn affidavit. After recording, you have 30 days to serve a copy on the property owner. An incomplete filing or a missed service deadline gives the owner grounds to challenge and potentially void the lien.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.02 – Lien of Subcontractor, Laborer or Materialman
Enforcing the Lien
Recording only preserves the claim. To force payment, you file a foreclosure lawsuit within six years of the recording date. Sit on the lien longer than that and it becomes unenforceable no matter how much you’re owed.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.02 – Lien of Subcontractor, Laborer or Materialman
Judgment Liens
A judgment lien turns a money judgment from a lawsuit into a claim against the debtor’s real estate. The creditor files a Certificate of Judgment with the county recorder in each county where the debtor owns property. The certificate must include the case number, the issuing court, the judgment amount, and the debtor’s identifying information, including last known address. The lien only reaches property in counties where it’s actually filed, so a debtor with land in three Ohio counties requires three separate filings.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2329.02 – Judgment Lien – Certificate of Judgment – Filing – Transfer
Dormancy and Renewal
A judgment against a private party goes dormant after five years unless the creditor keeps it alive by issuing an execution, filing a new certificate, obtaining a garnishment order, or starting a proceeding in aid of execution. Judgments in favor of the state have a longer runway: ten years to dormancy, with a fifteen-year outside limit on executions.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2329.07 – Judgment May Become Dormant
Dormancy doesn’t erase the underlying debt, but a dormant judgment stops functioning as a lien on the debtor’s property. Let the five years lapse without a renewal step and the lien effectively dies.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2329.07 – Judgment May Become Dormant
Enforcement
If the debtor doesn’t pay voluntarily, the creditor can pursue a sheriff’s sale of the property. Unlike a mechanic’s lien, which is tied to a specific improved property, a judgment lien reaches any real estate the debtor owns in the county where it’s filed. A separate filing with the Ohio Secretary of State can extend the reach to personal property.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2329.02 – Judgment Lien – Certificate of Judgment – Filing – Transfer
Tax Liens
Tax liens carry more weight than nearly any other lien in Ohio. They arise automatically when taxes go unpaid and enjoy priority that pushes private creditors to the back of the line.
Property Tax Liens
When an Ohio property owner falls behind on property taxes, the state holds an automatic first-priority lien on the property. Ohio Revised Code 5721.10 places this lien ahead of virtually all other claims, including mortgages, judgment liens, and mechanic’s liens.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5721 – Delinquent Lands – Section 5721.10
Once the delinquent land duplicate reaches the county treasurer, the treasurer can enforce the lien through a civil action, foreclosing much like a mortgage lender. The county can sell the property or transfer it to a local subdivision to recover what’s owed.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 323.25 – Enforcing Tax Lien
The county auditor also marks the parcel as delinquent on the tax list and treasurer’s records, which serves as public notice to anyone acquiring an interest.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5721 – Delinquent Lands – Section 5721.11
Federal Tax Liens
A federal tax lien arises when you owe unpaid federal taxes, the IRS assesses the liability, sends a bill, and you don’t pay in full. The IRS records a Notice of Federal Tax Lien in the public records, and the lien attaches to everything you own: real estate, personal property, and financial assets.7Internal Revenue Service. Understanding a Federal Tax Lien
The IRS generally has ten years from the date of assessment to collect, a window called the Collection Statute Expiration Date. Filing bankruptcy or submitting an offer in compromise can pause or extend that clock.8Internal Revenue Service. Time IRS Can Collect Tax
Selling property with a federal tax lien on it typically requires applying to the IRS to discharge that specific property from the lien. If sale proceeds will fully cover the debt, the IRS Lien Unit provides a payoff figure; otherwise, the seller files Form 14135, Application for Discharge of Property from Federal Tax Lien.7Internal Revenue Service. Understanding a Federal Tax Lien
Other Statutory Liens
Ohio recognizes several additional lien types beyond the major categories.
Hospital liens let medical providers claim a portion of a personal injury settlement to recover unpaid bills for treatment tied to the injury. They allow providers to defer collection during a legal claim but reduce what the injured person ultimately takes home.
