How to file a mechanics lien in Mississippi

Step by step

15 steps for a subcontractor in Mississippi.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm you are in the lien class, in the right tier, and everybody is licensed

   Before you sign the contract, and again the day payment stops. Do not wait until day 85 to find out you never had a lien.

   Mississippi gives a lien to a short list of people: contractors, subcontractors, materialmen furnishing material, registered architects, registered professional engineers, and registered land surveyors. It also cuts lien rights off below the second tier, and it destroys the lien of anyone who is unlicensed or who contracted with an unlicensed contractor or subcontractor. All three of these are complete bars — no notice, no filing and no deadline can cure them.

   Where it goes

   Your own project file. Nothing is filed at this step.

   How

   Ask the party who hired you who hired them, and get it in writing. Ask that party for a copy of their current license — § 85-7-403(5) requires any contractor or subcontractor to furnish a copy of its current license on request to any owner, contractor, subcontractor or materialman.

   Proof to keep

   Your signed contract or purchase order, the license copies, and the written answer identifying who hired the party above you.

   What the document must contain

   • A written chain of who hired whom, from the owner down to you
   • A copy of your own current Mississippi license, if you are a contractor or subcontractor
   • A copy of the current license of the contractor or subcontractor who hired you

   If you miss it: If you or the party who hired you is unlicensed, no lien exists in your favor at all. If you are below the second tier — hired by a sub who was hired by a sub who was hired by a sub, or supplying a second-tier sub — no lien attaches no matter how many notices you send.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-403(1), (2), (5); definitions at § 85-7-401(f), (g), (k)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Find out whether the job is public or bonded before you plan on a lien

   At the start of the job, and again the day payment stops.

   A lien is the wrong instrument on two kinds of job. No lien attaches to public property in Mississippi. And on a private job, if the contractor gave a payment bond to the full extent of § 31-5-51 or § 85-7-432, that bond is substituted for the liens of subcontractors and materialmen — you have a bond claim instead, on a different clock. The general contractor's own lien is not affected by a bond.

   Where it goes

   To the owner or obligee, or to the contractor or principal.

   How

   Make a written request for a true and correct copy of the contract and bonds. § 31-5-55 says it must be furnished within thirty (30) days of the request, and the party who fails to furnish it is liable for reasonable attorney's fees and costs in later litigation. The request may be made by any reliable means of delivery.

   Proof to keep

   The dated request, proof you sent it, and whatever came back — the bond, or nothing.

   What the document must contain

   • A written request identifying the project and asking for a copy of the contract and any payment and performance bonds

   If you miss it: You spend your 90 days preparing a lien that does not exist, and blow the 90-day bond notice that did. Neither clock stops while you find out.

   Miss. Code Ann. §§ 85-7-431, 85-7-432; 31-5-51, 31-5-55(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Serve the 30-day Notice to Contractor on every job that is not a single-family home

   Within 30 days following the first delivery of labor, services or materials to the property. Count from your first delivery, not from the contract date.

   If you do not have a contract with the general contractor — you were hired by a subcontractor, or you supply a subcontractor — you must send the general contractor a written notice within 30 days of your first delivery. This is the commercial, industrial, apartment, multifamily and mixed-use rule. § 85-7-407(4) says this whole section does not apply to single-family residential construction, so on a single-family house you owe the other notice instead.

   Where it goes

   To the contractor. Only if there is no contractor on the job does it go to the owner. Sending it to the owner when there is a contractor does not satisfy the statute.

   How

   E-mail with a confirmed receipt, registered or certified mail, or statutory overnight delivery. Statutory overnight delivery means you direct next-business-day delivery and get back a receipt signed by the addressee or its agent (§ 85-7-401(j)).

