How to file a mechanics lien in Guam

Step by step

10 steps for a subcontractor in Guam.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm this job can carry a lien at all

   Before you start work, or the day you are asked to bid or sign.

   Guam's lien statute gives lien rights on private real property and expressly excludes Public Works. If the land belongs to the Government of Guam, a GovGuam agency or authority, or the United States (Navy, Air Force, Army, any DoD project), you have no mechanics lien on Guam and never will. Recording one anyway does not preserve anything.

   Where it goes

   Your own contract documents, and the land records at the Department of Land Management if you need to confirm who holds title.

   How

   Read the award letter, the notice to proceed and the contract. Find the name of the entity that owns the land, not just the entity that hired you. If the owner is a government, stop and go to the bond track (last step).

   Proof to keep

   Your contract, the award letter or notice to proceed, and anything naming the owner of the property.

   What the document must contain

   • The legal name of the record owner of the land
   • Whether the owner is a private party, the Government of Guam, or the United States

   If you miss it: You spend your 45 or 90 days perfecting a lien that legally does not exist, and you blow the 90-day bond notice that was your only real remedy. Both claims are gone.

   7 GCA § 33101(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Serve your 20-day preliminary notice on the owner

   Not later than 20 days after the day you FIRST furnish labor, services, equipment or materials to the job site. Count from your first day, not from when you were last paid.

   A written preliminary notice to the property owner. The statute makes it "a necessary prerequisite to the validity of any claim of lien." You are exempt only if you are under direct contract with the owner, or you are performing actual labor for wages. That exemption is about who signed your contract, not your job title — a general contractor hired by a tenant, by a developer who is not the record owner, or by another contractor is NOT exempt. If you are not certain you are exempt, serve it. Serving one you did not need costs you a stamp. Skipping one you did need costs you the whole lien.

   Where it goes

   On the owner or reputed owner of the property. Not the general contractor, not the lender, not the Department of Land Management. Serve the owner.

   How

   Deliver it personally, or send it by certified mail with return receipt requested. Those are the only two methods in the statute. Regular mail, email, fax and hand-delivery-without-a-signature are not in the statute.

   Proof to keep

   The signed return receipt (green card) or a signed proof of personal service; a dated copy of the notice exactly as served; and delivery tickets, timesheets or invoices that prove the date you first furnished to the site.

   What the document must contain

   • A general description of the labor, service, equipment or materials furnished or to be furnished, and an estimate of the total price
   • Your name and address as the person furnishing them — use a permanent address you will still be reading mail at a year from now, because the owner is directed to mail any Notice of Completion to the address on this notice
   • The name of the person who contracted for the purchase of that labor, service, equipment or materials
   • A description of the job site sufficient for identification
   • The statutory "NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER" statement in boldface type, warning the owner that a mechanics lien may be placed on the property even though the owner has paid the contractor in full, and that the owner may wish to require a signed release before paying

   If you miss it: No lien at all. Not a reduced lien, not a late lien — the statute makes the notice a condition of validity, so a perfectly recorded claim of lien is void without it.

   7 GCA § 33106(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: If you are already past 20 days, serve the notice today anyway

   Immediately. Every day you wait permanently deletes another day of work from your lien.

   A late preliminary notice is allowed, but it only saves part of your claim. Your lien will cover only what you furnished in the 20 days before you serve the notice, plus everything after. Everything earlier drops out of the lien forever. A supplier who delivered most of a job before noticing keeps a lien on almost nothing — but that is still better than nothing, and you still have a personal claim for the rest of the debt.

   Where it goes

   On the owner or reputed owner.

   How

   Same as the on-time notice: personally, or certified mail with return receipt requested.

   Proof to keep

   The return receipt and a dated copy — the service date is now the exact line that decides how much of your money is secured, so the proof of that date matters more than usual.

   What the document must contain

   • Same five elements as the on-time notice, including the boldface NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER statement

   If you miss it: You keep losing a day of secured work for every day you delay, and if you never serve it you have no lien at all.

   7 GCA § 33106(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Watch for the owner's Notice of Completion — it cuts your 90 days down to 45

   Any time after completion. The owner is directed to record it within 10 days after completion, so it usually lands early.

