How to file a mechanics lien in California

Step by step

15 steps for a subcontractor in California.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm your contractor's license is active before you touch the job

   Before your first day, and it has to stay active every single day you perform.

   California bars an unlicensed contractor from suing to collect. No claim for the money means no lien, however perfect the rest of your paperwork is. The customer can also sue you to get back everything they already paid.

   Where it goes

   Contractors State License Board (CSLB).

   How

   Check your license status and history with the Contractors State License Board. If a license lapses mid-job, the statute looks at whether you were licensed at all times during performance.

   Proof to keep

   A license history printout showing continuous licensure covering your first and last day on the job.

   If you miss it: You cannot bring or maintain any action to collect compensation, and the person who hired you can sue to recover all compensation already paid to you.

   Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7031(a), (b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Get the owner's and the construction lender's name and address in writing

   At contract signing, before your first day on site.

   You cannot serve a preliminary notice on people you cannot name. California gives you three ways to get these names, and one of them is a flat duty on the contractor above you.

   Where it goes

   The direct contractor above you, and the owner.

   How

   Your written contract has to include a space for the owner's name and address and the construction lender's name and address — check that it is filled in. Separately, the direct contractor must make the owner's and lender's name and address available to anyone seeking to give a preliminary notice, so ask in writing. And if the owner takes out a construction loan after work starts, the owner has to tell everyone who gave a preliminary notice the lender's name and address.

   Proof to keep

   The signed contract page showing the owner and lender block, your written request to the direct contractor, and the written answer.

   What the document must contain

   • Owner's name and address
   • Construction lender's name and address, if any

   If you miss it: No direct penalty for this step, but you risk serving the preliminary notice on the wrong parties or missing the lender entirely — which invalidates a direct contractor's lien outright and leaves everyone else's incomplete.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8170 (contract must have spaces for owner and lender); § 8208 (direct contractor must supply the information); § 8210 (owner must disclose a later construction loan)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: On a public job, stop — there is no lien, so protect the money and the bond instead

   Preliminary notice within 20 days of your first day. Stop payment notice before the earlier of 30 days after the public entity records a notice of completion, acceptance or cessation, or 90 days after completion or cessation if none is recorded.

   Public property cannot be liened. If your job is for a state or local public entity, every lien step in this guide is the wrong clock. Your two remedies are a stop payment notice against money the public entity still holds, and a claim on the direct contractor's payment bond.

   Where it goes

   Preliminary notice goes to the public entity and to the direct contractor you provide work to. For a state contract, the stop payment notice goes to the director of the department that awarded the contract; for any other public entity, to the controller, auditor or other disbursing officer, or to the board that awarded the contract.

   How

   Give preliminary notice by personal delivery, registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier. Laborers are exempt, and so is anyone in a direct contract with the direct contractor. Then sign and verify a stop payment notice and give it the same way. The notice only covers work you provided in the 20 days before you gave the preliminary notice and afterward.

   Proof to keep

   A proof of notice declaration plus the post office or carrier documentation for every notice you send.

   What the document must contain

   • Signed and verified by you
   • A general description of the work to be provided
   • An estimate of the total amount in value of the work to be provided
   • Only amounts due for work provided through the date of the notice

   If you miss it: Without a preliminary notice your stop payment notice is invalid. Miss the stop-notice window and you lose that remedy entirely. Suit on the stop payment notice is due no earlier than 10 days after you gave it and no later than 90 days after that window closed; suit on the payment bond is due no later than six months after that window closed.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8160 (no lien on public work); §§ 9300, 9304 (preliminary notice); § 9354 (who to serve); § 9356 (stop payment notice deadline); § 9502 (stop notice suit); § 9558 (payment bond suit)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Serve your preliminary notice within 20 days of your first day

   Not later than 20 days after you first furnished labor, materials or equipment to the job.

   This is the notice that keeps your lien alive — you can only enforce a lien if you gave it. Serving it late is not automatically fatal, but a late notice covers only the work you furnished in the 20 days before you sent it and everything after. Everything earlier drops out of your claim permanently.

   Where it goes

   Three separate recipients: the owner or reputed owner, the direct contractor you provide work to (directly or through subcontractors), and the construction lender if there is one.

   How

   Personal delivery, or registered mail, certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier. Plain first-class mail does not satisfy this notice.