   Proof to keep

   The certified or registered mail receipt and return card, the signed overnight-delivery receipt, or the confirmed-receipt e-mail — plus a copy of the notice and your first delivery ticket showing the date the 30 days started.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name, address and telephone number
   • The name and address of each person at whose instance you are furnishing the labor, services or materials
   • The name of the project and the location of the project
   • A description of the labor, services or materials you are providing, and, if you know it, the contract price or anticipated value of what you will provide

   If you miss it: You forfeit your right to a lien under this article. § 85-7-407(2) says so in terms. There is no cure and no late filing.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-407(2), (4); delivery methods defined at § 85-7-401(j)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Send the Pre-Lien Notice to the owner on a single-family home, and send it early

   At least ten (10) days before you file the claim of lien. Nothing in the statute counts from your first day, but the owner's payment defense means the useful deadline is as early as you can manage, not day 80.

   On single-family residential construction only, if you are a subcontractor, materialman or design professional not in privity with the owner, delivering this notice to the owner is a condition of having any lien. Note the test here is privity with the OWNER, so a first-tier sub hired by the general contractor is covered. Separately, § 85-7-409(1) gives the owner an absolute defense to your lien to the extent of any payment the owner made to the contractor before the owner received your notice — so the value of your lien shrinks every week you wait.

   Where it goes

   To the property owner.

   How

   Any reliable means of delivery. The statute does not prescribe a method, but you must be able to prove the owner got it and when — use certified mail with a return receipt or a signed overnight delivery.

   Proof to keep

   The signed delivery receipt showing the date the owner received it, and a dated copy of the notice. You will need the receipt date to prove the ten days ran before you filed.

   What the document must contain

   • Substantially the Pre-Lien Notice form at § 85-7-433(5)
   • The owner's name and address
   • A description of the property
   • The dollar amount unpaid
   • The date of the notice
   • Your printed name, your signature and your printed title
   • The statement that a lien may be filed ten (10) or more days from the date of the notice

   If you miss it: No notice, no lien — it is a condition precedent under § 85-7-409(2). File the lien fewer than ten days after the notice and the condition is not met either. Send it late and the owner's payments to the contractor are an absolute defense up to the amount paid, leaving a valid lien worth nothing.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-409(1), (2), (3); form at § 85-7-433(5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: If you signed a lien waiver and the money never came, file an Affidavit of Nonpayment within 60 days

   Before sixty (60) days have run from the date you executed the waiver and release.

   Mississippi's interim and final waiver-and-release forms bind you the moment you sign. Sixty days after you sign, the amount on the waiver is conclusively deemed paid in full — whether or not anyone paid you — unless you file an affidavit of nonpayment before those 60 days run out. This is shorter than the 90-day lien window, so a claimant who signed a waiver on day one really has 60 days, not 90, to protect the money.

   Where it goes

   Filed in the county where the property is located — the chancery clerk's records. Copy to the property owner.

   How

   File the affidavit in the county where the property is located, then send a true and accurate copy to the owner the same way a claim of lien is sent to an owner under § 85-7-405 — registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. The statutory form directs that copy to go out within two (2) days of filing.

   Proof to keep

   The file-stamped affidavit showing its filing date, and the mailing receipt for the copy to the owner.

   What the document must contain

   • Substantially the Affidavit of Nonpayment form at § 85-7-433(3)
   • Identification of the party who employed you and the property
   • The date of the waiver and release you executed under § 85-7-419
   • Notarization — the statutory form is sworn

   If you miss it: The amount on the waiver is conclusively deemed paid in full. § 85-7-419(5)(d) preserves your time to file a claim of lien, but the money the waiver covered is gone — you keep the deadline and lose the claim.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-419(5)(b)(iii), (5)(d); form at § 85-7-433(3)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Answer a written request for your list of subcontractors and materialmen

   Within a reasonable time after you receive the written request. The statute gives no number — answer promptly and date your answer.

   The owner can ask the contractor in writing for a complete list of all subcontractors and materialmen, and the contractor can ask its subcontractors for the same. Willfully failing or refusing to answer within a reasonable time forfeits your lien. The same subsection also forfeits the lien of a contractor or subcontractor who fails to pay a materialman or subcontractor in direct privity with it as the contract requires. Neither forfeiture has anything to do with a deadline you were tracking. This section does not apply to single-family residential construction.

