How to file a mechanics lien in New Hampshire

Step by step

15 steps for a subcontractor in New Hampshire.

1. 1

   Step 1: Send the owner written notice before your first day of work

   Before you perform any labor or furnish any material on the job. There is no grace period and no number of days — it is 'before.'

   If your contract is with a general contractor, a sub, or the owner's agent rather than the owner, you have no lien at all until you tell the owner in writing that you will claim one. This is the single most common way a New Hampshire lien is lost, and it is lost on day one, before anybody knows there is a payment problem.

   Where it goes

   To the owner, or to the person having charge of the property.

   How

   In writing. RSA 447:5 does not name a delivery method — it says only 'notice in writing.' Certified mail with return receipt is common practice for proof, not a statutory requirement.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of the notice, and whatever proof of delivery you can get. The statute sets no method, so the fight will be about whether the owner actually received it.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement in writing that you will claim a lien
   • Identification of the labor, professional design services or materials the lien is claimed for
   • Your claim must be $15 or more (RSA 447:2, I; 447:5). The statute requires nothing else — anything more is practice, not law.

   If you miss it: You have no lien for the work you did before the notice went out. You can still send it late (see the catch-up step), but a late notice is only good for what the owner still owes your contractor at the moment it arrives — on a job already in payment trouble, that is often zero.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:5(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Notify the construction lender within 15 business days

   Within 15 business days of the later of two dates: the day the lender's name, address and phone number are posted at the jobsite, or the day you started furnishing.

   If a construction mortgage is paying for the job, the owner has to post the lender's contact details at the jobsite within 10 business days of signing the mortgage. Every person entitled to a lien under RSA 447:2-7 — the general contractor included — then has to tell that lender in writing that they are furnishing.

   Where it goes

   The institution providing the construction funds.

   How

   Written notice to the lender.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the notice with proof of delivery, plus a dated photo of the jobsite posting — the 15 business days runs off that posting.

   What the document must contain

   • That you are furnishing services, materials, supplies or other things
   • The name and address of the jobsite

   If you miss it: Missing it 'shall not alone invalidate' your lien — the statute says so. What you lose is leverage: your attachment's priority over the construction mortgage under RSA 447:12-a is usually where the money actually is, and skipping this notice hands the mortgagee an argument.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:12-b, II(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Send the owner a written account every 30 days

   As often as once in 30 days, for as long as you are on the job. It starts once you have given the RSA 447:5 notice.

   This is New Hampshire's stop notice, and it does not have that name. Once you have given notice, the owner must hold back enough money to pay your claim, and is not liable to the general contractor for that money unless the GC pays you first. The 30-day accounts are what keep that duty alive and documented.

   Where it goes

   To the owner, or the person having charge of the property on which the lien is claimed.

   How

   An account in writing. RSA 447:8 names no delivery method.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of every single account and proof you sent it. A gap in the sequence is what the owner will point at.

   What the document must contain

   • The labor performed, professional design services provided, or materials furnished during those 30 days

   If you miss it: RSA 447:8 states the duty but does not say the lien is void if you skip an account — and we found no New Hampshire case deciding it. What you plainly lose is the record the owner's retention duty is built on, so expect the owner to argue it never had to hold your money back. Treat the accounts as mandatory.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:8(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: If you already started without the notice, send it today

   Optional

   Immediately. Every day you wait shrinks what the notice is worth.

   RSA 447:6 lets the notice be given after the labor is performed, the design services are provided or the material is furnished. But the lien is then valid only to the extent of the amount then due, or that may afterwards become due, to your contractor. In plain terms: you only reach money the owner has not yet paid out to the party above you.

   Where it goes

   To the owner, or the person having charge of the property.

   How

   Same as the on-time notice — in writing, no method prescribed. RSA 447:6 also lets you give the RSA 447:8 account at the same time as the notice.

   Proof to keep

   The dated notice, proof of delivery, and anything showing what the owner still owed above you on that date — that amount is now the ceiling on your lien.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement in writing that you will claim a lien
   • Identification of the labor, professional design services or materials claimed for

   If you miss it: If the owner has already paid the general contractor in full by the time the notice lands, a late notice secures nothing at all. You keep a contract claim against whoever hired you, but nothing against the property.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:6(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Count 120 days from your own last day — not from the end of the job

   120 days after you performed the services, or furnished the materials, supplies or other things.

