How to file a mechanics lien in Arizona

Step by step

19 steps for a subcontractor in Arizona.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check that your contractor license is valid and in the right classification

   Before you start work, and again before you record any lien document.

   If Arizona law requires you to be licensed as a contractor and you do not hold a valid license, you have no lien rights at all — no matter how perfect your paperwork is. This is checked before anything else because nothing downstream can fix it.

   Where it goes

   Your own license records and the Registrar of Contractors.

   How

   Confirm your license is current and covers the classification of work you are doing, through the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of your active license showing the classification and the dates it covered the work.

   If you miss it: No lien. A.R.S. § 33-981(C) strips lien rights from an unlicensed contractor entirely, and recording a lien anyway exposes you to the A.R.S. § 33-420 penalties.

   A.R.S. § 33-981(C)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Find out whether this is an owner-occupied home

   Before you start work, and before you ever consider recording a lien on a house.

   Arizona bars a lien against the dwelling of someone who was already the owner-occupant before the work started, unless you executed a written contract directly with that person. Subs and suppliers have no lien on these houses, ever.

   Where it goes

   Your contract file, the recorded deed, and what you know about who lives there.

   How

   An 'owner-occupant' is a natural person who (1) held legal or equitable title by recorded deed or contract for conveyance BEFORE construction began, and (2) lives there or intends to live there at least 30 days in the 12 months after completion and does not intend to sell or lease it. A 'dwelling' is property with a building designed for single one-family or single two-family residential use, including a condominium apartment. The 'held title before construction began' part is what takes spec builders and new-build buyers out of the protection. The owner cannot waive this — any waiver is void.

   Proof to keep

   Your written contract signed by the owner-occupant, if you have one. Without a writing, even a direct contractor is barred.

   If you miss it: If you record a lien on an owner-occupied home without a direct written contract, you had no lien to begin with and you are exposed under A.R.S. § 33-420 to at least $5,000 or treble the actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees and costs — and § 33-420(E) makes recording a document you know is invalid a class 5 felony.

   A.R.S. § 33-1002(A), (B), (C)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Check the county recorder for a recorded payment bond

   Before you mobilize, and before you count on having lien rights.

   If the owner recorded a payment bond together with a copy of the prime contract, no one can record a lien on that job except the person who contracts in writing directly with the owner. Nothing on the jobsite tells you this — you have to look it up.

   Where it goes

   The county recorder for the county where the property sits.

   How

   Search the recorder's index in the classification where mechanics' and materialmen's liens are recorded — the recorder indexes the bond and contract there. You can also make a written request to the owner: A.R.S. § 33-992.01(J) requires the owner to furnish a copy of any recorded payment bond, including the surety and bonding agent, within ten days.

   Proof to keep

   Your dated search result, and a copy of your written request to the owner and their response.

   If you miss it: You run the full 60/120-day lien path and have nothing to record at the end of it. Your claim is against the bond instead. If you asked the owner for the bond and they did not furnish it, § 33-992.01(K) preserves your rights to the extent the failure prejudiced you — but only if you asked.

   A.R.S. § 33-1003(A), (D); § 33-992.01(J), (K)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: If the job is public, switch to the payment bond track now

   As soon as you know the owner is a public body.

   There is no mechanics lien against public property in Arizona. The public body has to require a payment bond for the full contract amount, and that bond is your remedy. Do not run a public job through the completion-date lien clock — the deadlines are different and they run from your own last day.

   Where it goes

   The bond is filed with the department, board, commission, institution, agency or other contracting body that awarded the contract.

   How

   Confirm the payment bond is on file. It protects claimants supplying labor or materials to the contractor or to its subcontractors.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the payment bond and the award documents identifying the bonded prime contractor.

   If you miss it: You calendar a lien deadline that does not exist and blow the real bond notice deadline, which runs 90 days from your own last labor or materials.

   A.R.S. § 34-222(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Serve the Preliminary Twenty Day Notice

   Not later than 20 days after you first furnished labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools to the jobsite.

   This is the single most important document in Arizona, and it is required of EVERYONE who furnishes — including the general contractor who signed with the owner. Arizona is one of the few states where being in direct contract with the owner does not excuse you. Only a person performing actual labor for wages is exempt. Without this notice plus proof of service, you cannot enforce a lien at all.

   Where it goes

   Four recipients, all of them: the owner or reputed owner; the original contractor or reputed contractor; the construction lender, if there is one; and the person you contracted with for the purchase.