   Where it goes

   To the owner if you are the contractor; to the contractor if you are a subcontractor.

   How

   In writing, back to whoever asked. The request itself comes by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the request you received, your dated written reply, and proof of when and how you sent it.

   What the document must contain

   • A complete list of all of your subcontractors and materialmen on the project

   If you miss it: You forfeit your right to a lien under this article — § 85-7-407(1). So does failing to pay a materialman or subcontractor in direct privity with you as your contract specifically requires.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-407(1), (4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: File the claim of lien with the chancery clerk within 90 days of your own last day

   Within ninety (90) days after your own last work performed or labor, services or materials provided (or your last architectural, surveying or engineering service). Under § 85-7-425 and § 1-3-67 you do not count the day of your last furnishing; if day 90 falls on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday or a day the clerk's office is closed, the period runs to the end of the next day that is not. Do not plan on that — file early.

   This is the lien itself — a document recorded in the county land records. The 90 days runs from the last day YOU performed work or provided labor, services or materials. Not from the day the building was finished, not from the general contractor's last day, and not from the day the job was abandoned. A general contractor gets no more time here than a second-tier supplier.

   Where it goes

   The office of the clerk of the chancery court of the county where the property is located.

   How

   File it for record in the county's land records and pay the recording fee. § 25-7-9 sets the base chancery clerk fee at $25.00 for the first five pages plus $1.00 for each page over five; § 89-5-24 adds a $10.00 charge for a document that does not meet the recording format standards. The statute does not prescribe a delivery method — ask that specific clerk how they accept filings before day 89.

   Proof to keep

   The clerk's file-stamped copy showing the book, page and exact filing date. Every later deadline counts from that date, and you will need it to prove the 180 days.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name and your capacity — the statutory form recites "a mechanic, contractor, subcontractor, materialman, machinist, manufacturer, registered architect, registered forester, registered land surveyor, registered professional engineer, or other person (as the case may be)"
   • The amount claimed
   • A description of the building, structure, house, factory, mill, machinery or railroad and the premises or real estate on which it is built, and the owner's name
   • The date the claim became due — the statute says this "is the same as the last date the labor, services or materials were supplied to the premises"
   • A description of the work performed or labor and services provided
   • In at least 12 point bold font on the face of the lien: "THIS CLAIM OF LIEN EXPIRES AND IS VOID ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY (180) DAYS FROM THE DATE OF FILING OF THE CLAIM OF LIEN IF A PAYMENT ACTION IS NOT FILED IN THAT TIME PERIOD." (§ 85-7-421(1); the form at § 85-7-405(1)(b) prints the same legend with the words "BY THE CLAIMANT WITHIN THAT TIME PERIOD")
   • "NOTICE TO OWNER OF PROPERTY: You have the right to contest this claim of lien pursuant to Mississippi law."
   • Your signature
   • Recording format under § 89-5-24: white paper not less than twenty-pound weight, printed single-sided, font no smaller than ten point, at least three inches of top margin on the first page and three-quarter inch margins elsewhere, signatures in black or blue ink with the name typed or printed beneath
   • On the first page below the margin: the preparer's name, business address and phone; the parties' names, addresses and phones; the document title; and the legal description or indexing instructions

   If you miss it: No lien. § 85-7-405(1) opens by saying that on failure of any of its requirements the lien "shall not be effective or enforceable." Leaving out either mandatory legend invalidates the lien, and § 85-7-421(1) says a missing 12-point bold expiration legend invalidates the lien and prevents it from being filed. Leaving out the amount claimed or the date the claim was due means the lien does not constitute notice for any purposes (§ 85-7-415(3)).

