South Carolina Mechanics Lien Statute: Filing, Deadlines, and Waivers

A South Carolina mechanics lien secures payment for contractors, subcontractors, laborers, and material suppliers by attaching to the property they improved, but the right survives only if you serve and file a sworn lien statement within 90 days of your last day of work and file a lawsuit with a lis pendens within six months of that same date.¹² Miss either deadline and the lien dissolves, regardless of how much you’re owed.

Who Has Lien Rights

South Carolina extends lien rights to anyone who furnishes labor or materials actually used in erecting, altering, or repairing a structure on real property, provided the work was done by agreement with or by the consent of the owner.³ That includes general contractors, subcontractors, laborers, and suppliers, along with architects, engineers, and surveyors whose design or site work contributes to the improvement.

Covered work is broad. Site preparation such as grading, excavation, and filling qualifies. So does paving, drainage, laying utility pipes and conduits, and disposing of construction debris. Private security services at the job site during construction count as labor. Tools, machinery, and equipment supplied for the project are covered up to their reasonable rental value while in actual use. Materials expressly include flooring, floor coverings, and wall coverings.³

The work must trace back to the owner’s authorization. A subcontractor hired by a general contractor who was hired by the owner meets that test. Sub-subcontractors and remote suppliers can file too, but their recovery is capped unless they give the notice described in the next section.

If you are required to hold a state contractor’s license or registration, your license or registration number must appear on the lien statement itself under S.C. Code 29-5-15. Confirm it’s there before you file.

Notice That Protects a Sub-Subcontractor or Supplier’s Full Claim

This is where lower-tier claimants often lose money quietly. A sub-subcontractor’s or supplier’s lien is limited to whatever the general contractor still owes the subcontractor above them, unless they first send written notice to the general contractor by certified or registered mail.⁴ Without the notice, any further payments the general makes to the subcontractor eat into your recovery.

The notice has to contain six items:

Your name as the claimant
The name of the person who hired you or who employed you
A description of the labor, services, or materials furnished and their contract price or value, with specially fabricated materials listed separately
A description sufficient to identify the project
The first and last dates you furnished (or were scheduled to furnish) labor or materials
The amount you claim is due, if anything

Once the general contractor receives the notice, subsequent payments to the subcontractor no longer reduce what you can recover.⁴ Send it early. The total of all liens on a project still cannot exceed what the owner owes overall.

The 90-Day Filing Step

Within 90 days of the last date you furnished labor or materials, you must serve a sworn lien statement on the property owner and file it in the county where the property sits.¹ The clock runs from your last actual contribution, not from overall project completion. Warranty callbacks and punch-list revisits don’t restart it.

The statement must be signed under oath and must include:

A true account of the amount due, itemized with credits for any payments received
A description accurate enough to identify the property
The owner’s name, if known

Serve the statement on the owner. If the owner can’t be located, service on the person in possession is acceptable. If neither can be found after a diligent search, you can preserve the lien by filing the statement together with a sheriff’s affidavit confirming that the search failed.¹ Record the statement with the register of deeds or clerk of court in the county where the property is located; the recording fee is the same as for a mortgage of equal length and generally runs from about $16 to $100 depending on the document.

The Six-Month Lawsuit Step

Filing the lien statement doesn’t end the job. To enforce the lien, you must file a lawsuit and record a notice of lis pendens within six months after the last date you furnished labor or materials.² Miss that window and the lien dissolves automatically. There are no extensions.

The complaint has to establish your right to the lien, the amount owed, and identify the property. You carry the burden of proof: contracts, invoices, and payment records showing the work was performed as agreed and remains unpaid. If the court upholds the lien, it can order a judicial foreclosure sale of the property to satisfy the debt.

Attorney Fees and Costs

The prevailing party in a mechanics lien action recovers reasonable attorney fees and court costs. This runs both ways: a claimant who wins collects fees from the owner, and an owner who defeats the lien collects fees from the claimant.⁴ The court sets the amount, but combined fees and costs cannot exceed the lien itself.³ For small liens, that cap means enforcement can easily cost as much as the recovery, so weigh the numbers before you file suit.