   This is the lever the other side pulls. If the owner does all three of these things — records a Notice of Completion with the Department of Land Management, mails it to you by registered or certified mail return receipt requested at the address on your 20-day preliminary notice, and publishes it in a newspaper of general circulation on Guam — your deadline becomes 45 days from that recording, and it overrides the 90-day path. The statute takes whichever comes first. Worse, "completion" does not require any handover you would notice: it also happens when the owner occupies or uses the work and labor stops, when the owner accepts the work, or when work stops for a continuous 60 days. On a job built under two or more separate original contracts, the owner can record a separate Notice of Completion for each portion as it finishes.

   Where it goes

   Department of Land Management, Land Records Division, ITC Building, Tamuning — the same office where you will record your lien.

   How

   Check the land records at DLM periodically once your work is done. Open your certified mail. Watch the Guam newspapers. Do not rely on anyone telling you.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of any Notice of Completion you receive, the envelope and the certified-mail receipt showing the date it arrived, and a dated printout of your DLM records search.

   What the document must contain

   • A valid Notice of Completion must be signed and verified by the owner or the owner's agent and state the date of completion, the owner's name and address, the nature of the owner's interest or estate, a description of the site sufficient for identification and recordation including lot number and street address, and the name of the original contractor and a general statement of the work

   If you miss it: Your window closed 45 days after the owner recorded, while you were still counting to 90. The lien is time-barred and cannot be revived.

   7 GCA §§ 33104(a)(2), 33105(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Work out your real filing deadline and write it on the wall

   The day payment stops, or the day you finish — whichever comes first.

   Your deadline to record the claim of lien is the EARLIER of these two: (1) 90 days after you complete your own contract, or 90 days after you have gone 30 consecutive days without performing labor or furnishing material; or (2) 45 days after the owner records, mails and publishes a Notice of Completion. The 90-day clock runs from YOUR contract, not from completion of the building. A foundation sub who finished in month 2 of a two-year job is on the clock from month 2. Safe practice: put 45 days from your own last day on the job in your calendar and treat that as the deadline. It is a date you actually know, and it is at or before the true statutory deadline in nearly every ordinary job.

   Where it goes

   Your own records.

   How

   Pull your last delivery ticket, last timesheet or last invoice and count from that date.

   Proof to keep

   Dated delivery tickets, signed timesheets, daily reports, invoices and any written acceptance or punch-list sign-off. If the deadline is ever fought over, these documents are the fight.

   What the document must contain

   • The date you completed your own contract
   • The date of your last labor or last material delivery
   • The date of any 30-consecutive-day gap in your work
   • The recording date of any Notice of Completion you received

   If you miss it: The lien right expires. Guam has no extension, no renewal and no grace period for recording late.

   7 GCA § 33104(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Write your claim of lien and get it notarized

   Several days before your deadline. Do not leave the notary for the last morning.

   A written claim of lien containing the five items the statute lists. The lien statute itself does not require a sworn verification, but Guam's recording law will not let DLM record any instrument that has not been acknowledged before a notary, and DLM's own recording sheet says every document presented must be notarized and fully acknowledged. Good news: the statute is forgiving about honest errors. A mistake does not invalidate the lien unless a court finds it was willfully made with intent to defraud — in which case you forfeit the lien entirely, so do not pad the amount.

   Where it goes

   Any notary public. The Guam Attorney General publishes a listing of private notaries.

   How

   Prepare it in writing and sign it before a notary public. If a corporation is the claimant, it must be acknowledged by its president or secretary, or another person executing on the corporation's behalf. Make sure the notary stamp block does not overlap the notary seal — DLM calls that out specifically.

   Proof to keep

   A signed, notarized duplicate original for your own file, plus the backup showing how you calculated the amount claimed.

   What the document must contain

   • The name and address of the claimant
   • A general description of the kind of work done and materials furnished
   • The amount owed for it — the lien is capped at the reasonable value of what you furnished or the price you agreed, whichever is less
   • The name of the person or firm by whom you were employed, or to whom you furnished the labor or materials
   • A description of the property sought to be charged with the lien, sufficient for identification
   • A notary acknowledgment (required by the recording law, not the lien statute)

   If you miss it: Without the notary acknowledgment DLM will not record it. A document handed back at the counter has not been recorded, and a rejected recording does not stop your 45 or 90 day clock.

   7 GCA § 33104(a); 21 GCA § 31104(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Record the lien at Land Management in person — and pay the fee the same day

   On or before your deadline. Go at least two days early; recording is first come, first served and the counter closes at 4:00 p.m.

