How to file a mechanics lien in Maine

Step by step

9 steps for a subcontractor in Maine.

1. 1

   Step 1: Send the owner the double-payment warning notice

   There is no deadline in the statute. The cutoff is an event, not a date: the owner's next payment to your direct contractor. Send it as early as you can — ideally before your first day. If you are already working, send it today; it still works going forward.

   On a house or other non-business property, your lien is capped at whatever the owner still owes the contractor who hired you. If the owner already paid that contractor in full, your lien is worth nothing. This written notice is what breaks that cap: once the owner has it, they stop getting credit for payments they make after that. This does NOT apply to business, commercial or industrial property — unless the owner lives on the premises. So a sub on a true commercial job has a full-price lien and needs no notice, but a sub on a mixed-use building or an owner-occupied storefront is right back in the notice regime.

   Where it goes

   To the owner. If the owner has a known agent in charge of the property, you may deliver it to the agent. If the owner does not live on the property, you may deliver it to the owner at the owner's residence.

   How

   Written notice. The statute does not prescribe a delivery method. Certified mail with return receipt is the sensible choice because it gives you proof, but it is not required.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of the notice exactly as you sent it, plus proof of delivery and the date it arrived. The date matters more than anything else here — it is the line between payments the owner gets credit for and payments they do not.

   What the document must contain

   • This exact warning at the top of the notice: "Under Maine law, your failure to assure that ___ (name of the claimant giving notice) is paid before further payment by you to ___ (name of contractor) may result in your paying twice."
   • A description of the property good enough to identify it
   • The names of the owners
   • A statement that you are going to furnish, are furnishing, or have furnished labor, materials or services
   • A statement that you may claim a lien

   If you miss it: You do not lose the lien. You lose its value. On residential or owner-occupied property your lien is capped at the balance the owner still owed your contractor, and on a job where the owner already paid in full that balance is zero. You can file a flawless, on-time lien and collect nothing.

   10 M.R.S. §3255(3)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Record a heads-up notice at the registry while you are still on the job

   Optional

   Any time while you are working or after. It protects you for 120 days from the day you record it, and you can record it again as many times as you want, each one good for another 120 days.

   If the owner sells the property before you record your lien, the buyer takes it free and clear and you are left with nothing to lien. Recording this short notice puts buyers on notice that a lien may be coming. Your actual lien statement under §3253 does the same job once you record it — this is for the stretch before that, while you are still working and have no lien to record yet.

   Where it goes

   The registry of deeds for the county or registry district where the building, wharf or pier is located.

   How

   Record it at the registry of deeds.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy showing the registry's recording stamp with book, page, date and time. Diary the 120-day expiry so you can re-record before it lapses.

   What the document must contain

   • A description of the property
   • The names of the owners
   • A statement that you are going to furnish, are furnishing, or have furnished labor, materials or services, and that a lien may be claimed

   If you miss it: Nothing happens unless the property sells. If it does sell before you have anything on record, the buyer takes title free of your lien and your claim has no property behind it.

   10 M.R.S. §3255(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Watch for the owner's written notice that they will not be responsible

   Any time during the job. This is the owner's move, not yours — you cannot stop it. You can only react to it.

   This is the lever the other side can pull in Maine. If you did not contract directly with the owner, the owner can hand you written notice that they will not be responsible for your work. From that moment forward, nothing you do on that job is lienable. Work you already performed stays protected. Everything after does not. If you keep working after getting one of these, you are building up receivables with no lien behind them.

   Where it goes

   It comes to you, from the owner.

   How

   You do not do anything to start this. If you receive a notice like this, stop and get the date of receipt pinned down, then make a business decision about continuing.

   Proof to keep

   The notice itself, the envelope, and hard proof of the date you received it. Your records of exactly what work was performed and what materials were delivered BEFORE that date — that is the only part of your claim that survives, and you will have to prove where the line falls.

   If you miss it: There is no deadline to miss. But if you ignore one of these and keep working, every hour and every delivery after that date is unsecured. You can sue the party who hired you for breach of contract, but you have no lien on the property for that work.

   10 M.R.S. §3252(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Record your sworn lien statement at the registry of deeds

   Within 90 days after YOUR last day — the last day you performed labor, furnished materials or performed services. Count from your own last day, not from when the project finished and not from when you sent your last invoice.

   This is the document that puts your lien on the public record. It has to be sworn, not just signed: you swear in front of a notary that what is in it is true. Do this and the next step (mailing the owner a copy) together — they are two halves of one deadline.

