Florida Mechanics Lien: Deadlines, Notices, and Enforcement

Construction liens are one of the property remedies covered in Florida consumer protection laws. This article follows the lien through its life: the notices that have to be served before anything is recorded, the recording deadline, the year the lien stays alive, and the ways it gets discharged. The rules apply the same whether the improvement is a roof replacement on a house or a build-out in a shopping center.

What Florida calls a mechanics lien

Florida law does not use the phrase “mechanics lien” for work on buildings and land. Part I of chapter 713 of the Florida Statutes calls it a construction lien, and that is the term on the recorded document and in the courthouse index. Searches for a Florida mechanics lien land in the same body of law.

The lien is a security interest, not a money judgment. It attaches to the owner’s real property, travels with the title, and shows up on any title search until it is satisfied, released, transferred to a bond, or extinguished by the passage of time. A lien clouds a sale or a refinance, which is the practical reason unpaid contractors record one.

Who can claim a lien reaches well past the general contractor. Subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, laborers, material suppliers, and design professionals who furnished labor, services, or materials to improve the property can each hold a lien in their own right, even when the owner never signed anything with them. That is the feature that surprises owners: paying the general contractor in full does not by itself defeat a subcontractor’s lien.

The notices that come before the lien

Two documents usually precede any claim of lien, and one of them belongs to the owner.

The owner or the owner’s agent records a notice of commencement in the clerk’s office before work starts, then posts a certified copy at the job site. Under Fla. Stat. § 713.13, the notice is void if the improvement does not actually begin within 90 days after recording, and it stops being effective against later purchasers and lenders 1 year after recording unless it names a different expiration date. The notice tells everyone working on the job where to send their own notices.

The lienor’s document is the notice to owner. Under Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a), every lienor except a laborer who is not in privity with the owner must serve the notice “before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing, to furnish his or her labor, services, or materials,” and in every case before the owner disburses final payment. The statute adds that the notice must be served “regardless of the method of payments by the owner, whether proper or improper,” and that failing to serve it on time is a complete defense to the lien.

Recording the claim of lien within 90 days

The claim of lien is the recorded document that creates the encumbrance. Fla. Stat. § 713.08(5) allows it to be recorded at any time during the work “but not later than 90 days after the final furnishing of the labor or services or materials by the lienor.” Punch-list visits and warranty callbacks generally do not restart that clock, which is why the date of final furnishing is the most litigated fact in a lien dispute.

1. Confirm the notice to owner was served in time

   A lienor not in privity with the owner cannot perfect a lien without the earlier notice. The claim of lien form itself asks for the date and method of service of the notice to owner, so a missing or late notice is visible on the face of the document.

2. Fill in the contents the statute requires

   Section 713.08(1) lists what the claim must state: the lienor’s name and address, the person the lienor contracted with, the labor or materials furnished and the contract price, a description of the property, the owner’s name, the dates of first and last furnishing, and the amount unpaid. The document must be signed and sworn to or affirmed, and it must carry the statutory warning that the lien may remain valid for one year, as set out in Fla. Stat. § 713.08(3).

3. Record it with the clerk in the right county

   Claims of lien go into the Official Records maintained by the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property sits, alongside deeds and mortgages. Each county clerk publishes its own recording requirements and fees, such as the Duval County Clerk’s recording page. Property straddling two counties requires recording in both.

4. Serve a copy on the owner

   The claim of lien must be served on the owner before recording or within 15 days after recording. Failing to do so renders the lien voidable to the extent the delay prejudiced someone entitled to rely on the service, under Fla. Stat. § 713.08(4)(c).

Recording gives constructive notice of the lien to everyone. Errors and omissions do not automatically kill the lien: a trial court can still enforce it against a party who was not adversely affected by the mistake, and the lienor can amend the claim during the recording window.

How long a construction lien lasts

A recorded lien is not permanent. Fla. Stat. § 713.22(1) provides that the lien “does not continue for a longer period than 1 year after the claim of lien has been recorded” unless an action to enforce it is commenced in court within that year. A lien continued past the year by a lawsuit is still unenforceable against later purchasers and creditors without notice unless a lis pendens is recorded.

The owner controls the pace. Recording a notice of contest of lien under Fla. Stat. § 713.22(2) limits the lienor to 60 days from service of that notice to file suit, and the lien of a lienor who does not sue within those 60 days “is extinguished automatically.” The clerk serves the notice on the lienor at the address in the claim of lien and certifies the date of service.

One more prerequisite applies to the general contractor. Under Fla. Stat. § 713.06(3)(d), a contractor suing on a lien under a direct contract must execute a final payment affidavit and deliver it to the owner at least 5 days before instituting the action.

The lien clock is separate from the clock on the underlying debt. Whether a contractor can still sue on the contract itself is governed by the statute of limitations on debt in Florida, which runs for years after the lien window has closed. Losing the lien costs the security interest in the property, not necessarily the claim for the money. ## How a lien comes off the property Fla. Stat. § 713.21 lists the ways a perfected lien is discharged. The lienor can enter satisfaction on the margin of the record in the clerk’s office, or record a notarized satisfaction or release that identifies the recording reference of the original lien. A lien also dies on its own when the lienor fails to begin an enforcement action within the statutory period, and a recorded certified copy of a final judgment closes out the action.

The fourth route is a court order, and it is the one owners use when a lienor goes quiet. Any interested party can file a complaint in the circuit court for the county where the property is located, and the clerk issues a summons requiring the lienor to show cause within 20 days after service why the lien should not be enforced or canceled. If the lienor neither shows cause nor commences an enforcement action before the return date, Fla. Stat. § 713.21(4) directs the court to order cancellation of the lien.

Recording a lien that is exaggerated or willfully false carries its own exposure under chapter 713, so the volume of a dispute is not by itself a reason the recorded amount stands. An owner who disputes the amount rather than the existence of the debt is contesting the claim, not the lienor’s right to record.