   Record the notarized claim of lien with the Department of Land Management. Guam has no counties — DLM is the single recorder for the whole island. If the project is two or more separate residential units, each unit is its own work of improvement: record a separate claim of lien against each unit, and run a separate completion date and deadline for each. One blanket lien across a multi-unit residential project is the wrong instrument.

   Where it goes

   Department of Land Management, Land Records Division, 590 S. Marine Corps Drive, ITC Building, Suite 315, 3rd Floor, Tamuning, Guam 96913. Mailing address P.O. Box 2950, Hagatna, Guam 96932. Recording hours 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday–Friday except holidays. Recording (671) 649-5263 ext. 100/117; customer service ext. 100/114; cashier ext. 100/111.

   How

   In person at the counter. Sign in on the logbook, take a seat and wait to be called — it is first come, first served. DLM's published sheet describes no e-recording and no mail-in recording. Pay at the DLM cashier window on the 3rd floor the same day: cash, credit card, or a check drawn from a bank on Guam, payable to "Treasurer of Guam." DLM states in capitals that same-day fee payment is required, otherwise the recorded document SHALL BE CANCELLED due to nonpayment.

   Proof to keep

   The DLM-stamped recorded copy showing the instrument number and the exact recording date, and the paid fee receipt. The recording date starts your 90-day suit clock, so you need it in writing.

   What the document must contain

   • The notarized claim of lien with all five statutory elements
   • One original — DLM's published sheet requires one original plus two photocopies only for deeds, and is silent as to liens, so bring the original plus two copies to be safe
   • Payment ready in an accepted form

   If you miss it: After the deadline there is no lien. And if your payment does not clear the same day, DLM cancels the recording for nonpayment — if that cancellation lands after your 45 or 90 day deadline, the lien is gone and cannot be re-recorded. An off-island contractor showing up on the last day with a mainland check loses the lien.

   7 GCA § 33104(a); 21 GCA § 60320(a)(2), (a)(3)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: File your foreclosure suit within 90 days of recording

   Within 90 days after the date you recorded the claim of lien. Count from the recording date, not from completion.

   Your lien stops binding the property 90 days after recording unless you have commenced an action to foreclose it in the Superior Court of Guam within that time. Guam has no one-year enforcement period — if someone tells you a year, they are describing a different jurisdiction. This applies identically to every type of claimant. Note that even if the owner has bonded the lien off, this 90-day clock keeps running and you must still sue in time.

   Where it goes

   Superior Court of Guam.

   How

   Commence a lien foreclosure action in the Superior Court of Guam. Get a construction lawyer on Guam involved well before day 80 — the next step has a 10-day fuse attached to the day you file.

   Proof to keep

   The file-stamped complaint showing the filing date, and the case number.

   What the document must contain

   • A complaint to foreclose the mechanics lien, filed and commenced within the 90 days

   If you miss it: The lien no longer binds the property. You still keep your ordinary personal action for the debt against whoever owes it, but the security against the land is gone permanently.

   7 GCA § 33108(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Record a lis pendens within 10 days of filing suit and serve the owner

   Within 10 days after you commence the foreclosure action. This is the single easiest way to lose everything on Guam.

   After you file suit you must record a notice of lis pendens with DLM and get a copy to the owner. If you do not, the owner may serve a written demand on you to record one — and if you fail or refuse to record within 10 days after receiving that demand, the statute says the lien foreclosure action "shall be dismissed with prejudice." That is loss of the entire case, not just the lien. A contractor who files on day 89 and then goes quiet for two weeks can be dismissed with prejudice.

   Where it goes

   Record at the Department of Land Management, Land Records Division, ITC Building Suite 315, Tamuning. Serve on the owner.

   How

   Record the notice of lis pendens at DLM, then serve a copy on the owner of the work of improvement either personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested.

   Proof to keep

   The DLM-stamped recorded lis pendens with its date, the return receipt or proof of personal service on the owner, and a dated copy of any written demand you receive from the owner.

   What the document must contain

   • A notice of lis pendens identifying the pending foreclosure action and the property
   • A recording fee of $25 for the lis pendens, which is expressly listed in the DLM fee schedule, plus $5 per attachment and $0.50 per page of attachment

   If you miss it: Dismissed with prejudice. You lose the lien and the foreclosure claim, and you cannot refile it.