   Your lien exists automatically and lasts 120 days. It runs from YOUR last labor or materials, not from substantial completion, not from the last payment, not from the end of the project. A supplier who delivered in month 2 of a 12-month job is out of time in month 6 while everyone is still working and the payment problem still feels like it is just slow. The clock also stops early if you get paid — the lien continues 120 days 'unless payment therefor is previously made.'

   Where it goes

   n/a — this is a date, not a filing.

   How

   Put day 120 on a calendar and work backwards from it. Everything in the filing step has to be done by then, and a lawyer needs lead time.

   Proof to keep

   Delivery tickets, daily reports, signed timesheets, dated photos — whatever proves the exact date of your last labor or materials. That date is the whole case.

   If you miss it: On day 121 the lien is gone. There is no extension, no late filing, no cure. You still have a breach-of-contract claim against whoever hired you, but nothing attached to the property.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:9(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Have a New Hampshire lawyer file suit and attach the property before day 120

   Any time while the lien continues — that is, inside the 120 days from your own last furnishing.

   This is New Hampshire's version of 'filing the lien,' and it is the entire ballgame. There is no lien form to record. RSA 447:10 says the lien may be secured only by attachment of the property, with the writ and the return on it distinctly expressing that purpose. That means a court case, not a document.

   Where it goes

   A New Hampshire trial court with jurisdiction over the claim, in practice the Superior Court for the county where the property is. RSA 447:10 itself does not name a court; RSA 511:53 and RSA 447:18 both point to the Superior Court.

   How

   A civil action with a writ of attachment against the property. RSA 511-A normally requires the defendant to get notice and a chance at a hearing before any prejudgment attachment (RSA 511-A:1) — see the next step for the RSA 447 exception.

   Proof to keep

   File-stamped copies of everything, the return of attachment, and proof of service of the RSA 511-A:2 notice of intent. Under RSA 511-A:5-a, once that notice has been served no further service on the defendant is needed to perfect the attachment.

   What the document must contain

   • The writ AND the return on it must distinctly express that the attachment is to secure a labor-and-materials lien under RSA 447 (RSA 447:10). An attachment that does not say this on its face does not perfect the lien, even if it was timely.
   • The RSA 511-A:2 notice of intent, incorporated prominently in the writ, served on the defendant and filed with the court at the same time.

   If you miss it: Day 121 and the lien is gone. And a timely but ordinary prejudgment attachment that does not recite the RSA 447 purpose does not perfect the lien either — you get the attachment and lose the lien.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:10(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Put the writ in lis pendens form and restrict it to that one property

   Optional

   At the same time the writ issues, inside the 120 days.

   RSA 511-A:8, III is an express exception to the general notice-and-hearing rule. For a case to perfect a labor and materials lien under RSA 447, the writ of attachment may be filed at a registry of deeds without prior application to the court and without notice to the owner — but only if it is drawn a particular way.

   Where it goes

   Filed at the registry of deeds; the underlying action still has to be pending in court.

   How

   The writ goes to the registry of deeds without prior application and notice. If the writ does not meet the two conditions below, you fall back to RSA 511-A:1 through 511-A:4: notice to the owner, an opportunity to object, and a hearing before the attachment is made.

   Proof to keep

   The writ as filed and the return of attachment, showing the lis pendens form and the property restriction on their face.

   What the document must contain

   • The writ must be in the form of a lis pendens.
   • It must specifically restrict its application to the particular real estate described in the writ and the return of attachment.

   If you miss it: You lose the no-notice route. You are back on the ordinary track, where the owner gets notice and can force a hearing before any attachment is made — time you may not have inside a 120-day window.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 511-A:8, III(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Record the attachment at the County Registry of Deeds

   As soon as the writ issues. Record it inside the 120 days — see the honest caveat below.

   The attachment binds the owner and everyone else from the time of service or as the court orders. But until it is recorded at the registry, it is not effective against a bona fide purchaser for value. If the owner sells before you record, a good-faith buyer can take the property free of your attachment.

   Where it goes

   The Registry of Deeds for the county — or counties — in which the real estate lies.

   How

   The order of the court may be filed with the register of deeds by you or your attorney, without further notice to the defendant.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy showing the book, page and recording date.