   How

   Mail it, postage prepaid, by one of only three methods the statute allows: first class mail sent with a certificate of mailing, registered mail, or certified mail. Service is complete the moment you deposit it in the mail. Hand delivery is not on the list and produces none of the proof you will have to attach to your lien later.

   Proof to keep

   Proof of service under A.R.S. § 33-992.02 — either a signed, returned acknowledgment of receipt, or (if it is not completed and returned within 30 days) your own affidavit showing the time, place and manner of mailing and the name, address and capacity of each recipient. Attach the certificate of mailing to the affidavit if you used first class mail, or the certification or registration receipt if you used certified or registered mail. You will physically attach all of this to your recorded lien.

   What the document must contain

   • A general description of the labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools you furnished or will furnish, and an estimate of the total price
   • Your name and address
   • The name of the person who contracted for the purchase
   • A description of the jobsite good enough to identify it — legal description, street address, or a description by which it can be identified
   • The statutory 'NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER' block warning that unpaid bills can result in a mechanics lien and foreclosure, with the three protective options
   • The statement that, under A.R.S. § 33-992.01, this is not a lien and is not a reflection on the integrity of any contractor or subcontractor

   If you miss it: You cannot enforce a lien. A.R.S. § 33-981(D) makes giving the notice and making proof of service a condition of enforcing lien rights. Do not stop there, though — see the late-notice rescue step; a late notice still saves part of your claim.

   A.R.S. § 33-992.01(B), (C), (F); § 33-992.02; § 33-981(D)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Serve a further notice if the job grows 30% or you work under more than one subcontractor

   As soon as the estimated total price passes 30% over your last notice, or as soon as you sign with a second subcontractor on the same job. The same 20-day clock applies to the additional work.

   One Preliminary Twenty Day Notice normally covers the whole job. It stops covering the whole job in two situations: the actual estimated total price runs 30% or more above the price in any prior notice, or you are furnishing under contracts with more than one subcontractor. A supplier serving two subs on one job needs a notice for each.

   Where it goes

   The same four recipients: owner or reputed owner, original contractor or reputed contractor, construction lender if any, and the party you contracted with.

   How

   Same three mail methods as the original notice: first class mail with a certificate of mailing, registered mail, or certified mail.

   Proof to keep

   A separate proof of service for each further notice, same as the original.

   If you miss it: The amount above what you noticed is unsecured. You keep a lien for the noticed scope and lose the overage. Watch the number: the threshold is THIRTY percent for projects begun on or after December 31, 2019. A great many form packets, checklists and secondary articles still print 20% and will time this wrong. Note also that a scope change or a price increase of LESS than 30% does not make your original notice defective.

   A.R.S. § 33-992.01(G), (H)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Serve an amended notice within 30 days if the owner sends you corrected information

   Within 30 days after you receive the corrected information.

   You can make a written request to the owner or another interested party for the correct jobsite description, owner name and address, original contractor name and address, construction lender, and a copy of any recorded payment bond. They have ten days to furnish it. If what comes back shows your notice was inaccurate, the statute requires you to amend.

   Where it goes

   The same four recipients as the original notice.

   How

   Give an amended Preliminary Twenty Day Notice the same way as the original — first class mail with a certificate of mailing, registered mail, or certified mail.

   Proof to keep

   The dated written request you sent, whatever came back, and proof of service of the amended notice.

   If you miss it: You lose the protection of the corrected record. If instead the owner fails to furnish the information you asked for, they are stopped from raising the inaccuracy of your notice as a defense — so making the written request is worth doing on its own.

   A.R.S. § 33-992.01(J), (K)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: If you blew the 20-day deadline, serve the notice late anyway

   Optional

   Immediately. Every day you wait is another day of work dropping out the back of the 20-day look-back window.

   A missed Preliminary Twenty Day Notice is not a total loss in Arizona. If you serve it late, you keep a lien for everything you furnished in the 20 days before you served it and everything you furnish afterward. Only the earlier work is gone. Doing nothing after day 20 is the worst available move.

   Where it goes

   The same four recipients: owner or reputed owner, original contractor or reputed contractor, construction lender if any, and the party you contracted with.

   How

   Same three mail methods: first class mail with a certificate of mailing, registered mail, or certified mail.

   Proof to keep

   Proof of service under § 33-992.02, and dated records of exactly what you furnished in the 20 days before service and after it — that is the boundary of your surviving claim.

