How to file a mechanics lien in Alaska

Step by step

14 steps for a subcontractor in Alaska.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm your Alaska contractor registration is in place before you sign

   Before you bid and before you sign. What matters legally is that you were registered AT THE TIME OF CONTRACTING — registering later does not fix it.

   AS 08.18.011(a) says you may not submit a bid or work as a contractor until the State has issued you a certificate of registration. AS 08.18.151 then says a person acting as a contractor may not bring an action in an Alaska court to collect compensation for the work, or for breach of the contract, without alleging and proving they were registered at the time of contracting. Enforcing an Alaska lien means filing a superior court action (AS 34.35.110(a)), so on the face of these two sections an unregistered contractor can hold a perfectly recorded lien and still not be able to foreclose it. A general contractor also may not accept a bid from, or contract with, an unregistered specialty contractor (AS 08.18.011(b)). If you only furnish materials, supplies or equipment without fabricating them into or consuming them in the work, AS 08.18.161(7) exempts you from this chapter — this step does not apply to you.

   Where it goes

   Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (the registration authority named in AS 08.18.171(3), (5)).

   How

   Register with the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development before you bid. Keep the certificate with the job file.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of your certificate showing an effective period that covers the contract signing date, and a copy of each sub's certificate.

   What the document must contain

   • Certificate of registration issued by the department
   • Effective dates that cover the date you signed the contract
   • For a general contractor: the specialty contractor's registration number for every sub you hire (AS 08.18.011(b))

   If you miss it: You can do everything else in this guide perfectly and still be unable to enforce. AS 08.18.151 bars the court action, and without a court action a recorded lien simply expires six months later under AS 34.35.080(a). Whether Alaska courts have applied this bar specifically to a lien foreclosure was not verified here.

   Alaska Stat. §§ 08.18.011(a)-(b), 08.18.151, 08.18.161(7)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Make the prime contractor hand over the job facts in writing

   As soon as you have the job. The prime has five days to answer your request.

   AS 34.35.114(a) requires the prime contractor, on request, to give any person entitled to claim a lien through it, within five days: a description of the property sufficient to identify it, the name and address of the owner it contracted with, the name and address of the lender providing construction financing, and whether there is a payment bond and the name of the surety. If you are below a subcontractor, AS 34.35.114(b) makes any claimant tell you within five days the name of the person who contracted for their furnishing — that is how you trace the chain up.

   Where it goes

   The prime contractor. If you are not sure who the prime is, ask the party who hired you under AS 34.35.114(b).

   How

   Ask in writing. Email plus a mailed copy. Keep the request and the answer together.

   Proof to keep

   The dated written request and the dated response, plus anything the prime sends (bond, owner details, lender details).

   What the document must contain

   • Your name and the project
   • A request for each of the four items in AS 34.35.114(a)
   • A note of the five-day statutory response time

   If you miss it: You end up guessing. A claim of lien with the wrong owner name or a legal description that is not sufficient for identification is missing a statutory element under AS 34.35.070(c)(1)-(2). Without the lender's name and its designated address you cannot use the stop-lending notice, which is Alaska's strongest pressure tool. And you will not know whether a bond already exists.

   Alaska Stat. § 34.35.114(a), (b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Give the owner a Notice of Right to Lien — and record a copy

   Give it to the owner BEFORE you furnish anything (AS 34.35.064(a)). There is no days-based deadline and no cut-off: AS 34.35.067 lets you record one at any time after you enter the contract or first furnish. If you are already on the job and have not sent one, send and record it today — it still works.

   This is the most important step in Alaska and the one people skip. AS 34.35.064(a) is written as permissive — it says a person 'may' give the notice — so it is not legally mandatory. Do it anyway. Giving it shifts the burden of proof to the owner to show it did not know of or consent to your work; without it, YOU carry that burden in the foreclosure. Recording it does two more things: under AS 34.35.060(a) a recorded encumbrance beats your lien unless your claim of lien or your notice of right to lien was recorded FIRST, and that preference holds no matter when the bank actually advances the money — so recording the notice at the start of work is the only way to get in front of a construction mortgage. And under AS 34.35.068(b)(2)(A) a claimant who has recorded a notice of right to lien keeps the full 120 days even after the owner records a Notice of Completion.

   Where it goes

   The owner at the owner's last known address, and the owner's agent. Record with the district recorder for the recording district where the property sits. Give the lender copy at the address designated in the encumbrance securing that lender (AS 34.35.120(9)(A)).

   How

   'Give notice' is a defined term. AS 34.35.120(9) means mail it by FIRST-CLASS MAIL **AND** by a form of mail requiring a signed receipt, or hand-deliver it and get a receipt signed by the person or their agent. That is two mailings, not one — certified mail alone is one mailing. Then record a copy, in the same manner as a claim of lien (AS 34.35.067). Also send a copy to the construction lender at the address designated in the deed of trust: that is what earns you advance warning of a Notice of Completion under AS 34.35.071(a)(2).