   Proof to keep

   A proof of notice declaration stating the kind of notice, the date, place and manner you gave it, and who you gave it to — plus the post office or carrier documentation: the certified or registered mail receipt, the return receipt or delivery confirmation, or the carrier's tracking record.

   What the document must contain

   • Name and address of the owner or reputed owner
   • Name and address of the direct contractor
   • Name and address of the construction lender, if any
   • A description of the site sufficient to identify it, including the street address if there is one
   • Your name, address and relationship to the parties
   • A general statement of the work you provide
   • The name of the person you provide it to
   • A statement or estimate of your demand
   • A general description of the work to be provided and an estimate of the total price of it
   • The boldface NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER warning required by statute

   If you miss it: Give no preliminary notice and you cannot enforce a lien at all. Give it late and your lien covers only work provided in the 20 days before the notice and afterward.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8200(a) (who to notify); § 8204(a) (20-day deadline); §§ 8202 and 8102 (contents); §§ 8106, 8110 (how to serve); § 8118 (proof); § 8410 (no notice, no lien)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: File a copy of your preliminary notice with the county recorder

   Optional

   Any time after you serve the preliminary notice.

   This is the cheapest early-warning system California offers. Once your preliminary notice is on file, the recorder mails you notification when a notice of completion or cessation is recorded on that property — the exact event that cuts your lien window from 90 days to 30 or 60. The filing is not a recorded document and gives nobody constructive notice; it only buys you the heads-up.

   Where it goes

   County recorder of the county where the property is located.

   How

   File the preliminary notice with the county recorder. The recorder may charge a fee and may destroy filed notices two years after filing.

   Proof to keep

   The recorder's filing receipt showing the date of filing.

   If you miss it: Your deadlines do not change. But the 30-day or 60-day clock can start from a recording nobody tells you about. Note that even when you do file, the recorder's failure to mail you notification does not extend your deadline — keep checking the index yourself.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8214(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Sign only the four statutory release forms, and never sign an unconditional one before the money clears

   Every time someone hands you a release in exchange for a progress payment or a final payment.

   A release only gives away your lien, stop payment notice and bond rights if it is substantially in one of the four forms the Civil Code prints. A conditional release is not effective until you are actually paid and there is evidence of payment. An unconditional release is effective the moment you sign it, paid or not.

   Where it goes

   Whoever is paying you.

   How

   Compare the paper you were handed against the statutory form: conditional waiver and release on progress payment, unconditional waiver and release on progress payment, conditional waiver and release on final payment, unconditional waiver and release on final payment. Use the conditional version until the check clears. Evidence of payment can be an endorsed, cancelled check or a written acknowledgment of payment.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of every release you signed, the endorsed cancelled check or written acknowledgment of payment, and the date you signed.

   What the document must contain

   • The release must be substantially in one of the four statutory forms
   • It must be signed by you as the claimant
   • For a conditional release, there must be evidence of actual payment

   If you miss it: Sign an unconditional release and then have the check bounce, and you have given away your lien, stop payment notice and payment bond rights for that amount with nothing in return.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8124 (when a release is effective); forms at §§ 8132, 8134, 8136, 8138(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Pin down the completion date — completion can happen with nobody announcing it

   The day work on the job stops, and then keep watching.

   Your outer deadline runs from completion of the whole work of improvement, not from your own last day. Completion happens on any one of four events: actual completion; the owner occupying or using the property together with labor stopping; labor stopping for a continuous 60 days; or the owner recording a notice of cessation after labor has stopped for 30 continuous days. A job that quietly stalls starts your clock without anyone telling you.

   Where it goes

   The job site, and the county recorder's index for a notice of cessation.

   How

   Write down the date work actually stopped on site and keep checking whether crews came back or the owner moved in. On a job subject to acceptance by a public entity, completion occurs on acceptance.

   Proof to keep

   Dated site photos, daily logs, delivery tickets, your last signed work ticket, and anything showing when the owner occupied or started using the property.

   If you miss it: You compute your deadline from the wrong date. Counting 90 days from your own last day on a job that completed earlier puts you past the deadline with a lien that is already dead.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8180(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Search the county recorder for a notice of completion or cessation — every week

   From the day work stops until the day you record your lien.