   If you miss it: If you never serve it at all, you have no enforceable lien for any of the work.

   A.R.S. § 33-992.01(E)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: On a public job, serve the 90-day bond notice

   Within 90 days after the day you performed the last of your labor or supplied the last of your material. This runs from YOUR last day, not from project completion.

   If you contracted with a subcontractor and have no contract with the bonded prime, you need two notices to sue on the payment bond: the Preliminary Twenty Day Notice, and a separate written 90-day notice. If you have a direct contract with the bonded prime, these notice conditions do not apply to you.

   Where it goes

   Deliver the 90-day notice to the contractor at any place the contractor keeps an office or does business, or at the contractor's residence.

   How

   By any means that gives written, third-party verification of delivery. The preliminary notice must comply with A.R.S. § 33-992.01, subsection C, paragraphs 1 through 4, and subsections E, F and H.

   Proof to keep

   The third-party delivery verification for the 90-day notice, and your § 33-992.02 proof of service for the preliminary notice. Keep dated records establishing your own last day of labor or last delivery — both public-works clocks run off it.

   What the document must contain

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

   If you miss it: You lose the right to sue on the payment bond, and there is no lien on public property to fall back on.

   A.R.S. § 34-223(A)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Work out the completion date — that is what starts your lien clock

    Track it from the day the job wraps, stalls, or passes final inspection — whichever comes first.

    Your Arizona lien deadline does not run from your last day on the job. It runs from completion of the building, structure or improvement, and 'completion' is a defined term with a silent trigger. An excavation sub who finished in month two of a two-year job does not file in month two. Equally, your last invoice does not start a fresh clock.

    Where it goes

    Check with the permitting jurisdiction for the final inspection and written final acceptance dates, and keep your own site records of when labor stopped.

    How

    Completion is the EARLIEST of: (1) thirty days after final inspection and written final acceptance by the governmental body that issued the building permit, or (2) cessation of labor for sixty consecutive days — which does not count a stoppage caused by a strike, a shortage of materials, or an act of God. If no building permit was issued, or the permitting body does not issue final inspections and written final acceptances, completion instead means the last date ANY labor, materials, fixtures or tools were furnished to the property, by anyone.

    Proof to keep

    The permit record showing final inspection and written final acceptance, or dated site records, daily reports or delivery tickets establishing when labor last occurred on the property.

    If you miss it: You calendar the wrong date. A job that goes quiet for sixty straight days has 'completed' by operation of law while everyone is standing around waiting to remobilize — and your filing clock has already been running for two months.

    A.R.S. § 33-993(C), (D)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: On a multi-building residential job, calendar each building separately

    From the completion of each separate building.

    In a residential project or subdivision with more than one separate building — under one contract or many — each building plus its appurtenant garages is its own separate work. The filing clock runs from the completion of that building, not from completion of the project.

    Where it goes

    Your own project records, tied to each building or lot.

    How

    Break your tracking down building by building rather than keeping one project-level date.

    Proof to keep

    Per-building completion evidence — final inspection and acceptance records, or dated records of when labor last occurred at each building.

    If you miss it: A single project-level deadline is late for every building except the last one, and you lose the lien on all of them.

    A.R.S. § 33-993(B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Watch for a recorded Notice of Completion — the owner can cut your window in half

    From completion onward, until your lien is recorded.

    This is the lever the other side can pull. The owner or its agent may record a Notice of Completion at any time after completion, purely to shorten the lien period, and that drops your deadline from 120 days after completion to 60 days after the recording. You get no say and no consent. The one protection you have is a mailing duty — and it is owed only to claimants who served a Preliminary Twenty Day Notice.

    Where it goes

    The county recorder for the county where the property sits.

    How

    Watch the recorder's index. Separately, whoever records the Notice of Completion must, within 15 days of recording, mail by certified or registered mail a copy of the notice plus a written statement of the recording date and the recorder's record location information to the original contractor and to every person from whom the owner has previously received a Preliminary Twenty Day Notice.

    Proof to keep

    Any Notice of Completion mailing you receive, with its envelope and postmark. If you never received one, keep evidence that you served the Preliminary Twenty Day Notice and that nothing was mailed to you.

    If you miss it: You calendar 120 days and file at day 90 into a window that closed at day 60. The one relief: if the owner or agent failed to mail the notice to you within 15 days, you keep the full 120 days from completion. That relief exists only because you served the preliminary notice — skipping the prelim also forfeits your right to be told the clock moved.