   Where it goes

   The registry of deeds for the county or registry district where the building, wharf or pier is located. Maine has 17 registry districts across 16 counties — Aroostook is split into North and South, so on an Aroostook job confirm which district covers the parcel before you record.

   How

   Sign it in front of a notary who administers an oath and completes a jurat — you are swearing to the contents, not just acknowledging your signature. Someone can sign and swear on your behalf if needed. Then record it. The recording fee is $35 per instrument for non-government filers under 33 M.R.S. §751; individual registries may add e-recording vendor charges, so confirm the total with your registry.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy bearing the registry's stamp with book, page, date and time. Your fee receipt. The notarized original. Also keep the backup for your number — invoices, delivery tickets, daily logs, change orders — because the amount is the thing most likely to be attacked.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount due you, with all just credits given — deduct every payment and credit the other side is entitled to
   • A description of the property accurate enough to identify it
   • The names of the owners, if you know them
   • Your signature, subscribed and sworn to by you or by someone on your behalf, with the notary's jurat

   If you miss it: Your lien dissolves. One exception, and it is a big one: if you furnished your labor, materials or services under a contract directly with the owner, §3253 does not apply to you at all. A general contractor at day 100 has NOT lost the lien. Recording is still worth doing, because an unrecorded lien loses to someone who buys the property, but your binding deadline is the 120-day lawsuit.

   10 M.R.S. §3253(1)(A); §3253(2); recording fee 33 M.R.S. §751(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Mail the owner a copy of the recorded statement

   Within the same 90 days after your last day. This is not a second window — it runs out on the same day the recording deadline does. Do it the day you record.

   Recording is only half of what the statute requires. The other half is getting a copy of that recorded statement into the owner's hands. A contractor who records and stops there has no lien. Both halves have to happen inside the 90 days.

   Where it goes

   To the owner, or to all of the owners if there is more than one. Mail to every owner named on the deed.

   How

   Ordinary mail. Not certified mail. Go to the post office counter and buy a USPS certificate of mailing — the statute makes that certificate conclusive proof that the owner received it. This is the cheapest and strongest proof in Maine lien practice, and it beats certified mail, because a certified letter that comes back refused or unclaimed proves the owner did NOT receive it.

   Proof to keep

   The USPS certificate of mailing, stamped by the post office, for each owner. Keep the original — this is the single document that proves this step happened. A copy of what you mailed and the address you mailed it to.

   What the document must contain

   • A copy of the same statement you recorded under §3253(1)(A)

   If you miss it: Your lien dissolves, even though it is sitting recorded at the registry. Recording without mailing gets you nothing.

   10 M.R.S. §3253(1)(B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: File your lawsuit to enforce the lien

   Within 120 days after YOUR last day — the same day the 90-day clock started from. Not 120 days from when you recorded. If you recorded on day 89, you have 31 days left.

   This is the deadline that actually kills Maine liens, because people assume recording bought them a fresh 120 days. It did not. Both clocks started on your last day on the job and have been running side by side the whole time. This is also the one hard deadline that applies to everyone, including a general contractor who had no recording deadline at all. One exception extends it: if the owner dies, is adjudicated bankrupt, or has a warrant in insolvency issued against their estate within the 120 days and before you sue, you get 90 days from that adjudication, from notice of the appointment of the assignee, executor or administrator, or from revocation of the warrant.

   Where it goes

   With the Superior Court or District Court clerk in the county or division where the house, building, appurtenances, wharf or pier is located.

   How

   File a complaint with the court clerk. Talk to a lawyer before this step — this is litigation, and the complaint has required allegations.

   Proof to keep

   The clerk-stamped complaint showing the filing date. You need that exact date for the next step — it starts a 60-day clock.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement that you claim a lien on the described property and land for labor, materials or services furnished in erecting, altering, moving or repairing it
   • Whether the work was furnished by virtue of a contract with the owner, or by consent of the owner
   • If it was NOT furnished under a contract with the owner: a statement that you complied with §3253

   If you miss it: You lose the lien. Recording it on time does not save you; the recorded lien stops being enforceable.

   10 M.R.S. §3255(1); §3256 (extension); §3257 (contents of complaint)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Record notice of your lien complaint at the registry

   Within 60 days of the date the complaint was filed. This clock starts at filing, not at your last day of work.