   This one filing by the owner decides your deadline. A recorded notice of completion or cessation cuts your window from 90 days after completion down to 60 days from that recording if your contract is with the owner, and 30 days from that recording for everyone else. The owner can record it on the completion date itself or within 15 days after. On a project let under two or more separate direct contracts, the owner can record a notice of completion covering just your portion — and from that recording you are treated as having ceased providing work. That can land months before the overall job finishes.

   Where it goes

   County recorder of the county where the property is located.

   How

   Search the county recorder's index against the property address and the owner's name. If you filed your preliminary notice with the recorder, you should also receive a mailed notification. The owner normally has to send you a copy within 10 days if you are a direct contractor or gave preliminary notice — but an owner who occupies the property as a personal residence in a dwelling of four or fewer units is exempt from that duty, so on those jobs you will get nothing.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of any recorded notice of completion or cessation showing its recording date, and the envelope and cover if the owner mailed you one.

   If you miss it: Your window closes 30 or 60 days after a recording you never looked for. If the owner did owe you a copy and failed to send it, that notice is ineffective to shorten your time — but that rescue does not exist for an owner-occupied dwelling of four or fewer units, and it does not exist at all if you never gave preliminary notice.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8190 (owner's duty to forward, the rescue, and the owner-occupant exemption); § 8182 (owner may record on or within 15 days after completion); § 8186 (notice of completion for one portion of a multi-contract job); § 8412(b), § 8414(b)(2) (the shortened windows)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Give a stop payment notice while your lien clock is still running

   Optional

   Before the time to record your claim of lien expires — the same 30, 60 or 90 days. It dies on exactly the same schedule as the lien.

   A stop payment notice freezes money that has not been paid out yet. It is a separate remedy from the lien and it can reach funds even where the property itself is a poor target. Given to a construction lender, the lender only has to withhold if you accompany the notice with a bond for 125 percent of your claim — an unbonded notice lets the lender pay out anyway.

   Where it goes

   To the owner, or to the owner's architect if there is one. To a construction lender, give it to the manager or other responsible officer at the office or branch that administers or holds the construction funds — anywhere else and it is not effective.

   How

   Sign and verify the notice and give it by personal delivery, registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery. If you want a lender to be obliged to withhold, attach a surety bond for 125 percent of the claim.

   Proof to keep

   A proof of notice declaration plus carrier documentation; a copy of the bond if you bonded the notice.

   What the document must contain

   • Signed and verified by you
   • A general description of the work to be provided
   • An estimate of the total amount in value of the work to be provided
   • Only amounts due for work you provided through the date of the notice

   If you miss it: The notice is not valid unless you gave preliminary notice to the extent required and gave the stop payment notice before the lien recording deadline expired. Miss either and there is nothing to enforce.

   Cal. Civ. Code § 8508 (validity); § 8502 (contents); § 8506 (who to serve); § 8532 (bonded notice, 125 percent); § 8536 (when a lender must withhold)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Build the claim of lien with all eight statutory contents and verify it

    Before you record. You may not record until you have stopped providing work; if your contract is with the owner, you may not record until you have completed that contract.

    California prescribes exactly what a claim of mechanics lien must contain. A claim missing the boldface Notice of Mechanics Lien or the signed proof of service affidavit is not a complete claim. Get the amount right too — a court that finds you willfully included labor, services, equipment or materials you did not furnish for that property can make you forfeit the lien entirely.

    Where it goes

    Prepared for recording with the county recorder of the county where the property is located.

    How

    Write it out as a single written statement, then sign and verify it. No notary is needed: a verified claim in otherwise proper form must be accepted by the recorder and is deemed duly recorded without acknowledgment.

    Proof to keep

    Your signed original, plus the invoices, time records and change orders that support the amount claimed.