    A.R.S. § 33-993(A), (E), (I)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Consider serving a stop notice while the lien window is still open

    Optional

    Before the time to record a claim of lien under § 33-993 runs out. The stop notice shares your 60/120-day completion clock. If the owner or the construction lender makes a written demand, you have 30 days from that demand or you forfeit the right entirely.

    Arizona has a full stop notice remedy on private work, and on a lender-financed job it is often the fastest money. A stop notice to the OWNER is open to any lien-eligible claimant except the original contractor. A stop notice to the CONSTRUCTION LENDER is open to any lien-eligible claimant, including the original contractor. A BONDED stop notice — backed by a surety bond at 150% of your claim — forces the lender to withhold; an unbonded one only lets it.

    Where it goes

    The owner, or the construction lender, or both.

    How

    Personal service on the recipient, or leaving it at their residence with a responsible person, or at their place of business. For a construction lender with branch offices, it must reach the manager or other responsible officer or person at the office or branch that administers or holds the construction monies. Certified mail has the same effect as personal service.

    Proof to keep

    Your certified mail receipt or proof of personal service, your surety bond if it is a bonded stop notice, and proof that you served the Preliminary Twenty Day Notice — the stop notice is only effective if you did.

    What the document must contain

    • A description of the labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools you furnished
    • Who you furnished them to or for
    • The value of what you furnished and the total amount agreed
    • Any payments you have already received
    • Your name and address
    • Your signature and verification, or your agent's

    If you miss it: You lose the stop notice. Two traps: it dies with your lien window, so a claimant who misses the lien deadline has usually lost the stop notice too; and a written demand from the owner or lender starts a separate 30-day fuse that forfeits the right on its own. A wilfully false stop notice forfeits your share of the money, forfeits your lien, and triggers § 33-420 penalties. Stop notices do not reach owner-occupied dwellings at all.

    A.R.S. §§ 33-1051, 33-1053, 33-1054, 33-1055, 33-1056, 33-1057, 33-1058, 33-1061(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Record the Notice and Claim of Lien with the county recorder

    Within 60 days after completion of the improvement. Arizona's outer limit is 120 days after completion, but the owner can cut it to 60 by recording a Notice of Completion without warning you, so treat 60 days from completion as your real date.

    This is the lien itself. Arizona requires duplicate copies: one gets recorded, one gets served on the owner. The statute lists six specific contents, and three of them are routinely missing from generic multi-state lien forms.

    Where it goes

    The county recorder for the county where the property is located.

    How

    Make duplicate copies. Record one with the county recorder. The lien must be made under oath by you or by someone with knowledge of the facts — the oath has to be taken before an officer authorized to administer oaths, so in practice the document carries a notarial jurat.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded document with its recording date, book/page or instrument number, and the recorder's receipt. Keep the second copy for service on the owner. The statutory recording fee is $30 per instrument regardless of page count, inclusive of the § 11-475.01 surcharge (A.R.S. § 11-475(A)(1)); third-party e-recording vendors add their own charge on top, which is not a statutory recorder fee.

    What the document must contain

    • The legal description of the lands and improvements to be charged with the lien — a street address alone does not satisfy this
    • The name of the owner or reputed owner, if known, and the name of the person by whom you were employed or to whom you furnished materials (for a second-tier sub that is the subcontractor who hired you, not the general contractor)
    • A statement of the terms, time given and conditions of your contract if it was oral, or a copy of the contract if it was written
    • A statement of your demand, after deducting just credits and offsets
    • A statement of the date of completion of the improvement — not your own last day on the job
    • A statement of the date the Preliminary Twenty Day Notice was given, with a copy of that notice AND the § 33-992.02 proof of mailing physically attached
    • The oath or verification by you or by someone with knowledge of the facts

    If you miss it: No lien. The deadline is not extendable and there is no cure. Recording a lien you were never entitled to record — for example on an owner-occupied home — exposes you to at least $5,000 or treble actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees and costs, and is a class 5 felony under § 33-420(E).

    A.R.S. § 33-993(A); § 11-475(A)(1)(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: Serve the duplicate copy of the lien on the owner

    Within a reasonable time after recording. The statute sets no number of days, so do it immediately after recording and do not let it slide.

    Recording is only half of it. The statute requires you to serve the remaining copy on the owner of the building, structure or improvement if the owner can be found within the county.