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-405(1), (1)(b); § 85-7-421(1); § 85-7-415(3); § 85-7-425 with § 1-3-67; recording format § 89-5-24; fee § 25-7-9(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Mail a copy of the recorded lien within 2 business days

   No later than two (2) business days after the claim of lien is filed of record. Record on a Friday and the copies are due Tuesday.

   Recording is only half of it. Within two business days of recording you must send a true and accurate copy of the claim of lien to the owner, and if you are not the contractor, a second copy in the same two business days to the contractor. A business day is any day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday (§ 85-7-401(a)). This sits inside § 85-7-405(1), whose opening words say that on failure of any of its requirements the lien is not effective or enforceable — treat it as fatal.

   Where it goes

   To the owner of the property. If the owner's address cannot be found, to the contractor as the owner's agent. If the owner is an entity on file with the Secretary of State, sending to the entity's address or its registered agent's address satisfies the requirement. If you are not the contractor, send a further copy within the same two business days to the contractor or the contractor's registered agent.

   How

   Registered mail, certified mail, or statutory overnight delivery. Regular first-class mail, hand delivery and e-mail are not on the list.

   Proof to keep

   The certified or registered mail receipts and return cards, or the signed overnight receipts, for every copy you sent — stapled to the file-stamped lien. This is what wins the argument that the lien was perfected.

   What the document must contain

   • A true and accurate copy of the claim of lien exactly as it was filed

   If you miss it: § 85-7-405(1) says the lien is not effective or enforceable on failure of any of its requirements, and this is one of them. No Mississippi decision found in this pass squarely holds a late 2-day service fatal, but there is no upside to testing it.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-405(1), (1)(b); § 85-7-401(a), (j)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Watch for a Notice of Contest of Lien — it cuts your 180 days to 90

   From the day the contest is FILED, you have 90 days. The contesting party then has seven (7) days to mail you a copy and service is complete on mailing — so a week or more of your 90 can be gone before the envelope reaches you. The statutory contest form at § 85-7-433(4) says "ninety (90) days from receipt of this notice," but § 85-7-423(3) is the operative rule, it measures from filing, and it closes with "This subsection shall not be construed to extend the time in which a payment action must begin." Count from filing.

   This is the lever the other side can pull. The owner, the owner's agent or attorney, or the contractor or the contractor's agent or attorney can record a Notice of Contest of Lien in the chancery clerk's office at any time. § 85-7-423(3): the lien is extinguished by law on the earlier of ninety (90) days after the contest is filed, or 180 days from your lien filing. A contest recorded the week after your lien can move your real deadline to roughly day 97.

   Where it goes

   The chancery clerk's records for the county where you filed, and your mailbox at the address on the lien.

   How

   Nothing to send. Check the chancery clerk's land records against your lien — the clerk cross-references the contest to the lien — and open your mail at the address printed on the face of your lien.

   Proof to keep

   A certified copy of the recorded Notice of Contest showing its filing date, and the envelope it arrived in.

   What the document must contain

   • Nothing from you. Pull and date-stamp the recorded contest so you can prove its filing date.

   If you miss it: The lien is extinguished by law. No release or voiding is required, and nobody is obliged to warn you it happened.

   Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-423(1), (2), (3); form at § 85-7-433(4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: File the lawsuit and the lis pendens notice on the same day

    Within one hundred eighty (180) days from the date your claim of lien was filed for record — or within ninety (90) days after a Notice of Contest of Lien is filed, whichever comes first.

    To keep the lien alive you must commence a payment action against the party you contracted with, and file a lis pendens notice with it. A payment action means a lawsuit, a proof of claim in a bankruptcy case, or a binding arbitration (§ 85-7-401(d)). The statute says "A lis pendens notice shall be filed with the commencement of the action with a copy to the owner and contractor." In KD Oak Grove, LLC v. Warren & Warren Asphalt Paving, LLC (Miss. 2021) the Supreme Court read "with" literally, held "shall" mandatory, and rendered judgment for two property owners because the lis pendens notices went in 110 days after the suits. Treat suit and lis pendens as one act, never two tasks with two due dates.