    What the document must contain

    • A statement of your demand after deducting all just credits and offsets
    • The name of the owner or reputed owner, if known
    • A general statement of the kind of work you furnished
    • The name of the person who employed you or to whom you furnished the work
    • A description of the site sufficient for identification — a full legal description is not required
    • Your address
    • A proof of service affidavit, completed and signed by whoever served the copy, showing the date, place and manner of service and the name, address and capacity of the owner served
    • The NOTICE OF MECHANICS LIEN statement in at least 10-point boldface type
    • Your signature and verification of the whole statement

    If you miss it: An incomplete claim gives the owner a straightforward attack on the lien. Willfully padding it forfeits the lien. Note also that a direct contractor or subcontractor can only enforce a lien for the amount due under that contract after deducting the lien claims of other claimants for work embraced within it.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 8416(a), (b) (contents and recording without acknowledgment); § 8422(c) (willful inclusion forfeits the lien); § 8434 (amount limited by your contract)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: Serve the owner with a copy of the lien, then record — not the other way around

    At or before recording. The statute does not print a separate deadline, but the signed proof of service affidavit is itself a required content of the document you record, so serve first and put the affidavit inside the instrument.

    Failing to serve the owner a copy of the claim of lien, including the boldface Notice of Mechanics Lien, makes the lien unenforceable as a matter of law. There is no cure written into the statute and no grace period after recording.

    Where it goes

    The owner or reputed owner, at their residence or place of business address, or at the address shown on the building permit on file with the permitting authority.

    How

    Registered mail, certified mail, or first-class mail evidenced by a certificate of mailing, postage prepaid. Service is complete at the time you deposit the mail. If the owner cannot be served this way, you may instead serve the construction lender or the original contractor.

    Proof to keep

    The certified or registered mail receipt or the certificate of mailing, and the signed proof of service affidavit that you placed inside the recorded document.

    What the document must contain

    • A complete copy of the claim of mechanics lien
    • The NOTICE OF MECHANICS LIEN statement in at least 10-point boldface type

    If you miss it: The claim of mechanics lien is unenforceable as a matter of law.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 8416(c), (d), (e) (service and consequence); § 8416(a)(7) (proof of service affidavit is a required content); § 8416(a)(8) (the boldface notice)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Record your claim of lien — 90 days after completion, or 30 days after a notice of completion

    After you cease to provide work, and before whichever comes FIRST: 90 days after completion of the work of improvement, or 30 days after the owner records a notice of completion or cessation.

    This is the deadline for everyone whose contract is not with the property owner — the test is privity, not trade. It is 30 days after a recorded notice of completion, not 60. And the 90-day branch runs from completion of the whole job, not from your own last day. Your last day only fixes the earliest date you may record.

    Where it goes

    County recorder of the county where the property is located.

    How

    Record the signed, verified claim — with the proof of service affidavit already inside it — at the county recorder. No notary. Pay the recording fee; California has no single statewide figure, so check your county's current schedule.

    Proof to keep

    The conformed copy showing the recording date and instrument number, and the recorder's receipt. Calendar the 90 days to sue from the recording date the same day.

    What the document must contain

    • The eight statutory contents of the claim of lien
    • Your signature and verification

    If you miss it: You have no lien. Recording after the deadline does not create one, and re-recording does not restart anything.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 8414; recording without acknowledgment at § 8416(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: File your foreclosure lawsuit within 90 days of recording the lien

    Within 90 days after the date your claim of lien was recorded.

    The lien expires on its own. There is no renewal, no re-recording, no tolling because you are still negotiating and no extension because the owner keeps promising to pay. The only statutory extension: if you and the owner agree to extend credit and you record notice of that fact and its terms, you get 90 days after the credit expires — and in no case later than one year after completion of the work of improvement.

    Where it goes

    A California court. The boldface notice you served on the owner states the action must be filed no later than 90 days after the date the mechanics lien is recorded.

    How

    Commence a civil action to enforce the lien.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint showing the filing date, and the recorded notice of any credit extension if you are relying on one.

    If you miss it: The claim of lien expires and is unenforceable. It gets worse: once the 90 days lapse without suit, the owner can petition the court for an order releasing the property, and in that proceeding the prevailing party is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees. A blown deadline is not just a lost lien, it is exposure.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 8460(a), (b); § 8480 (owner's petition to release); § 8488(c) (attorney's fees to the prevailing party)(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Record the notice of pendency of action within 20 days of filing suit

    On or before 20 days after you commence the enforcement action.

    This is the recorded notice that tells the world your lawsuit exists. Only from the time it is recorded is a buyer or lender treated as having constructive notice of the case — and then only as to parties named by their real names.

    Where it goes

    The county recorder of the county — or each of the several counties — where the property is situated.