   Proof to keep

   The first-class mailing receipt, the signed return receipt from the signed-receipt mailing, a dated copy of exactly what you sent, and the recorded copy showing the recording date and the book and page or serial number.

   What the document must contain

   • In writing, and stating that it is a notice of a right to assert a lien against real property for labor, materials, services or equipment furnished in connection with a project
   • A legal description sufficient for identification of the real property
   • The name of the owner
   • The name and address of the claimant (you)
   • The name and address of the person with whom YOU contracted — your own customer, not automatically the general contractor
   • A general description of the labor, materials, services or equipment provided or to be provided
   • A statement that the claimant may be entitled to record a claim of lien
   • The statutory WARNING paragraph, in type NO SMALLER than the type used for the other items: that unless provision is made for payment, the property may be subject to foreclosure even though the owner may pay a prime contractor or other person for what you furnished

   If you miss it: Three separate hits. (1) You carry the burden of proving the owner knew of and consented to your work (AS 34.35.064(a)). (2) You land in the 15-day bucket: AS 34.35.068(b)(1)(B) gives a claimant who has not given a notice of right to lien only 15 days after the owner records a Notice of Completion to record a claim of lien or a notice of right to lien. (3) Nobody has to warn you — AS 34.35.071(a)(2) owes advance notice only to claimants who gave a notice of right to lien or a stop-lending notice to the owner AND the lender more than 10 days before the recording. So you can lose the lien without ever learning a deadline existed. Separately, an unrecorded notice does not beat a recorded mortgage (AS 34.35.060(a)).

   Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.064(a), 34.35.067, 34.35.120(9), 34.35.060(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Walk the site and search the record before you count on a lien

   Before you start, and again before you spend money recording.

   Two things can quietly remove the value from your lien. First, a Notice of Nonresponsibility: under AS 34.35.065(b), if the owner or an interest holder posts a written notice in a conspicuous place on the land within three days after learning of the work, signs it before two attesting witnesses or has it notarized, has the posting attested by a witness, and records an attested or notarized copy within three days after posting, that interest is NOT subject to your lien. Second, whose interest you are actually reaching: AS 34.35.055(a) makes the land subject to the lien only if it belonged to the person who caused the work at the time work started or materials were first furnished, and AS 34.35.055(b) says if that person owns less than a fee simple, only their interest is subject. On a tenant build-out that usually means the leasehold, not the landlord's fee.

   Where it goes

   The property itself, and the DNR Recorder's Office name/document search for the recording district.

   How

   Look at the site for a posted notice and photograph what you see, dated. Then run a name and property search in the State Recorder's index for the district. Note the owner's actual recorded interest.

   Proof to keep

   The dated photos and the recorder search results, printed with the search date.

   What the document must contain

   • Dated site photographs showing whether any notice is posted
   • A recorder search for the owner's name and the property, checked for a recorded notice of nonresponsibility and for any recorded encumbrance that predates your notice of right to lien

   If you miss it: You can burn the whole 120 days and the filing fee on a lien against an interest that was carved out on day three of the job, or record against a fee owner and end up holding nothing but a tenant's leasehold.

   Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.065(b), 34.35.055(a)-(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Answer information requests inside 5 or 10 days

   Five days for the accounting requests; ten days for the others. The clocks start when the request reaches you.

   Alaska puts response duties on the claimant too. If you gave a notice of right to lien, then on request from an owner, lender or prime contractor you must disclose within FIVE days the most recent accounting of the amount due and unpaid under your contract, plus a description of what you reasonably anticipate furnishing (AS 34.35.064(b)). If someone may claim a lien through you, within FIVE days you must give them the name of the person who contracted for your furnishing (AS 34.35.114(b)). Within TEN days of a request you must give an owner or lender you notified a written statement of the amount due and unpaid (AS 34.35.114(d)). And if you receive a stop-lending notice or notice of right to lien for a project where you are not the lender, you must tell the claimant in writing within TEN days (AS 34.35.114(c)).

   Where it goes

   Reply to whoever made the request, at the address they gave.

   How

   Answer in writing and keep the sent copy. Date everything.

   Proof to keep

   The incoming request with its received date, and your dated written reply.

   What the document must contain

   • The most recent accounting of amounts due and unpaid under your contract terms
   • A description of labor, materials, services or equipment you reasonably anticipate furnishing
   • Where asked under AS 34.35.114(b): the name of the person who contracted for your furnishing

   If you miss it: AS 34.35.074(a) lets a person injured by a violation of AS 34.35.050-34.35.120 sue you for actual and consequential damages proximately caused, plus costs including reasonable attorney fees, or to enjoin the violation with fees. Missing a five-day reply is also the kind of fact the other side will put in front of a judge when arguing you were not diligent.

   Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.064(b), 34.35.114(b)-(d), 34.35.074(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Read every lien waiver before you sign it

   At every progress payment, before you sign.

   AS 34.35.117(a) is blunt: a written waiver of lien or stop-lending notice rights signed by a claimant REQUIRES NO CONSIDERATION and is valid and binding. You do not have to be paid for it to bind you. The only built-in limit is that a waiver cannot reach labor, materials, services or equipment furnished AFTER the date you signed it. One carve-out: under AS 34.35.117(b) an individual who actually performs labor on the improvement (defined at AS 34.35.120(10)) may not waive the right to claim a lien at all, and a waiver purporting to do so is void.

   Where it goes

   Wherever the pay application is processed — the prime's office, the owner's, or the title company at a draw.

   How

   Read the date and the scope. Make sure the waiver is conditional on the payment actually clearing, and that it is limited to work through a stated date and a stated amount. Never sign a blanket or forward-looking waiver.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of every waiver you signed, matched to the payment it was exchanged for and to the bank record showing the payment cleared.

   What the document must contain

   • A through-date no later than the work the payment actually covers
   • The specific dollar amount
   • Language making it effective only on receipt of good funds

   If you miss it: You give up everything you furnished up to the signing date, paid or unpaid, and there is no argument that you got nothing in return — the statute removes that defence. The only person this cannot happen to is an individual who actually performed the labor.

   Alaska Stat. § 34.35.117(a)-(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Watch for the owner's Notice of Completion — it can cut 120 days to 15

   From the start of the job until your lien is recorded. Check the recorder's index at least weekly once the job is winding down, and immediately if you hear the owner has occupied the building or a certificate of occupancy has issued.

   This is the lever the other side pulls, and it is the reason most Alaska liens die. AS 34.35.071(a) lets the owner announce completion by recording a Notice of Completion. Once one is recorded, AS 34.35.068(b)(1) gives only 15 days — to record a claim of lien OR a notice of right to lien — to (A) a claimant who received advance notification of the recording date and (B) a claimant who never gave a notice of right to lien. You keep the full 120 days only under AS 34.35.068(b)(2): if you RECORD a notice of right to lien before or within that 15-day window, or if you gave a notice of right to lien and did NOT receive advance notice. Two details that catch people: the owner's duty to give five days advance warning under AS 34.35.071(a)(2) runs only to claimants who gave a notice of right to lien or a stop-lending notice TO THE OWNER AND THE LENDER, more than 10 days before the recording — so notifying only the owner, or notifying six days out, earns you no warning. And receiving that advance notice is not reassurance; it pushes you into the 15-day bucket under AS 34.35.068(b)(1)(A). Two protections: a notice of completion is not effective if recorded before completion (AS 34.35.071(d)), and uncompensated warranty or corrective work furnished after one is recorded does not create lien liability (AS 34.35.071(e)) — so going back to fix a punch item does not restart anything.

   Where it goes

   The DNR Recorder's Office search for the recording district where the property sits.

   How

   Search the State Recorder's index by owner name and by property for the recording district. If you get the owner's five-day advance notice in the mail, treat it as a starting gun, not a courtesy.

   Proof to keep

   Dated printouts of each search you ran. If an advance notice arrives, keep the envelope and record the date you received it — that date decides which bucket you are in.

   What the document must contain

   • The owner's notice of completion must be signed and verified by the owner and state the date of completion, the owner's name and address, the nature of the owner's interest, a legal description sufficient for identification, and the name of the general contractor (AS 34.35.071(b)) — check it for defects if one appears

   If you miss it: The lien is gone. AS 34.35.068(c) says a claim of lien is enforceable only if recorded within the time in (a) or (b). The escape hatch, if you are still inside the 15 days, is to record a notice of right to lien immediately — that restores the full 120 days under AS 34.35.068(b)(2)(A).

   Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.071(a)-(e), 34.35.068(b)-(c)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: When payment is past due, serve a stop-lending notice on the construction lender

   Optional

   Any time payment to you is past due — you do not have to wait for your lien. It binds the lender from the time the lender receives it and has had a reasonable opportunity to act. It expires on the 91st day after the lender receives it, unless you have commenced an action on the claim BEFORE that day AND the lender has received written notification of the action.

   This is Alaska's stop-notice equivalent and it is the one remedy that reaches money before a foreclosure sale. AS 34.35.062(a) lets a claimant who is past due give the lender a verified notice instructing it to stop disbursing construction financing. Under AS 34.35.062(c), a lender that keeps funding after receiving it is personally liable to you for the LOWEST of: the financing advanced after receipt, the amount owed to you as established by a signed written agreement or a final judgment, or 150 percent of the amount stated in your notice. AS 34.35.062(d) then requires the lender to pay within 10 days of receiving that agreement or judgment.