    Where it goes

    County, circuit or chancery court. The lis pendens goes to the chancery clerk of the county where the property is located.

    How

    Commence by summons and complaint; the defendants are summoned as in other actions at law, and an absent or non-resident necessary party may be made a party by publication. File the lis pendens notice at the same time and send a copy to the owner and the contractor.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint and the file-stamped lis pendens notice bearing the same date, plus proof the copies went to the owner and the contractor.

    What the document must contain

    • A complaint commencing the payment action against the party you contracted with
    • A lis pendens notice of the payment action, filed the same day
    • A copy of the lis pendens notice to the owner and to the contractor

    If you miss it: The claim of lien expires and is void; § 85-7-421(1) makes it unenforceable and no release is required. A timely lawsuit with a late lis pendens is the same as no lien — that is exactly what happened in KD Oak Grove.

    Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-405(1)(c)(i), (1)(c)(ii); § 85-7-421(1); § 85-7-423(3); § 85-7-401(d); KD Oak Grove, LLC v. Warren & Warren Asphalt Paving, LLC, 324 So. 3d 1134 (Miss. 2021)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: On a Mississippi public job, claim against the bond instead — 90 days to notice, one year to sue

    Written notice within ninety (90) days from the day you did or performed the last of the labor or furnished the last of the material. Suit on the payment bond must be commenced within one (1) year after that same day "and not later" — note this second clock runs from your last furnishing, not from any filing, so nothing you record resets it.

    No lien attaches to public property in this state. On a formal contract with a Mississippi public body the contractor must furnish a payment bond payable to the public body and conditioned for the prompt payment of all persons supplying labor or material; contracts under $25,000 may be handled by lump sum payment at completion instead of bonds. If you had no direct contract with the prime contractor, you must give written notice of your claim before you can sue on the bond.

    Where it goes

    To the prime contractor or the surety.

    How

    Personally delivered by you to the contractor or surety, or mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid.

    Proof to keep

    The return receipt and a dated copy of the notice, or a delivery affidavit if you hand-delivered it, plus your last delivery ticket or timesheet fixing the 90-day and one-year start date.

    What the document must contain

    • The amount claimed
    • The name of the party to whom you furnished the material or for whom you performed the labor

    If you miss it: No bond claim — and there is no lien on public property to fall back on.

    Miss. Code Ann. § 31-5-51(1), (3); § 31-5-53(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: On a bonded private job, claim against the bond instead of filing a lien

    If you have no direct contract with the contractor, written notice within ninety (90) days of the day you last performed labor or supplied material, stating with substantial accuracy the amount claimed. Suit on the bond must commence within one (1) year after that same day.

    Where the contractor gave a payment bond to the full extent of § 31-5-51 or the private project bond provision at § 85-7-432, that bond is substituted for the liens of subcontractors and materialmen — you no longer have a lien, you have a bond claim. Under § 85-7-432 the payment bond is payable to the owner, conditioned for prompt payment of all persons supplying labor or material, in an amount no less than the contract amount. The contractor's own lien right is unaffected by the bond.

    Where it goes

    To the contractor who furnished the bond, and to its surety.

    How

    Written notice to the contractor. Get the bond first — § 31-5-55 lets you demand a copy of the contract and bonds and requires it within 30 days.

    Proof to keep

    A copy of the bond, your dated notice and proof of delivery, and the records fixing your last day on the job.

    What the document must contain

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

    If you miss it: You lose the bond claim, and § 85-7-431 has already taken the lien away — so there is nothing left. Filing a lien on a bonded job instead of making the bond claim is the classic way to end up with both remedies gone.

    Miss. Code Ann. §§ 85-7-431, 85-7-432; 31-5-55(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: On a federal job, use the Miller Act — 90 days to notice, one year to sue

    Written notice to the prime contractor within 90 days from the date on which you did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which the claim is made. The civil action must be brought no later than one year after that same day.