   Almost nobody does this, and it is the second place Maine claimants get wiped out. Filing the lawsuit puts your claim in the court file, but it does not put it in the land records. Until you record notice of the complaint, somebody can buy this property and take it free of your lien while your case is still pending — you win the lawsuit against a property that is gone.

   Where it goes

   The registry of deeds for the county or registry district where the property is located — the same one where you recorded the lien statement.

   How

   Record any one of three things: a certificate from the court clerk (the clerk issues one on written request of your attorney), an affidavit from you or your attorney, or an attested copy of the complaint itself.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy with the registry's stamp showing book, page and date. Compare that date against the complaint filing date to confirm you landed inside 60 days.

   If you miss it: The lien itself stays valid — missing this does not invalidate it. But if a bona fide purchaser for value takes title before you record, that buyer takes title free of your lien.

   10 M.R.S. §3261(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: On a public job: send written notice to the prime contractor

   Within 90 days from the date you performed the last of the labor or supplied the last of the material.

   Public work runs on a completely different track. On a Maine public contract over $125,000 the prime has to post a payment bond, and that bond — not a lien — is what you collect from. If you did not contract directly with the prime contractor, this notice is the condition of your bond claim. Do not record a lien statement instead; that is the wrong track and it burns the time you needed for this.

   Where it goes

   To the prime contractor, at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts business, or at the contractor's residence.

   How

   Serve it by registered or certified mail.

   Proof to keep

   The registered or certified mail receipt and the return receipt, plus a dated copy of the notice. Also get a copy of the payment bond itself from the awarding public agency early — you need the surety's name and the bond number to make a claim.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount claimed, stated with substantial accuracy
   • The name of the party you furnished the labor or material to

   If you miss it: You lose your claim against the payment bond. On a public job there is no lien to fall back on, so this is usually the end of the road.

   14 M.R.S. §871(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: On a public job: sue on the payment bond

   Within one year from the date you performed the last of the labor or supplied the last of the material.

   This is the public-job equivalent of the 120-day lien lawsuit, and it is much longer — one year, not 120 days. Anyone who furnished labor or material to the contractor or a subcontractor and has not been paid in full may bring the action in their own name.

   Where it goes

   In the county in Maine where the construction, alteration or repair of the public building, public improvement or public work is located.

   How

   File suit on the bond. Get a lawyer involved well before the one-year mark.

   Proof to keep

   The clerk-stamped complaint showing the filing date, plus your copy of the bond and the §871 notice you sent with its mailing receipts.

   If you miss it: Your bond claim is time-barred. There is a narrow carve-out in the statute for a material supplier whose claim was not ascertainable within the year, but do not plan around it.

   14 M.R.S. §871(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Maine

Where you file

Office

County Registry of Deeds (register of deeds for the county or registry district in which the building, wharf or pier is situated)