   Where it goes

   The lender at the address designated in the encumbrance securing that lender (AS 34.35.120(9)(A)); the owner at the owner's last known address; each prime contractor at its last known address.

   How

   Give it to the lender by the AS 34.35.120(9) method — first-class mail AND a form of mail requiring a signed receipt, or hand delivery against a signed receipt. At the same time, give a copy to the owner and to EACH prime contractor with whom or through whom you or your debtor contracted. A copy to the lender also helps you qualify for advance warning of a Notice of Completion under AS 34.35.071(a)(2).

   Proof to keep

   Signed receipts from the lender, the owner and every prime you copied; a copy of the recorded deed of trust showing the lender's designated address; and a diary entry for the 91st day after the lender received it.

   What the document must contain

   • An instruction to the lender to stop disbursing, advancing or otherwise providing construction financing for the project
   • Verified by you
   • Your name, address and telephone number
   • A description of what you furnished and the name of the person you furnished it to
   • A description of the real property improved and the name of the person you believe to be the owner
   • The amount due and unpaid to you

   If you miss it: Nothing forfeits — this is optional — but you give up the only lever that stops the money before the property is sold. Caution in the other direction: under AS 34.35.074(b), if you do not promptly revoke it once you are paid in full, or once you discover it is in error, unjust, premature or excessive, you are liable for actual and consequential damages plus costs and reasonable attorney fees.

   Alaska Stat. § 34.35.062(a)-(d)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Record your claim of lien — 120 days from YOUR last day, not the job's

   Not later than 120 days after YOU complete your own construction contract, or YOU cease to furnish labor, material, services or equipment (AS 34.35.068(a)). Your clock, not the project's — a sub who finished in month two cannot wait for the building to top out. This 120 days holds only if the owner records no Notice of Completion; if one is recorded and you are in the AS 34.35.068(b)(1) group, you have 15 days from that recording. Count under AS 01.10.080: exclude the first day, include the last, and if the last day is a holiday exclude that too. Do not cut it fine.

   A written claim of lien, VERIFIED BY OATH — you swear the contents are true in front of a notary (a jurat). That is not the same as a standard notary acknowledgment, where you only confirm the signature is yours.

   Where it goes

   The district recorder for the RECORDING DISTRICT where the property is located. Alaska has 34 recording districts and boroughs do not record at all; the State Recorder's Office runs them from two offices — Anchorage (550 West 7th Ave., Suite 108) and Fairbanks (3700 Airport Way). The document itself must name the district, e.g. 'Anchorage Recording District'.

   How

   Record it. Nothing in AS 34.35.050-34.35.120 requires you to serve the recorded claim of lien on anyone afterwards — recording is the act that perfects it. Sending a courtesy copy to the owner and lender is good practice, not a legal step. You can record in person or by mail at the district office, or electronically through one of the State's approved e-recording partners.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy showing the recording DATE and the BOOK AND PAGE or instrument or serial number — you will need those exact numbers if you later record an extension notice. Also the fee receipt, and the delivery tickets, daily reports and invoices that fix your last furnishing date, because that date is what the whole 120 days hangs on.

   What the document must contain

   • Verified by the oath of the claimant or another person having knowledge of the facts (AS 34.35.070(c))
   • (1) The real property subject to the lien, with a legal description sufficient for identification — for recording purposes that means at minimum section, township, range and meridian, or the lot, block, subdivision name or plat number
   • (2) The name of the owner
   • (3) The name and address of the claimant
   • (4) The name and address of THE PERSON WITH WHOM YOU CONTRACTED — your own customer. If you are a sub-sub or a supplier to a sub, that is your sub, not the general contractor
   • (5) A general description of the labor, materials, services or equipment furnished AND THE CONTRACT PRICE of it — the contract price is its own required element, defined at AS 34.35.120(5) as the agreed amount adjusted for change orders, extras and altered specifications, or the reasonable value if no price was agreed
   • (6) The amount due to you
   • (7) The date the last labor, materials, services or equipment were furnished
   • Recording formalities (AS 40.17.030; DNR): original signature; a title reflecting the document's intent; the recording district named on the face; a 'return to' name and complete mailing address; opaque white paper no larger than 8.5" x 14"; a 2-inch top margin on the first page and 1-inch margins everywhere else; type no smaller than 10 point (or pay the $50 non-standard document fee)
   • Fees: $20 first page, $5 each additional page, $2 for each indexed name over six, $50 non-standard document fee

   If you miss it: AS 34.35.068(c): 'A claim of lien is enforceable only if recorded by a claimant within the time specified in (a) or (b) of this section.' The lien against the property is gone and cannot be revived. You still have a contract claim against whoever hired you, but nothing secured by the land. Recording in the wrong district has the same effect as not recording.

   Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.068(a), (c), 34.35.070(c), 34.35.075, 40.17.030, 01.10.080(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: File suit in superior court within six calendar months of recording

    AS 34.35.080(a): the lien does not bind the property for more than SIX MONTHS after the claim of lien is recorded unless an action is commenced within that time. Six calendar months from the recording date — not 180 days. Those are different dates, and six calendar months from a recording at the end of a long month can be shorter than you expect. Calendar whichever is earlier and aim to file weeks before it.

    A foreclosure action on the lien. Your lawyer files it; you cannot let this one drift, because nothing tolls it.

    Where it goes

    The Alaska Superior Court (AS 34.35.110(a)). The Alaska Court System's court directory lists the trial court locations.

    How

    File a complaint. AS 34.35.110(a) says the pleadings, process, practice and procedure are the same as in other cases, and the proceedings conform as nearly as possible to a mortgage foreclosure.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint showing the filing date, and proof of service on every required party.

    What the document must contain

    • All persons personally liable must be made parties (AS 34.35.110(c))
    • All lienholders whose claims have been filed for record under AS 34.35.070 must be made parties — anyone you leave out is NOT bound by the judgment
    • Your recovery is capped by AS 34.35.095(a) at the amount due under the terms of your contract, after deducting the claims of anyone claiming through you

    If you miss it: The lien stops binding the real property. There is no grace period, no relation-back and no excuse in the statute. All that survives is an unsecured contract claim. Note the upside of getting there: on a judgment for you, AS 34.35.110(b) requires the court to allow as costs all money you paid to file and record the lien plus a reasonable amount as attorney fees, and lien actions get preference on the court's civil calendar.

    Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.080(a), 34.35.110(a)-(c), 34.35.095(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: Record a lis pendens the same day you file the suit

    AS 09.45.940 lets the plaintiff record it at the time of filing the complaint, or afterwards. There is no fixed deadline — which is exactly why it gets forgotten. It is a race against the next recorded conveyance, so do it the same day you file.

    A notice of the pendency of the action. AS 34.35.080(c) is the trap: a lien whose duration was extended by commencing a timely action is VOID against a person who, after the action was commenced and without knowledge or actual notice of it, acquires an interest in the property in good faith for valuable consideration, UNLESS a notice of pendency was duly recorded before that person's conveyance was recorded. Your lien can be timely, your suit can be timely, and a buyer or a refinancing lender can still take the property free of it.

    Where it goes

    The office of the recorder for the recording district in which the property is situated — the same district where you recorded the claim of lien.

    How

    Record it. From the time of recording, a purchaser, holder of a contract or option to purchase, or encumbrancer has constructive notice of the action (AS 09.45.940).

    Proof to keep

    The recorded lis pendens with its recording date and serial or book-and-page number, filed alongside the file-stamped complaint.

    What the document must contain

    • The names of the parties
    • The object of the action
    • A description of the property affected in that district
    • Must conform to the requirements of AS 09.45.940 (AS 34.35.080(c))

    If you miss it: You lose the property, quietly, to a good-faith buyer or lender who records first — and your software and your calendar will both still show you as compliant, because you recorded on time and sued on time. This is the second place Alaska claimants lose liens, after the 15-day cliff.

    Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.080(c), 09.45.940(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: If you cannot get to court in time, record an extension notice INSIDE the original six months

    Optional

    Strictly within the original six-month period that runs from the recording of the claim of lien. An extension recorded one day after that period does nothing at all.

    AS 34.35.080(a)(2) gives you the alternative: the lien keeps binding the property for six months after the recording of an extension notice, provided the extension notice was recorded in the same recording office within the original six-month period.

    Where it goes

    THE SAME RECORDING OFFICE where the claim of lien was recorded.

    How

    Record it, on paper or by e-recording, the same way as the claim of lien.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded extension notice with its own recording date and number, kept with the original recorded lien so the numbers match.

    What the document must contain

    • The recording date of the initial claim of lien
    • The book and page, or instrument number, or serial number of the initial claim of lien
    • The balance owing

    If you miss it: If the six months runs out with no suit filed and no timely extension recorded, the lien simply stops binding the real property under AS 34.35.080(a). An extension that is one day late, or that omits the prior recording date, the book and page or instrument or serial number, or the balance owing, is not the instrument the statute describes.

    Alaska Stat. § 34.35.080(a)(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Release the lien promptly once you are paid

    Promptly on payment in full, and promptly on discovering that the lien or stop-lending notice is in error, unjust, premature or excessive. The statute says 'promptly' and does not define it, so do not sit on it.

    AS 34.35.074(b): a claimant who gives a stop-lending notice or has a claim of lien recorded, and who fails to promptly revoke the notice or remove the claim of lien from the record on receiving payment in full or on discovering it is in error, unjust, premature or excessive, is liable for the actual and consequential damages caused, plus costs including reasonable attorney fees. This is the point where you stop being the creditor and start being the defendant.