    Where it goes

    The owner of the building, structure or improvement, if the owner can be found within the county.

    How

    The statute does not prescribe a method for this one. Use something that produces a delivery record.

    Proof to keep

    Your delivery record, plus a dated record of your attempt to locate the owner in the county if you could not find them.

    If you miss it: Arizona sets no day count here, so no deadline can honestly be given — but a claimant who records on time and never serves the owner may have a defective lien. Do not treat this as optional housekeeping.

    A.R.S. § 33-993(A)(opens the statute in a new tab)
16. 16

    Step 16: File suit to foreclose AND record a lis pendens — both, inside six months

    Within six calendar months after the lien is recorded. Six calendar months is never fewer than 181 days, so LienShield shows you a deliberately early 180-day date — but the statutory rule is six calendar months from the recording date, not a day count. Separately, § 12-1191 directs a mechanics lien claimant to file the notice of pendency within five days of filing the action, so do not sit on it.

    This is where Arizona claimants lose perfectly good liens. Two separate acts have to happen inside the same window: you must bring the action, and you must record a notice of pendency of action (a lis pendens). A timely complaint with no recorded lis pendens lets the lien expire while the lawsuit is still live.

    Where it goes

    The lis pendens is recorded with the county recorder in the county where the property is located.

    How

    Bring the action to enforce the lien, and record the notice of pendency of action under A.R.S. § 12-1191. If another lien claimant has already sued and named you as a defendant, filing an answer or cross-claim asserting your lien inside the six months counts as commencing the action.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint with its filing date, and the recorded lis pendens with its recording date and instrument number.

    What the document must contain

    • The names of the parties
    • The object of the action or affirmative defense
    • The relief demanded
    • A description of the property affected

    If you miss it: The lien is gone. A.R.S. § 33-998(A) says the lien does not continue longer than six months after it is recorded unless BOTH happen. You are left with an unsecured breach of contract claim.

    A.R.S. § 33-998(A); A.R.S. § 12-1191(opens the statute in a new tab)
17. 17

    Step 17: If someone bonds off your lien, recalendar the deadline — it changes

    Within six months after you discover the bond. No action may be commenced on the bond more than two years from the date the bond was recorded, whichever comes first.

    A recorded lien can be discharged by a surety bond at 150% of the amount you claimed. When that happens the property is released and your claim moves to the bond — and the deadline for suing is no longer the § 33-998 six-months-from-recording date.

    Where it goes

    The bond is recorded with the county recorder; watch that index after you record your lien.

    How

    Bring the action on the bond.

    Proof to keep

    A copy of the recorded discharge bond, its recording date, and a dated record of when you discovered it — your six months runs from discovery.

    If you miss it: You are late on the bond claim. A claimant who keeps calendaring the original § 33-998 date after a discharge bond is recorded can end up outside both windows. Note your recovery on the bond cannot exceed its penal sum, though you can still pursue the principal separately for the excess.

    A.R.S. § 33-1004(A), (B), (E), (F)(opens the statute in a new tab)
18. 18

    Step 18: On a public job, sue on the payment bond

    No sooner than 90 days after the day you performed the last of your labor or supplied the last of your material, and no later than one year after that same date.

    Your right to sue on the payment bond arises only after 90 days have passed since your last labor or material and you still have not been paid in full. Both ends of this window run from your own last day, not from project completion.

    Where it goes

    On the payment bond furnished under A.R.S. § 34-222. The statute does not name a particular court — confirm the proper venue with counsel.

    How

    The suit is brought in the name of the claimant.

    Proof to keep

    Dated records fixing your own last day of labor or last delivery, your 90-day notice with third-party delivery verification, and your § 33-992.02 proof of service for the preliminary notice.

    If you miss it: No suit may be commenced after one year from your last labor or material. The claim is gone and there is no lien on public property to fall back on.

    A.R.S. § 34-223(A), (B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
19. 19

    Step 19: Release the lien once you are paid

    Within 20 days after satisfaction. If the property is an owner-occupant's dwelling and the owner-occupant makes a written request, within 20 days of that request.

    When the lien has been satisfied, you have to issue a release. There is a separate, harsher version of this rule if the lien was on an owner-occupant's dwelling.

    Where it goes

    Record it with the same county recorder. The statutory recording fee for the release is the same $30 per instrument.