   7 GCA § 33108(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Public works only: notice the prime within 90 days and sue on the bond within 1 year

    Written notice to the prime contractor within 90 days of your own last labor or last material. Suit on the bond no later than 1 year after that same date.

    This is the replacement track when the lien is unavailable because the job is a Government of Guam public works project. Every GovGuam construction contract awarded in excess of $25,000 must carry a payment bond equal to 100% of the contract price, for the protection of everyone supplying labor and material to the contractor or its subcontractors. If you have a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor of the prime but no contractual relationship with the prime, you must give the prime written notice within 90 days of your last labor or material to have a right of action on the bond. Separately, you may sue on the bond once 90 days have passed since your last labor or material and you have not been paid in full. On a federal or DoD job this statute does not apply at all — the federal Miller Act does, and it is outside the Guam code.

    Where it goes

    On the prime contractor for the notice. Suit on the payment bond is brought in the Superior Court of Guam.

    How

    Serve the notice personally, or by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the prime contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts its business.

    Proof to keep

    The certified or registered mail receipt or proof of personal service, a dated copy of the notice, and a certified copy of the payment bond — anyone may request a certified copy from the government upon paying reproduction and postage costs, and it is prima facie evidence of the bond's contents.

    What the document must contain

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

    If you miss it: If you are a claimant without privity with the prime and you skip the 90-day notice, you have no right of action on the bond. If you miss the one-year mark, no suit on the payment bond may be commenced at all. There is no lien to fall back on, because public works are excluded from lien rights.

    5 GCA § 5304(a), (d), (e)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Guam

Where you file

Office

Guam Department of Land Management, Land Records Division (Recording Section), 590 S. Marine Corps Drive, ITC Building, Suite 315, 3rd Floor, Tamuning, GU 96913; mailing address P.O. Box 2950, Hagatna, GU 96932; recording (671) 649-5263 ext. 100/117, customer service ext. 100/114, cashier ext. 100/111