Recording fee

$35–$45

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn statement

How it is served

Ordinary mail

Copies

1

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

What trips people up in Maine

• Thinking recording the lien restarts the lawsuit clock. It does not. The 90-day recording deadline (§3253(1)) and the 120-day lawsuit deadline (§3255(1)) both run from the same day — your own last day on the job. Record on day 89 and you have 31 days left to sue, not 120. This is the number one way Maine liens die.
• Recording the lien and stopping there. §3253(1) requires BOTH recording at the registry AND getting a copy of the statement to the owner, both inside the 90 days. Skip the mailing and the lien dissolves, no matter how perfect the recorded document is.
• Using certified mail for the owner's copy. §3253(1)(B) calls for ordinary mail and makes a USPS certificate of mailing conclusive proof that the owner received it. A certified letter that comes back refused or unclaimed is weaker proof than the $2 certificate — it affirmatively shows non-delivery.
• A residential sub or supplier who never sent the §3255(3) warning notice. Your lien is capped at the balance the owner still owes the contractor who hired you. If the owner already paid that contractor in full, your on-time, correctly recorded lien is worth zero. The notice has no statutory deadline, which is exactly why it gets forgotten — nothing in a date-driven calendar will ever remind you.
• Assuming that cap applies on commercial work. §3255(3) does not apply to business, commercial or industrial premises unless the owner resides there. On a true commercial job a sub has a full-price lien with no notice required. Mixed-use, live/work and owner-occupied commercial property flip back to the residential rule.
• Telling a general contractor they lost their lien on day 91. §3253(2) says the recording section does not apply to anyone who furnished under a contract with the owner. A GC at day 100 still has a live lien and still has until day 120 to sue. The flip side is more dangerous: because a GC has no recording step, nothing prompts them, and the 120-day clock runs out silently.
• Forgetting the 60-day notice of the lien complaint under §3261. It does not void the lien, but until it is recorded a buyer can take the property free of the lien while your case is pending. You win the case and there is nothing left to collect against.
• Not reacting to the owner's notice under §3252. If you did not contract with the owner, the owner can give you written notice that they will not be responsible, and everything you furnish after that is unlienable. Work already done is safe. Keep working without recalculating your risk and you are running up unsecured receivables.
• Padding the claim. §3254 forgives an inaccurate property description (as long as the property is reasonably recognizable) and an inaccurate amount — but not if you willfully claim more than you are due. Rolling in anticipated attorney fees, disputed extras or a negotiating cushion can cost you the whole lien. Give all just credits, as §3253(1)(A) requires.
• Treating a public job like a private one. Do not file a §3253 lien statement against a school or municipal project and assume you are covered. The reliable remedy is the payment bond under 14 M.R.S. §871 — 90 days to notify the prime, one year to sue — and while you are recording the wrong document that 90-day window is running out.
• Relying on the 180 days in §3262 as your deadline. §3262 allows enforcement by attachment within 180 days of your last furnishing, as an additional remedy. Do not read that as an extension of the 120-day filing deadline in §3255(1). Treat 120 days as the deadline; if you are past it, that is a conversation for a lawyer, not a reason to relax.
• Tenant improvement work. §3251 requires a contract with the owner or the owner's consent. On a lease build-out the tenant hired you, not the owner, and the lease very likely contains a clause saying the landlord is not responsible for tenant work — which is the owner's §3252 defense set up in advance. Your lien may reach only the tenant's interest, or nothing at all.
• Letting an owner's death or bankruptcy go unnoticed mid-window. §3256 replaces the 120 days with 90 days running from the adjudication, from notice of the appointment of the assignee, executor or administrator, or from revocation of the warrant. A calendar still counting to the original day 120 will give you the wrong date.
• Recording in the wrong registry district. Maine has 17 registry districts across 16 counties — Aroostook is split into North and South. Recording in the wrong one is the same as not recording.
• Real estate licensees skipping the purchaser notice. Beyond everything else, §3255(2) requires a real estate licensee to send certified mail, return receipt requested, or give actual written notice to a purchaser before the purchaser takes title. Without it the purchaser takes title free of the lien.
• Assuming a punch-list or warranty callback restarts your clocks. Maine's deadlines run from when you ceased to labor, furnish materials or perform services (§3253(1)). I could not find a Maine decision settling whether corrective, warranty or trivial remedial work resets that date, and the general rule in most states is that it does not. Do not bet a deadline on a callback visit — count from your real last day of substantive work.
• Laborers and unions on small residential buildings: §3269 makes the fringe-benefit rule in §3267 and the labor-organization provisions in §§3266 and 3268 inapplicable to any building designed for occupancy by four families or fewer.

After you file

• Record notice of your lien complaint within 60 days of the filing date — see the step above. This is the most commonly skipped post-filing obligation in Maine and it is what stands between you and a buyer taking the property free of your lien (10 M.R.S. §3261).
• Keep your registry protection alive while the case runs. A recorded notice is effective against a bona fide purchaser for 120 days from the date you recorded it. You can re-record it as many times as you need, each one good for another 120 days. If your litigation outlasts the window, diary the re-recording (10 M.R.S. §3255(2)).
• Expect the owner to try to bond the lien off. Any owner may petition the judge or justice of the court where your lien action is filed to release the property. You are entitled to written notice served on you or your attorney at least 10 days before the hearing. If the judge orders it and the owner posts a bond covering what you might recover plus costs, recording the bond and certificate at the registry vacates the lien — your claim then runs against the bond instead of the real estate (10 M.R.S. §3263).
• Other lienors may join your case, and you may be pulled into theirs. Two or more lienors can file jointly, and another lienor can be made a party as long as their own complaint is filed within their own 120 days (or the extended time under §3256). Mortgagees and anyone else with a legal or equitable interest can be brought in, and the court sorts out priority and can consolidate multiple lien actions on the same property (10 M.R.S. §3257).
• If a labor organization brought the action, it cannot be settled, dismissed or otherwise disposed of without the court's approval (10 M.R.S. §3268).
• On a public job, the post-filing picture is different: there is no registry step at all. Your obligations are the 90-day notice to the prime and the one-year suit on the bond, both measured from your last day of labor or material (14 M.R.S. §871).