    Where it goes

    The same recording district office; and for a stop-lending notice, the lender (with copies to the owner and each prime, as with the original).

    How

    Record a release or satisfaction in the same recording office; revoke a stop-lending notice in writing signed by you (AS 34.35.062(b) allows revocation at any time in writing).

    Proof to keep

    The recorded release with its own recording date and number, and the dated written revocation with its signed receipts.

    What the document must contain

    • Enough identification of the recorded claim of lien — recording date and book and page or instrument or serial number — for the recorder to index the release against it (AS 40.17.030(a)(6) requires that reference on any document that releases a prior recording)

    If you miss it: The owner's damages from a clouded title — a sale that fell through, a refinance that was pulled — plus their attorney fees, all of it recoverable from you under AS 34.35.074(b). A stale lien on record is a live liability, not a harmless leftover.

    Alaska Stat. §§ 34.35.074(b), 34.35.062(b), 40.17.030(a)(6)(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: On a public or federal job, forget the lien and go to the payment bond

    Optional

    State or local public work: if you have NO contract, express or implied, with the bonded prime contractor, you must give the prime written notice within 90 days from the last day you performed labor or furnished material (AS 36.25.020(b)). If you do have a direct contract with the prime, you need no notice. Suit may be brought once 90 days have passed since your last furnishing, and may not be started after one year from the date of FINAL SETTLEMENT of the prime contract (AS 36.25.020(a), (c)). Federal work: 90-day notice on the same no-privity test, and the action must be brought no later than one year after YOUR own last labor or material (40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2), (b)(4)).

    There is no construction lien against public property in Alaska — the AS 34.35 chapter runs against the owner's real property interest, and the public-works remedy Alaska provides instead is the AS 36.25 payment bond. Check first that a bond even exists: AS 36.25.010(a) requires the payment bond only before a contract EXCEEDING $100,000 is awarded, and AS 36.25.025 lets a municipality by ordinance exempt contractors entirely where the estimated project cost does not exceed $400,000 and four conditions are met. If no bond was furnished, your only lever is AS 36.25.010(c): the contracting department may not approve final payment to the prime until the prime files a written certification that everyone who supplied labor or material has been paid. Get in front of that certification.

    Where it goes

    The bonded prime contractor. Suit on a state or local bond is brought in the name of the State or the political subdivision for the use of the person suing (AS 36.25.020(c)); a federal Miller Act suit is brought in the name of the United States for the use of the claimant, in the U.S. District Court for a district where the contract was to be performed (40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(3)).

    How

    State and local: AS 36.25.020(b) requires service by REGISTERED mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the contractor at any place it maintains an office or conducts business, or at its residence, or in any manner in which a peace officer may serve a summons. Federal: 40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2) now allows any means that provides written, third-party verification of delivery to the contractor at any place it maintains an office or conducts business or at its residence, or service in any manner a U.S. marshal may serve summons — note that is a different rule from the state one.

    Proof to keep

    The registered mail receipt (state) or the third-party delivery verification (federal), a copy of the notice, and a copy of the payment bond and prime contract — on a federal job the agency must give you a certified copy of the bond on an affidavit that you supplied labor or material and were not paid (40 U.S.C. § 3133(a)).

    What the document must contain

    • The amount claimed, stated with substantial accuracy
    • The name of the person to whom the material was furnished or for whom the labor was performed

    If you miss it: No bond claim at all if you were outside privity and missed the 90 days. Two extra traps on state and local work: AS 36.25.020(c) says a suit under the section is subject to AS 08.18.151, so the contractor-registration bar applies here too; and the one-year outside limit runs from FINAL SETTLEMENT of the prime contract, a date you do not control and may not be told, so track it actively. A lien recorded against public property is a document that cannot work.

    Alaska Stat. §§ 36.25.010(a), (c), 36.25.020(a)-(c), 36.25.025; 40 U.S.C. §§ 3131(b), 3133(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Alaska

Where you file

Office

Alaska State Recorder's Office (Department of Natural Resources) - district recorder for the recording district in which the property is located

Recording fee

$20–$40

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn oath

How it is served

First-class mail and signed-receipt mail

Copies

1

Fees and office procedures change; confirm them with the recording office before you file.