Homeowners association and condominium association assessment liens can attach when a unit owner falls behind on dues. These usually take priority over claims recorded after the original declaration of covenants was filed, though a first mortgage recorded before the assessments became delinquent typically comes first. Associations can foreclose on these liens even when a mortgage is in place.
Landlords can sometimes attach a lien to a tenant’s property for unpaid rent, but only when the lease specifically provides for it. Ohio does not give landlords an automatic lien on tenant belongings just because rent is overdue.
Lien Priority
When more than one lien sits on the same property, the order they’re paid in matters, particularly if a sale doesn’t produce enough to cover all of them. Ohio generally applies a “first in time, first in right” rule: earlier-filed liens get paid before later ones.
The biggest exception is the property tax lien, which takes first priority regardless of recording date. Unpaid property taxes come out of sale proceeds before any private creditor sees a dollar.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5721 – Delinquent Lands – Section 5721.10
After taxes, a properly recorded mortgage generally outranks judgment liens and mechanic’s liens filed after it. Mechanic’s liens carry a twist: Ohio law can rank a mechanic’s lien ahead of a mortgage when the construction work started before the mortgage was recorded, because the lien relates back to the date work began rather than the date it was filed. For residential construction, Ohio Revised Code 1311.011 treats mortgage liens separately and imposes special conditions on mechanic’s liens securing payment for home construction work.9Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.011 – Liens for Home Construction Work
Federal tax liens run on their own priority rules. A previously recorded mortgage or security interest generally beats a later federal tax lien, and the IRS offers a subordination process that lets other creditors move ahead of the federal lien when a property owner needs to secure new financing.7Internal Revenue Service. Understanding a Federal Tax Lien
At a foreclosure sale, proceeds are distributed from highest-ranked lien to lowest. When the sale doesn’t cover the full stack, lower-ranked lienholders receive nothing.
Releasing or Removing a Lien
Once the debt behind a lien is paid or otherwise resolved, the lien needs a formal release to clear the property’s title. An unreleased lien blocks sales and refinancing even after the underlying debt is gone.
A satisfied mechanic’s lien has to be released with the county recorder where it was originally recorded. For residential projects, a lienholder who fails to release the lien within 30 days after receiving written notice that the owner paid the original contractor in full can be liable for damages, including the owner’s court costs and attorney fees.9Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 1311.011 – Liens for Home Construction Work
When a debtor pays off a judgment, the creditor files a satisfaction of judgment with the issuing court and submits a release to the county recorder. A creditor who refuses to release after full payment can be ordered to do so by petition.
Lien waivers are a different tool used during construction rather than after a dispute. Owners and general contractors routinely require subcontractors and suppliers to sign waivers as a condition of payment. A conditional waiver takes effect only if the payment actually clears, while an unconditional waiver takes effect the moment it’s signed. Signing an unconditional final waiver before the money is in your account is one of the most common ways contractors lose lien protection.
If a lien is improperly filed or the underlying claim is invalid, a property owner can file a lien discharge petition asking a court to remove it. A court that finds the lien fraudulent or unenforceable can order immediate release. For stale or expired liens the lienholder never bothered to release, a quiet title action asks the court to declare the property free of the lien. Quiet title works for invalid or expired liens; it won’t wipe out a valid, current lien like an active mortgage or unpaid tax lien.
How Bankruptcy Affects Ohio Liens
Bankruptcy eliminates personal liability for many debts, but liens generally survive. A discharge wipes out the obligation to pay, yet the lien attached to your property remains, and the creditor can still repossess or foreclose on the collateral after discharge.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 524 – Effect of Discharge
Judgment liens have one important exception. Federal bankruptcy law lets you avoid a judicial lien to the extent it impairs an exemption you’d otherwise be entitled to. The test compares the total of all liens on the property plus your exemption amount against the property’s value. If the total exceeds the value, the judicial lien can be stripped. This applies only to judicial liens from a lawsuit, not to mortgage foreclosure judgments or voluntary security interests.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions
Property tax liens keep their first-priority status through bankruptcy, and mechanic’s liens are generally treated as secured claims handled through the bankruptcy plan rather than simply discharged. When multiple liens sit on a property heading into bankruptcy, the interaction between Ohio’s exemption rules and federal bankruptcy law will decide which ones you can remove and which ones follow the property out the other side.