    How

    Issue a release that complies with the recording-document requirements of A.R.S. § 11-480.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded release with its recording date and instrument number, and a copy sent to the owner.

    If you miss it: Failure to grant the release makes you liable for $1,000 plus actual damages under § 33-1006(C). Separately, wilfully refusing to release or correct a recorded document within 20 days of a written request carries liability of at least $1,000 or treble actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees, under § 33-420(C).

    A.R.S. § 33-1006(A), (B), (C); § 33-420(C)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Arizona

Where you file

Office

County Recorder

Recording fee

$30

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Under oath

How it is served

Certified mail

Copies

2

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

What trips people up in Arizona

• THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR SKIPS THE 20-DAY NOTICE. In most states, privity with the owner excuses the preliminary notice. Not in Arizona. § 33-992.01(B) covers 'every person' who furnishes, excepting only a person performing actual labor for wages, and § 33-981(D) makes the notice plus proof of service a condition of enforcing the lien. The GC's whole lien is gone on day 21 and they typically will not find out for months.
• COMPUTING THE FILING DEADLINE FROM YOUR OWN LAST DAY. Arizona runs the clock from completion of the improvement (§ 33-993(A), (C), (D)). On a job that completed before you demobilized, or one where a Notice of Completion was recorded, your own-last-day math produces a date well past the real deadline.
• A SIXTY-DAY WORK STOPPAGE COMPLETES THE JOB BY OPERATION OF LAW. Under § 33-993(C)(2), sixty consecutive days with no labor is 'completion' — unless it was a strike, a material shortage or an act of God. Everyone is waiting for the owner to fund the next phase, nobody thinks the job is over, and the lien clock has been running for two months.
• THE OWNER RECORDS A NOTICE OF COMPLETION AND CUTS 120 DAYS TO 60. Unilaterally, with no claimant consent (§ 33-993(A), (E)). The only defense is the § 33-993(I) fifteen-day mailing duty — and that duty is owed only to claimants who served a Preliminary Twenty Day Notice. Skipping the prelim also forfeits your right to be told your deadline moved.
• FILING SUIT AND RECORDING NOTHING. § 33-998(A) requires a notice of pendency of action under § 12-1191 inside the same six months. The lien expires at month six with a live lawsuit pending and no secured claim behind it.
• LIENING A HOUSE THAT TURNS OUT TO BE AN OWNER-OCCUPANT'S. § 33-1002(B) gave a sub or supplier no lien to begin with, and § 33-420 exposes them to at least $5,000 or treble actual damages plus fees — and a class 5 felony. The nonpayment claim becomes a liability. § 33-1002(C) means the owner could not have waived the protection no matter what the paperwork says.
• A DIRECT CONTRACTOR ON AN OWNER-OCCUPIED HOME WORKED ON A HANDSHAKE. The § 33-1002(B) exception requires a contract 'executed in writing' directly with the owner-occupant. No writing, no lien, even in full privity.
• THE OWNER RECORDED A § 33-1003 PAYMENT BOND BEFORE ANYONE MOBILIZED. Every sub and supplier lien right on the project is gone from the outset and nothing on the jobsite reveals it — it has to be looked up in the recorder's mechanics-lien index. § 33-992.01(J) lets you demand a copy and § 33-992.01(K) preserves your rights to the extent the owner's failure to furnish it prejudiced you, but only if you ask.
• THE CONTRACTOR IS UNLICENSED OR LICENSED IN THE WRONG CLASSIFICATION. § 33-981(C) strips lien rights entirely, regardless of how perfect the paperwork is. Same for a design professional without a current certificate of registration (§ 33-981(E)) or outside the agreement chain § 33-981(F) demands.
• THE JOB GROWS AND NOBODY SERVES A FURTHER NOTICE. Once the actual estimated total price exceeds your prior notice by thirty percent or more, or once you are furnishing under contracts with more than one subcontractor, one notice no longer covers it (§ 33-992.01(G)). The overage is unsecured. Compounding this: the threshold moved from 20% to 30% for projects begun on or after December 31, 2019, so older form packets, checklists and internal cheat-sheets still say 20% and will mis-time the amended notice.
• TREATING A TRACT-HOME OR MULTI-BUILDING RESIDENTIAL JOB AS ONE PROJECT WITH ONE DEADLINE. § 33-993(B) makes each separate building its own work with its own clock. A single project-level date is late for every building except the last.
• HAND-DELIVERING THE PRELIMINARY NOTICE TO THE SUPERINTENDENT'S TRAILER. § 33-992.01(F) enumerates only mail methods, and § 33-993(A)(6) requires the § 33-992.02 proof of mailing — a certificate of mailing, a certified or registered receipt, or a returned acknowledgment — to be physically attached to the recorded lien. Hand delivery generates none of that.
• THE LIEN FORM HAS NO FIELD FOR THE CONTRACT TERMS. § 33-993(A)(3) requires a statement of the terms, time given and conditions of the contract if oral, or a copy of the contract if written. Most generic multi-state lien forms omit it, so the defect is built into the template rather than introduced by the user. Same for the legal description under (A)(1) — a street address alone does not satisfy it.
• A CONSTRUCTION LENDER'S DEED OF TRUST LEAPFROGS EVERY LIEN. § 33-992(A) gives a construction loan mortgage or deed of trust priority over mechanics liens if it is recorded within ten days after labor commenced or materials commenced to be furnished. A perfected lien can still be worth nothing after foreclosure. And racing to record buys you priority over nobody: § 33-1000 puts all Arizona mechanics liens on equal footing without reference to recording date, sharing proceeds pro rata.
• RUNNING A PUBLIC JOB THROUGH THE PRIVATE COMPLETION CLOCK. There is no lien against public property in Arizona. You need a § 34-223(A) ninety-day notice from your own last furnishing and suit no earlier than ninety days and no later than one year after that same date, against the § 34-222 bond.
• LEAVING THE STOP NOTICE UNTIL AFTER THE LIEN WINDOW LAPSES. § 33-1056(B)(2) ties stop notice validity to the same § 33-993 window, so a claimant who misses the lien deadline has usually lost the stop notice too. And a written demand from the owner or lender under §§ 33-1054 / 33-1055 starts a separate thirty-day fuse that forfeits the right independently.
• A DESIGN PROFESSIONAL ASSUMES THE LIEN ATTACHES WHEN THE DRAWINGS ARE DONE. Under § 33-992(B) a professional services lien does not attach for priority purposes until labor has commenced or materials have commenced to be furnished so that it is apparent to anyone inspecting the property. Under § 33-992(C), if no labor or materials are ever furnished, a registered professional may record and foreclose at any time after its own work commenced, provided the work added value to the property.