What trips people up in Alaska

• WAITING FOR THE JOB TO FINISH. Your 120 days runs from the day YOU completed your contract or stopped furnishing, not from completion of the building (AS 34.35.068(a)). A sub who finished in month two of a nine-month job and waited for substantial completion is already out.
• TREATING THE 120 DAYS AS GUARANTEED. It is conditional. The moment the owner records a Notice of Completion, a claimant who never gave a notice of right to lien has 15 days — not 120 — to record a claim of lien or a notice of right to lien (AS 34.35.068(b)(1)(B)).
• ASSUMING SOMEONE WILL WARN YOU. AS 34.35.071(a)(2) obliges the owner to give five days advance notice of the recording ONLY to claimants who gave a notice of right to lien or a stop-lending notice to the OWNER AND THE LENDER, more than 10 days before the recording. Send nothing, or send to the owner only, or send six days out, and you are simultaneously in the 15-day bucket and owed no warning that the clock started. This is the single most dangerous fact in Alaska lien law.
• THINKING A NOTICE OF RIGHT TO LIEN BY ITSELF MAKES YOU SAFE. If you gave one AND you then receive the owner's five-day advance notice, AS 34.35.068(b)(1)(A) pulls you back into the 15-day window. That advance notice is a starting gun, not a reassurance — and the way out is to RECORD a notice of right to lien inside the 15 days (AS 34.35.068(b)(2)(A)), which restores the full 120.
• GIVING THE NOTICE BUT NOT RECORDING IT. AS 34.35.060(a) prefers a properly recorded encumbrance over your lien unless your claim of lien or your notice of right to lien was RECORDED first — and that preference holds regardless of when the bank actually disburses. AS 34.35.067 lets you record a notice of right to lien at any time and it costs about $20. Not recording it is how contractors end up behind a construction mortgage.
• SENDING THE NOTICE ONE WAY. AS 34.35.120(9) defines 'give notice' as mailing by first-class mail AND by a form of mail requiring a signed receipt, or hand delivery against a signed receipt. That is two mailings. Certified mail alone — which is what most lien software sends — is one.
• NAMING THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR AS 'THE CONTRACTOR' ON THE LIEN. AS 34.35.070(c)(4) asks for 'the name and address of the person with whom the claimant contracted.' The word 'contractor' does not appear in that subsection. If you are a sub-sub or a supplier to a sub, the required name is your own customer. Naming the GC instead puts a wrong statutory element on the face of the document.
• LEAVING THE CONTRACT PRICE OFF. AS 34.35.070(c)(5) requires BOTH a general description of what you furnished AND the contract price. The amount due is a separate element in (c)(6). A lien that states only the balance owing is missing an element that the statute requires on its face.
• GETTING AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT INSTEAD OF AN OATH. AS 34.35.070(c) requires the lien to be 'verified by the oath' of the claimant or someone with knowledge of the facts. That is a jurat — you swear the contents are true. A routine notary acknowledgment, where you only confirm the signature is yours, is the wrong instrument. Recording staff cannot notarize for you.
• RECORDING IN THE WRONG PLACE. Alaska records by recording district — 34 of them, run by the State out of Anchorage and Fairbanks. Boroughs do not record at all. The document must name the district on its face (AS 40.17.030(a)(9)). Filing in the wrong district does not perfect the lien.
• COUNTING 180 DAYS FOR ENFORCEMENT. AS 34.35.080(a) says SIX MONTHS after the claim of lien is recorded. Six calendar months and 180 days are different dates, and which one is shorter depends on the month you recorded. Calendar the earlier of the two and file well before it.
• RECORDING THE EXTENSION NOTICE LATE, OR INCOMPLETE. AS 34.35.080(a)(2) requires the extension notice to be recorded in the same office WITHIN the original six months, and to show the recording date and the book and page or instrument or serial number of the initial claim of lien, and the balance owing. One day late, or one number missing, and there is nothing to extend.
• FILING SUIT AND STOPPING THERE. AS 34.35.080(c) makes a timely-extended lien VOID against a good-faith purchaser or encumbrancer for value who records before you record a notice of pendency conforming to AS 09.45.940. There is no deadline on the lis pendens, which is exactly why it gets skipped — it is a race against the next recorded conveyance, and you can lose it the day after you file.
• NOT LOOKING FOR A NOTICE OF NONRESPONSIBILITY. Under AS 34.35.065(b) an owner or interest holder who posts a conspicuous signed notice on the land within three days of learning of the work — witnessed by two attesting witnesses or notarized, with the posting attested — and records an attested or notarized copy within three days of posting, takes that interest out of the lien entirely. Walk the site and search the record before you spend money.
• SIGNING THE PROGRESS-PAYMENT WAIVER WITHOUT READING IT. AS 34.35.117(a): a written waiver needs no consideration and is valid and binding when signed. It wipes out everything furnished up to the signing date, paid or not. The only person who cannot be caught this way is an individual who actually performs the labor — their waiver is void (AS 34.35.117(b)).
• WORKING UNREGISTERED. AS 08.18.011(a) bars bidding or working as a contractor without a certificate of registration, and AS 08.18.151 bars a court action to collect compensation without alleging and proving you were registered at the time of contracting. Because enforcing a lien means suing in superior court (AS 34.35.110(a)), an unregistered contractor can hold a flawless recorded lien and be unable to foreclose it.
• PREPARING A LIEN ON A PUBLIC OR FEDERAL JOB. There is no construction lien against public property in Alaska. The remedy is the AS 36.25 payment bond — and check that one exists: it is required only on contracts exceeding $100,000 (AS 36.25.010(a)), and a municipality may by ordinance exempt contractors up to $400,000 (AS 36.25.025). On a small public job you may have neither a lien nor a bond, and AS 36.25.010(c) withholding of final payment is your only lever.
• LIENING THE FEE OWNER ON A TENANT BUILD-OUT. AS 34.35.055(a) subjects the land only if it belonged to the person who caused the work when work started or materials were first furnished; AS 34.35.055(b) limits the lien to that person's interest if it is less than a fee simple. On a tenant improvement you usually reach the leasehold, not the landlord's fee.
• SUPPLIER AND RENTAL TRAP. AS 34.35.050(3) covers materials 'delivered to real property ... that are incorporated in' the work; AS 34.35.050(4) covers equipment 'delivered to and used upon' the property. Material that sat in a yard and was never installed, and equipment that never reached the site, fall outside the words of the section.
• INFLATING THE NUMBER, OR LEAVING A PAID LIEN ON RECORD. AS 34.35.095(a) limits you to the amount due under your contract terms, less the claims of anyone claiming through you. And AS 34.35.074(b) makes you liable for actual and consequential damages plus costs and reasonable attorney fees if you do not promptly remove a claim of lien that is paid, in error, unjust, premature or excessive.
• FORGETTING THE OWNER CAN BOND AROUND YOU. Under AS 34.35.072 the owner, a prime contractor or a subcontractor who disputes the lien may record a bond of one and one-half times the claim, and the property is then freed from the effect of the claim of lien. Your claim is not dead — it moves to the bond, which guarantees the claimed sum plus reasonable cost of suit if you recover — but every bit of leverage the title cloud gave you is gone the day it is recorded.