    Work on federal property is governed by the federal Miller Act, not Mississippi law. There is no state lien and no Mississippi bond statute in play. If you have a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but none with the prime contractor who furnished the payment bond, you must give the prime written notice before you can sue on the bond.

    Where it goes

    To the prime contractor that furnished the payment bond. Suit is brought in the United States district court for the district where the contract was to be performed.

    How

    Written notice to the contractor. The federal statute sets out the permitted service methods and the required statement of the amount claimed — read 40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2) itself before serving, and get counsel; this guide does not reproduce the federal service rules.

    Proof to keep

    Your dated notice, proof of service on the prime, and the records fixing your last day supplying labor or material.

    What the document must contain

    • Written notice stating with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the party to whom the material was furnished or for whom the labor was done or performed

    If you miss it: You lose the bond claim. There is no lien on federal property to fall back on.

    Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2), (b)(4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Amend the claim of lien if the amount changes

    Optional

    At any time while the lien is alive.

    A claim of lien may be amended at any time to increase or reduce the amount claimed, and the amendment relates back to the date the original claim of lien was filed for record. It does not restart your 180 days and it does not extend anything.

    Where it goes

    The chancery clerk of the county where the property is located; copy to the owner.

    How

    Record the amended claim of lien, then send it to the owner in the same way § 85-7-405(1)(b) requires for the original — registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, within two business days.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped amended lien and the mailing receipt for the owner's copy.

    What the document must contain

    • Substantially the statutory amendment form in § 85-7-405(1)(e), identifying the original lien by filer, owner, date, book and page
    • Whether the amount is being increased or reduced, and the new amount
    • The statement that the remaining terms of the original claim of lien are incorporated by reference and that the amendment relates back to the original filing date

    If you miss it: Nothing happens to the original lien — this step is optional. But claiming an amount you know is not owed exposes you to treble damages under § 85-7-429(1), so correct an overstated lien rather than leaving it.

    Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-405(1)(e)(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: Cancel the lien once you are paid

    File the cancellation when the lien is fully satisfied. After written demand following full payment, you have fifteen (15) days.

    When the lien has been fully satisfied, you must file a cancellation in the chancery clerk's records. If you have been fully paid and someone demands cancellation in writing, the clock is short and the penalty is steep.

    Where it goes

    The office of the chancery clerk where the lien was recorded.

    How

    File a cancellation of the lien in the record.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped cancellation and the date you received the written demand.

    What the document must contain

    • A cancellation of the recorded claim of lien

    If you miss it: You are liable to any person injured for the amount of the injury, which § 85-7-421(3) sets at not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per day that the cancellation is not timely filed, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

    Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-421(2), (3)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Mississippi