What the Lien Reaches

A South Carolina mechanics lien attaches to the building or structure improved and to the owner’s interest in the underlying land.³ Permanent improvements are covered; temporary or removable structures generally are not.

Liens can also apply to leasehold interests when a tenant authorized the work and the improvements are permanent. If a tenant commissions work without the landlord’s consent, the lien may reach only the tenant’s leasehold, not the property itself. The owner’s level of authorization controls how far the lien can go.

One boundary worth naming: government-owned property cannot be liened. If you worked on a public project in South Carolina, your remedy is a claim against the project’s payment bond, which must equal 100 percent of the contract price (excluding operation, maintenance, and finance costs). Suit on the bond is available if you’re unpaid 90 days after your last day of work or delivery, and a remote claimant (one who supplied a subcontractor rather than the prime) must first send written notice to the prime contractor within 90 days of the last contribution, identifying the claimant, the amount unpaid, and the party supplied, served personally or by registered or certified mail.⁵

Priority and Proration

A mechanics lien is subordinate to existing liens the claimant had actual or constructive notice of. If a mortgage was recorded before any labor or materials were furnished, the lender’s claim comes first.⁴ If work began before a mortgage was recorded, the mechanics lien has priority because the lender took its interest with constructive notice that improvements were underway.

When the funds available from the owner won’t cover every valid lien, the owner prorates the available amount among the claimants. The same rule applies one level down: if the balance the general contractor owes a subcontractor can’t cover all sub-subcontractor and supplier liens against that subcontractor, those claims are prorated among the lower-tier claimants.⁶ Property tax liens and government assessments outrank mechanics liens regardless of timing, so a property already heavy with tax debt may not be worth foreclosing on.

Lien Waivers

South Carolina takes a protective view of lien waivers. An agreement to waive the right to file or claim a mechanics lien is against public policy and unenforceable unless payment substantially equal to the waived amount has actually been made.⁷ A property owner or general contractor cannot require you to sign away lien rights upfront as a condition of the job.

Conditional waivers tied to actual receipt of payment are enforceable. Blanket advance waivers buried in contract boilerplate are not. Read waiver language carefully before signing.

How an Owner Removes a Lien

The simplest way to clear a lien is to pay the debt and have the lienholder file a release with the clerk of court or register of deeds. If the lienholder won’t release after being paid, the owner can petition the court for removal.

Posting a Lien Discharge Bond

An owner who needs the lien off the property before the dispute resolves (for a sale or refinance, for example) can post security. The owner, or anyone with an interest in the property, discharges the lien by filing a written undertaking with the clerk of court or register of deeds in an amount equal to one and one-third times the sum claimed.⁸ The security can be a pledge of U.S. or South Carolina government securities, cash, or a surety bond from a company licensed in the state.

Once the bond is filed, the lien transfers from the property to the security. The claim continues against the bond. If the claimant prevails, the judgment is paid from the cash, the proceeds of sold securities, or by the surety. If the claimant fails to file suit within the six-month enforcement deadline, the bond becomes void and the owner can have it canceled.⁸

Challenging an Invalid Lien

An owner who believes the lien is invalid, whether because the claimant missed the 90-day filing window, lacked a contractual connection to the project, or inflated the amount, can challenge it in court. A lien filed late, or one where the claimant never actually furnished labor or materials with the owner’s consent, is vulnerable to dismissal. Because the prevailing party can recover attorney fees, a successful challenge can shift the owner’s legal costs onto the claimant.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 29 Chapter 5 Section 29-5-90 – Dissolution of Lien for Failure to Serve and File Statement
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 29 Chapter 5 Section 29-5-120 – Time for Bringing Suit
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 29 Chapter 5 Section 29-5-10
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 29 Chapter 5 – Section 29-5-20
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 11 Chapter 35 – Section 11-35-3030
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 29 Chapter 5 – Section 29-5-60
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 29 Chapter 7 – Section 29-7-20
8
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 29 Chapter 5 Section 29-5-110