After you file

• Serve the duplicate copy of the recorded lien on the owner within a reasonable time after recording, if the owner can be found within the county (§ 33-993(A)). Recording alone does not finish the job.
• Calendar the six-month enforcement date from the recording date immediately — and calendar the lis pendens with it. Both acts have to happen inside that window (§ 33-998(A)).
• Watch the recorder's index for a discharge bond. If someone bonds off your lien under § 33-1004, your deadline changes to six months after you discover the bond, with an absolute cutoff two years from the date the bond was recorded. Your old § 33-998 date stops being the right date.
• If the claim is on private, non-owner-occupied work and there is a construction lender, consider whether a stop notice is still available — it has to be served before the § 33-993 lien-recording period expires, so it usually has to be done alongside or before the lien, not after (§ 33-1056(B)).
• If you did serve a stop notice, the action on it may not be commenced until ten days after service and must be commenced no later than three months after the lien-recording period expires. The parties may stipulate in writing to up to three more months. If no action is brought, the notice stops being effective and the money is released (§ 33-1063).
• Do not expect priority from having recorded first. All Arizona mechanics liens share equal footing without reference to recording date and prorate foreclosure proceeds among themselves (§ 33-1000). Check instead whether a construction lender's deed of trust was recorded within ten days after work commenced, because that primes all of you (§ 33-992(A)).
• Once you are paid, issue a release within 20 days of satisfaction (§ 33-1006(A)). On an owner-occupant's dwelling, release within 20 days of the owner-occupant's written request (§ 33-1006(B)). Failure costs $1,000 plus actual damages under § 33-1006(C), and wilful refusal to release within 20 days of a written request carries at least $1,000 or treble damages plus fees under § 33-420(C).
• If you were barred from liening an owner-occupied home, you are not without a remedy. Under § 33-1005, monies paid by or for an owner-occupant to the contractor for labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools for which no lien is available are held in trust by that contractor for the benefit of the people who furnished them, and may not be diverted. Registrar of Contractors remedies under Title 32, Chapter 10 also remain. A stop notice does not help here — § 33-1053 puts owner-occupant dwellings outside the stop notice article entirely.