Where you file

Office

Chancery Clerk (land records) of the county where the property is located

Recording fee

$25–$40

Notarization

Not 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 Mississippi

• Filing the lis pendens notice after the lawsuit instead of with it. § 85-7-405(1)(c)(i) says the lis pendens "shall be filed with the commencement of the action." In KD Oak Grove (Miss. 2021) the Supreme Court held "shall" mandatory and rendered judgment against a claimant who filed the lis pendens 110 days after suit. A perfectly timely lawsuit plus a late lis pendens is a dead lien.
• Relying on 180 days after the owner or contractor has filed a Notice of Contest of Lien. § 85-7-423(3) cuts the window to 90 days from the FILING of the contest, and the contesting party gets seven days to mail it with service complete on mailing — so a chunk of your 90 may already be gone when you learn of it. The statutory contest form at § 85-7-433(4) says "90 days from receipt," but § 85-7-423(3) is the operative subsection and it forbids reading itself to extend the time. Count from filing.
• Treating a duplex, triplex or fourplex as "residential" and sending only the 10-day pre-lien notice. Mississippi's line is "single-family residential construction" (§§ 85-7-407(4), 85-7-409), not "1-4 units." The legislature separately defined "residential property" to mean one-, two-, three- and four-family real estate (§ 85-7-401(i)) and then deliberately used the narrower phrase in the notice sections. On any 2-4 unit project, serve both the 30-day Notice to Contractor and the 10-day Pre-Lien Notice.
• Serving the 30-day notice on the owner instead of the contractor. § 85-7-407(2) directs it to the contractor, and to the owner only if there is no contractor. A perfectly drafted, perfectly timely notice sent to the wrong party forfeits the lien.
• Recording the lien and stopping there. § 85-7-405(1)(b) requires a copy to the owner within two business days of recording, plus a second copy to the contractor in that same window if you are not the contractor — by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery only.
• Paraphrasing, shrinking or omitting the two mandatory legends. § 85-7-405(1)(b) says the absence of the expiration statement or the owner's right-to-contest notice invalidates the lien, and § 85-7-421(1) requires the expiration legend in at least 12 point bold font on pain of invalidating the lien and preventing it from being filed. A template that reworks the wording is a defective template.
• Leaving out the amount claimed or the date the claim was due. § 85-7-415(3): failing to specify both "shall result in the lien not constituting notice for any purposes." The statutory form says the date the claim became due is the same as the last date you supplied labor, services or materials.
• Filing the lien fewer than ten days after sending the single-family pre-lien notice. § 85-7-409(2) makes the ten-day gap a condition precedent. Sending the notice on day 85 and recording on day 90 satisfies § 85-7-405 and violates § 85-7-409 — you end up with neither.
• Sending the single-family pre-lien notice late even when it is technically in time. Under § 85-7-409(1) every dollar the owner paid the contractor before receiving your notice is an absolute defense to your lien. A valid lien on a fully paid-out house is worth nothing.
• Being unlicensed — or being hired by someone who is. § 85-7-403(5) destroys the lien of an unlicensed contractor or subcontractor AND the lien of anyone who contracts with an unlicensed contractor or subcontractor. A properly licensed sub can lose its lien purely because the general contractor above it was not licensed, which is outside your control. Ask for the license copy — § 85-7-403(5) requires them to give you one.
• Being below the second tier. § 85-7-403(2) requires the work to be furnished at the instance of the owner, the design professional, the contractor, or a subcontractor in DIRECT privity with a contractor; § 85-7-401(k) and (g) draw the same line for "subcontractor" and "materialman." A third-tier sub or a supplier to a second-tier sub has no lien at all, however many notices it sends.
• Filing a lien on a bonded private job. § 85-7-431 substitutes a qualifying payment bond for the liens of subcontractors and materialmen; your remedy is a claim on the bond. Use § 31-5-55 to demand a copy of the contract and bonds — they must produce within 30 days — before assuming a lien is the right instrument.
• Filing a lien on a public job. No lien attaches to public property in Mississippi. You need the § 31-5-51(3) notice to the prime within 90 days of your own last furnishing and suit on the bond within one year of that same day — a clock that runs from your last day, not from any filing, so there is nothing you can record to reset it.
• Signing a lien waiver and letting 60 days pass without an affidavit of nonpayment. § 85-7-419(5)(b)(iii) conclusively deems the amount paid in full 60 days after you sign, unless you file the affidavit first. You keep the 90-day lien deadline (§ 85-7-419(5)(d)) and lose the money.
• Ignoring a written request for your list of subcontractors and materialmen, or failing to pay a sub or supplier in direct privity with you as your contract requires. § 85-7-407(1) forfeits your lien for either, with no deadline anywhere in sight.
• Padding the claimed amount. § 85-7-429(1) makes anyone who falsely and knowingly files a claim of lien without just cause liable for three times the full amount claimed, to every injured party. § 85-7-405(4) caps all liens at the owner-contractor contract price, and § 85-7-405(5) caps liens of claimants not in privity with the owner at the unpaid contract balance when the first lien was filed where the owner paid against waivers or the contractor's sworn statements. A perfect lien can still be worth zero.
• Counting the 90 days from project completion, from the general contractor's last day, or from the invoice date. § 85-7-405(1)(b) counts from the claimant's OWN last work performed or labor, services or materials provided.
• Assuming the recording format rules will void the lien — or assuming they do not matter. § 89-5-24 expressly says failure to conform to the format standards "does not affect the validity or enforceability of the document," and imposes a $10 extra fee instead. The format rule that does kill you is § 85-7-421(1): the missing 12 point bold expiration legend invalidates the lien and prevents it from being filed. Note also § 89-5-24's minimum font is ten point, not eight.