    How

    Record a notice of the pendency of the action as provided in the Code of Civil Procedure lis pendens statutes.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded notice showing the recording date and instrument number.

    What the document must contain

    • The parties designated by their real names

    If you miss it: Your lawsuit does not bind a purchaser or encumbrancer who acquires an interest before you record it. The property can be sold or refinanced out from under your claim.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 8461(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: If you gave a stop payment notice, sue on it on its own separate clock

    Optional

    No earlier than 10 days after you gave the stop payment notice, and no later than 90 days after the period for giving a stop payment notice expired.

    The stop payment notice is a separate claim with its own deadline, running from the stop-notice window and not from your lien recording date. People who correctly calendar the lien suit still lose the stop notice by assuming one filing covers both.

    Where it goes

    A California court; the 5-day notice goes to the owner and/or the construction lender you served.

    How

    Commence an action to enforce payment of the claim stated in the notice. Then, within 5 days after commencing it, give notice that you filed to everyone you gave the stop payment notice to, using the same statutory service methods.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint, and a proof of notice declaration for the 5-day notice of commencement.

    If you miss it: The stop payment notice ceases to be effective and whoever is holding the funds must release them.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 8550(a), (b), (d), (e)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in California

Where you file

Office

County Recorder of the county in which the property is situated

Recording fee

$20–$225

Notarization

Not required

Sworn or verified

Signed and verified by claimant

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 California

• Counting 90 days from your own last day on the job. Both the direct-contractor and the everyone-else deadline measure the outer limit from completion of the whole work of improvement. Your last day only sets the EARLIEST date you may record. A sub who finishes in March on a job that completes in September has a September deadline; a sub who finishes in March on a job that completed in April has roughly 30 days, not 90 from March (Civ. Code §§ 8412, 8414).
• Assuming you have 90 days when the owner recorded a notice of completion. That recording drops it to 60 days if your contract is with the owner and 30 days for everyone else, and the owner can record on the completion date itself or within 15 days after. This is the single most common way a California lien is lost (Civ. Code §§ 8412(b), 8414(b)(2), 8182).
• Waiting for the owner to tell you about a notice of completion on a house. An owner who occupies the property as a personal residence in a dwelling of four or fewer units is exempt from the duty to forward a recorded notice of completion, and the rule that an unforwarded notice cannot shorten your time does not rescue you. The 30-day or 60-day clock runs and nobody is obliged to say a word. Search the recorder yourself (Civ. Code § 8190(a), (c), (d)(1)).
• Skipping the preliminary notice and assuming it only costs you the lien. The owner's duty to forward a notice of completion runs to direct contractors and to claimants who GAVE preliminary notice. Skip the notice and you also forfeit the right to be told your clock was cut (Civ. Code § 8190(a)(2), (c)).
• Phased jobs. On a project let under two or more direct contracts, each covering a portion of the work, the owner can record a notice of completion for one portion — and from that recording a claimant other than a direct contractor on that portion is deemed to have ceased providing work. On a phased project that can precede overall completion by months (Civ. Code § 8186(a)).
• Assuming completion needs paperwork. Completion also occurs on the owner occupying or using the property together with labor stopping, or on labor stopping for a continuous 60 days, or on recordation of a notice of cessation after 30 continuous days of no labor. A job that quietly stalls starts the clock (Civ. Code § 8180).
• General contractors assuming they owe no preliminary notice. If your contract is with the owner you owe one to the construction lender, and compliance is a prerequisite to the validity of the lien claim. GCs on lender-financed jobs lose liens this way (Civ. Code § 8200(c), (e)(2)).
• Sending a preliminary notice late. It is not automatically fatal, but a late notice covers only work provided in the 20 days before you sent it and afterward. A supplier delivering since January who notices in June keeps five months of nothing (Civ. Code § 8204(a)).
• Sending a preliminary notice by ordinary first-class mail. Notice under this part must go by personal delivery, registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier. The looser first-class-plus-certificate-of-mailing option exists only for serving the claim of lien itself, not the preliminary notice (Civ. Code §§ 8106, 8110, compare § 8416(c)).
• Recording the lien and then serving the owner. Failure to serve a copy of the claim of lien, including the boldface Notice of Mechanics Lien, makes the lien unenforceable as a matter of law — and the signed proof of service affidavit is a required content of the document you record, so service belongs at or before recording, not after (Civ. Code § 8416(a)(7), (e)).
• Treating the 90 days to sue as negotiable. The lien expires by operation of law. No renewal, no re-recording, no tolling for settlement talks. The only extension is a RECORDED notice of an agreed extension of credit, capped at one year after completion (Civ. Code § 8460).
• Filing suit and forgetting the lis pendens. It must be recorded on or before 20 days after you commence the action, and only from recording does a purchaser or encumbrancer have constructive notice (Civ. Code § 8461).
• Padding the claim. Honest errors about your demand, credits, offsets or the work provided generally do not invalidate the lien — but a court that finds you willfully included labor, services, equipment or materials not furnished for that property makes you forfeit the lien, and a claim made with intent to defraud is invalid (Civ. Code § 8422).
• Signing the wrong release, or the right one too early. Only a release substantially in one of the four statutory forms gives away your rights, but signing an unconditional release before the check clears gives them away immediately. A conditional release is not effective without evidence of actual payment (Civ. Code § 8124).
• Relying on a lien-waiver clause in a subcontract to protect you, or believing one signed above you binds you. An owner, direct contractor or subcontractor cannot by contract waive or impair another claimant's rights, and any term purporting to do so is void — until that claimant signs an actual statutory waiver and release (Civ. Code § 8122).
• Working unlicensed, or letting a license lapse mid-job. It bars any action for compensation and lets the customer recover back everything already paid. Deadlines become irrelevant (Bus. & Prof. Code § 7031).
• Waiting for a lien deadline on a public job. There is no mechanics lien on California public work. The clocks are the stop payment notice window and the payment bond suit window, and they are different (Civ. Code §§ 8160, 9356, 9558).
• Serving an unbonded stop payment notice on a construction lender and expecting the money to stop. The lender may elect not to withhold if the notice is unbonded. A bond for 125 percent of the claim is what compels withholding (Civ. Code §§ 8532, 8536(b)(1)).
• On home improvement work, treating the contract as an afterthought. A home improvement contract over $500 must be in writing and signed before work commences, and must contain the statutory notices including the Mechanics Lien Warning (Bus. & Prof. Code § 7159(b), (d), (e)).
• Believing that because the homeowner already paid the general in full, your lien is barred. California has no such defense — the boldface NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER in the preliminary notice tells owners exactly the opposite (Civ. Code § 8202).