After you file

• Keep the recorded claim of lien where you can find it. You need its recording DATE and its book and page or instrument or serial number to record an extension notice later (AS 34.35.080(a)(2)), and to record the release at the end (AS 40.17.030(a)(6)).
• Calendar six calendar months from the recording date as the hard stop, and set your own working deadline several weeks earlier. AS 34.35.080(a) gives no grace period.
• Nothing has to be served after recording. No section of AS 34.35.050-34.35.120 requires you to deliver the recorded claim of lien to the owner, the lender or anyone else — recording is what perfects it. A courtesy copy is good practice, not a legal step, and do not let a software prompt to 'serve the lien' make you think a deadline exists that does not.
• Keep answering information requests. Within 10 days of a request you must give an owner or lender you notified a written statement of the amount due and unpaid (AS 34.35.114(d)); within five days you must give the most recent accounting to an owner, lender or prime who asks (AS 34.35.064(b)). A violation exposes you to damages plus attorney fees under AS 34.35.074(a).
• If you served a stop-lending notice, track the 91st day after the lender received it. It expires then unless you have commenced an action on the claim before that day AND the lender has received written notification of the action (AS 34.35.062(b)). Expiry extinguishes the lender's liability to you.
• The moment you file suit, record a notice of pendency conforming to AS 09.45.940 in the same recording district. Without it, AS 34.35.080(c) makes your lien void against a good-faith purchaser or encumbrancer for value who records first. There is no deadline, which is why it is forgotten — treat it as part of filing.
• Join everyone when you sue. AS 34.35.110(c) requires all persons personally liable and all lienholders whose claims are recorded under AS 34.35.070 to be made parties, and anyone not made a party is not bound by the proceedings. Run a fresh recorder search before you finalise the party list.
• Watch for a release bond. The owner, a prime or a sub may record a bond of 1.5x your claim at any time, before or after suit, and the property is freed from the lien (AS 34.35.072). If one appears, redirect the claim to the bond and its surety — the bond guarantees the sum claimed plus your reasonable cost of suit if you recover.
• If the prime contractor is the one who owes you, remember AS 34.35.100(a): the prime must defend the action at its own expense and the owner may withhold the lien amount from the prime while it is pending. That is pressure you can name in a demand letter.
• Ask for your costs when you win. AS 34.35.110(b) requires the court, on entering judgment for the plaintiff, to allow as part of the costs all money paid for filing and recording the lien plus a reasonable amount as attorney fees — and lien actions get preference on the civil calendar.
• Release promptly when you are paid. AS 34.35.074(b) makes a claimant who does not promptly remove a paid, erroneous, unjust, premature or excessive claim of lien from the record — or promptly revoke a stop-lending notice — liable for actual and consequential damages plus costs and reasonable attorney fees. This is the second place an Alaska claimant loses money after filing, and it is entirely self-inflicted.