After you file

• Mail the copies within two business days. A copy of the recorded lien to the owner (or the contractor as the owner's agent if the owner's address cannot be found, or the entity's or registered agent's address if the owner is registered with the Secretary of State), and, if you are not the contractor, a second copy to the contractor or its registered agent — registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery only. § 85-7-405(1)(b).
• Calendar two dates, not one: 180 days from the filing date stamped on your lien, and a standing alert that a Notice of Contest can cut that to 90 days from the day the contest is filed. §§ 85-7-405(1)(c)(i), 85-7-423(3).
• Check the chancery clerk's records periodically. The clerk cross-references a Notice of Contest of Lien to your lien (§ 85-7-423(2)), and the contest's filing date — not the date you got the envelope — starts your 90 days.
• Expect the owner or contractor to discharge the lien with a bond. § 85-7-415(1) lets the owner, contractor or subcontractor discharge the lien from the real estate with a cash bond or a surety bond approved by the chancery clerk, in the amount of 110% of the amount claimed. The land is released; your claim continues against the bond. The 180-day payment-action deadline (or the shortened § 85-7-423 deadline) keeps running. They must send you notice and a copy of the bond within seven days of filing it.
• Expect a motion to expunge. § 85-7-429(2) lets anyone whose rights are adversely affected by a wrongful claim of lien apply on seven (7) days' notice to the circuit, county or chancery court to expunge or vacate it under Rule 81(d)(2).
• Know the caps before you count on the money. § 85-7-405(4) caps the aggregate of all liens at the owner-contractor contract price. § 85-7-405(5) caps the liens of claimants not in privity with the owner at the unpaid contract balance at the time the first lien was filed, where the owner paid in reliance on lien waivers or the contractor's sworn statements under § 85-7-413.
• Know the owner's payment defenses. § 85-7-413 makes the lien unenforceable where the owner, purchaser or lender shows payment was made in reliance on your lien waiver or on the contractor's sworn written statement, if that happened before notice of the filed lien or of an affidavit of nonpayment.
• Understand your priority. § 85-7-405(2): construction liens are inferior to tax liens, superior to other liens, deeds of trust, mortgages and encumbrances filed AFTER your lien was filed, and subordinate to those filed before — with a broad carve-out for construction mortgages. All liens arising under § 85-7-403 share equal priority among themselves and are paid pro rata if the proceeds fall short (§ 85-7-405(3)(d)).
• When you sue, file the lis pendens the same day and send a copy to the owner and the contractor. This is the single most common way a Mississippi lien dies after it was filed correctly. § 85-7-405(1)(c)(i).
• If you cannot get a final judgment against the party you contracted with because they are bankrupt, deceased, or because your contract makes payment conditional on their being paid — and the owner has not paid the contractor — § 85-7-405(1)(d) lets you go directly against the property in a lien action against the owner, filed within the same time as a payment action, with the judgment limited to an in rem judgment against the property and no personal liability on the owner. A lis pendens must be filed with that action too.
• Amend the lien up or down if the number changes; the amendment relates back to the original filing date, but must be sent to the owner the same way the original was. § 85-7-405(1)(e).
• Cancel the lien when it is satisfied. After full payment and a written demand, you have 15 days, and the penalty for missing it is at least $500 per day plus fees and costs. § 85-7-421(2), (3).