After you file

• Calendar the 90 days to sue on the day you record. The lien expires by operation of law 90 days after recordation if you have not commenced an action to enforce it (Civ. Code § 8460(a)).
• Record the notice of pendency of action within 20 days after you commence the enforcement action, or a buyer or lender is not bound by your lawsuit (Civ. Code § 8461).
• Watch for a lien release bond. The owner, or a direct contractor or subcontractor affected by your lien, can record a bond of 125 percent of the claim and the property is released from the lien and from any action to enforce it. Your claim then rides on the bond — and once they give you notice of the bond, you must commence an action ON THE BOND within six months. Until they give you that notice, the limitations period is tolled. This is a second, separate forfeiture point that people miss (Civ. Code § 8424).
• Watch for the owner's petition to release the property. Once the 90 days lapse without suit, the owner can petition the court for a release order, and in that proceeding the prevailing party is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees. A missed deadline can end up costing you money, not just the claim (Civ. Code §§ 8480, 8488(c)).
• If you also gave a stop payment notice, its enforcement deadline is separate: suit no earlier than 10 days after giving the notice and no later than 90 days after the stop-notice period expired, plus notice of commencement to the recipients within 5 days. Miss it and the withheld funds are released (Civ. Code § 8550).
• Know the ceiling on your recovery. A direct contractor or subcontractor may enforce a lien only for the amount due under that contractor's own contract after deducting the lien claims of other claimants for work embraced within that contract (Civ. Code § 8434).
• Your lien's priority is generally over encumbrances that attached after commencement of the work of improvement, or that were unrecorded at commencement and of which you had no notice (Civ. Code § 8450).
• On public work there is nothing to release and nothing to foreclose. Track the stop payment notice suit window (90 days after the stop-notice period expires) and the payment bond suit window (six months after that same period) (Civ. Code §§ 9502, 9558).