Recording fee

$25–$40

Notarization

Required

How it is served

Certified mail

Copies

1

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

What trips people up in Guam

• Skipping the 20-day preliminary notice. This is the number one way to lose a Guam lien. § 33106(a) makes it "a necessary prerequisite to the validity of any claim of lien" — not a formality, a condition of existence. Everyone must serve it except someone in direct contract with the owner and someone performing actual labor for wages.
• Serving the preliminary notice late and assuming you are fine. § 33106(b) lets you serve late, but your lien then covers only what you furnished in the 20 days before service, plus anything after. Everything earlier is silently amputated. You can end up with a technically valid lien worth a fraction of what you are owed.
• Assuming the "GC exemption" follows your job title. It does not — it follows your contract. § 33106(a) exempts "one under direct contract with the owner." A general contractor hired by a tenant, by a developer that is not the record owner, or by another contractor must serve the notice like any sub. Conversely, a supplier or architect who contracted directly with the owner is exempt. When in doubt, serve it.
• Putting a stale or temporary address on the preliminary notice. § 33104(a)(2) directs the owner to mail the Notice of Completion "to such claimant at the address stated in the claimant's twenty (20)-day preliminary notice." Put a bad address there and the 45-day clock can start against you while the notice sits in a dead mailbox.
• Waiting for the project to finish. The 90-day clock runs from completion of YOUR contract, or your own 30 consecutive days of not working — not from completion of the building. An early-trade sub can be time-barred while the job is still going.
• Getting ambushed by a Notice of Completion. Once the owner records it with DLM, mails it to you certified or registered RRR, and publishes it in a Guam newspaper, your window collapses to 45 days and overrides the 90-day path. The statute takes whichever occurs first, and the owner fires this lever unilaterally.
• Missing a "deemed" completion. Under § 33105, completion also happens when the owner occupies or uses the work and labor stops, when the owner accepts the work, or when work stops for a continuous 60 days. Any of those can start the owner's 10-day window to record a Notice of Completion with no formal milestone you would ever see.
• Filing one blanket lien across a multi-unit residential project. § 33103 makes each of two or more separate residential units a separate work of improvement: separate claim of lien, separate completion date, separate deadline, per unit.
• Trusting the published industry summaries for the U.S. territories. Several state a Guam rule of 60 days for parties in direct contract with the owner and 30 days for everyone else after a notice of completion, with 90 days from project completion otherwise. That is the old California rule, not Guam's. We searched the full text of 7 GCA ch. 33: "sixty (60)" appears only as the deemed-completion cessation period in § 33105 and as the statute's own effective date in § 33112; "thirty (30)" appears only as the 30-year estate term in § 33103, the 30-consecutive-day work stoppage in § 33104(a)(1)(B), and a 2009 transition rule. Neither exists as a filing deadline, and § 33104 does not split by claimant type at all — it speaks only of "Any claimant under the provisions of this Chapter."
• Treating the enforcement window as a year. § 33108 kills the lien 90 days after recording unless suit is commenced in the Superior Court. There is no 365-day period anywhere in the chapter.
• Filing suit and forgetting the lis pendens. Record it with DLM within 10 days of commencing the action and serve the owner. If the owner then serves a written demand and you still fail to record within 10 days, the action "shall be dismissed with prejudice" — the whole claim, not just the lien.
• Recording a lien on a public works or federal project. § 33101 excludes Public Works from lien rights outright. A claimant who records a worthless lien instead of noticing the prime within 90 days and suing on the 5 GCA § 5304 bond within a year loses the bond claim too.
• Believing the no-lien clause in your subcontract. § 33102: "The right to lien under this Chapter may not be privately waived, impaired, or released except with the written consent of the lien claimant." Prospective waivers and lien-subordination clauses are void on Guam. A contractor who stands down because of one gives up rights he never actually lost.
• Assuming a tenant build-out reaches the owner's land. Under § 33103 the owner's interest is not subject to a lien for work contracted by someone holding an estate under the owner where that estate runs at least 30 years from commencement of the work, or was negotiated at arm's length on commercially reasonable terms — and that person is not the owner's agent. Most arm's-length commercial leases fit, so your lien reaches only the tenant's leasehold. Find out who signed before you price the risk.
• Padding the amount claimed. § 33104(a) forgives honest mistakes, but if the court finds an error was willfully made with intent to defraud, you forfeit the lien entirely.
• Turning up at the DLM counter on the last day with a mainland check. Payment must be cash, credit card, or a check drawn from a bank on Guam, payable to "Treasurer of Guam," and DLM states that same-day payment is required or the recorded document shall be cancelled for nonpayment. A cancellation that lands after your deadline is an uncurable lost lien. There is no e-recording or mail-in recording described in DLM's published requirements, and the counter is open only 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., first come first served.

After you file

• Diary day 90 from the recording date immediately. § 33108 releases the property automatically 90 days after recording unless a foreclosure action is commenced in the Superior Court within that time.
• The moment you file suit, diary day 10. You must record a notice of lis pendens with DLM within 10 days after commencing the action and serve a copy on the owner personally or by certified mail RRR.
• If you did not record the lis pendens and the owner serves a written demand, you have 10 days from receiving that demand. Failure means the foreclosure action "shall be dismissed with prejudice" — a total loss of the claim, not just the lien.
• Expect the owner to try to bond the lien off. Under § 33107 any person disputing the lien may record a surety bond for one and one-half times the amount of the claim. The property is then released from the lien and the surety is substituted for the owner as a party defendant. Your money claim survives against the bond — but the 90-day suit deadline keeps running, so bonding off is not a reason to slow down.
• Do not race other lien claimants. § 33109: all liens timely filed have equal priority. If a foreclosure sale happens, proceeds are deposited into escrow with the Superior Court until the time for all other claimants to record has expired, then distributed — in full if 150% of the aggregate claims is less than the escrow, otherwise pro rata against 150% of the aggregate.
• Your lien is only one of your remedies. § 33110 preserves your right to maintain a personal action for the debt under other Guam law, in a separate suit or in the foreclosure action, plus any right to a writ of attachment or execution. Missing a lien deadline does not extinguish the debt.
• If you are a sub and the claim is against your contractor, note that § 33111 requires that contractor to defend the action at his own expense, and lets the owner withhold from the original contractor the amount of the recorded claim to apply toward satisfying it.
• If you lose the foreclosure action, the owner may record a certified copy of the judgment at DLM, which conclusively establishes for all persons that your lien is extinguished.
• When you get paid, record a release. The DLM fee for recording a release is $15.00 plus $5.00 per attachment and $0.50 per page of attachment, under 21 GCA § 60320(a)(4). Leaving a satisfied lien on the record invites a separate fight.