   What the document must contain

   • The recording fee is $15 for the first recorded page plus $4 for each additional recorded page. RSA 511-A:5 routes attachment recordings to RSA 478:17-g, and RSA 478:17-g, I sets that rate for filings pursuant to RSA 511-A. The $25 LCHIP surcharge does not apply — RSA 478:17-g, II(a) assesses it only on deeds, mortgages, mortgage discharges and plans.

   If you miss it: An unrecorded attachment can be cut off by someone who buys the property for value without notice of it. Caveat we will not paper over: the statutes do not expressly say the recording must happen within the 120 days. RSA 447:10 says the lien may be secured by attachment 'at any time while the lien continues,' and RSA 511-A:5 makes recording the condition of effectiveness against purchasers. Recording inside the 120 days is the conservative reading of those two sections together, not a holding we can point you to.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 511-A:5 (recording fee at § 478:17-g, I)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Public work: file your claim against the contract funds within 90 days of completion AND acceptance

   Within 90 days after the completion and acceptance of the project by the contracting party. Acceptance is a separate event from completion, and nobody will call you when it happens.

   Nothing attaches to public property. Instead, the liens given by RSA 447:5-14 attach to money due or to become due from the state or a political subdivision under the contract you worked on. This is a different regime from the private 120-day attachment, with a different clock and a different trigger. Prime contractors: see the warning below.

   Where it goes

   Not specified by the statute. Treat the 90-day deadline as firm and the office as an open question.

   How

   RSA 447:15 says only that the lien must be 'filed' within the 90 days. It does not name an office, and we could not source where in practice — file the RSA 447:17 bond claim (next step) and ask the contracting body directly.

   Proof to keep

   Written confirmation of the completion and acceptance dates from the contracting body, and a date-stamped copy of whatever you filed.

   If you miss it: The lien does not attach at all — RSA 447:15 says so in terms. Two warnings that could cost you the claim before that deadline ever arrives. First: RSA 447:15 imports 'the liens given by RSA 447:5-14,' and RSA 447:9 gives those liens only 120 days from your own last furnishing. If you finished more than 120 days before the project is completed and accepted, do not assume the 90-day window is still open — the statutes do not resolve it. Move now and get counsel. Second: RSA 447:15 imports only 447:5-14, which leaves out the RSA 447:2 privity lien, and RSA 447:2 excludes work for a municipality. On the text, a contractor in direct privity with the state or a town does not appear to have this remedy at all.

   N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:15(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Public work: file your bond claim in the same 90 days

    Within 90 days after the completion and acceptance of the project by the contracting party.

    Separate from and in addition to the fund-lien claim. A payment bond is mandatory only when the contract involves an expenditure of $75,000 for the state or $125,000 for a political subdivision; it is discretionary below those amounts, so on a small public job there may be no bond at all. When it exists it runs to 100 percent of the contract price and covers labor, equipment hired including trucks, materials, fuels, lubricants, power, tools, hardware and supplies.

    Where it goes

    The Secretary of State, if the state is a contracting party; the Department of Transportation, if the state is a party by or through that department; the Department of Administrative Services, if the state is a party by or through that department; or the clerk of the Superior Court for the county within which the contract is principally performed, if a political subdivision is a contracting party.

    How

    File a statement of the claim. The office where you file sends a copy to the principal and surety.

    Proof to keep

    The date-stamped filed claim, and confirmation of the completion and acceptance dates.

    What the document must contain

    • A statement of the claim for labor performed, or materials, machinery, tools or equipment furnished.

    If you miss it: You do not get the benefit of the bond. RSA 447:17 conditions it on filing inside the 90 days.

    N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:17 (bond thresholds at § 447:16)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: Public work: file your Superior Court petition within one year of that claim

    Within one year after filing the RSA 447:17 claim.

    Filing the bond claim reserves your place. It does not collect anything. You then have to sue on it, or join a suit somebody else already started.

    Where it goes

    The Superior Court for the county within which the contract is principally performed.

    How

    File a petition to enforce your claim, or intervene in a petition already filed, with a copy to the principal and the surety and whatever further notice the court orders.

    Proof to keep

    The filed petition and proof the principal and surety got their copies.

    What the document must contain

    • An allegation of the nature and subject matter of the claim, contract or indebtedness relied on
    • An allegation of the execution and delivery of the bond
    • Facts showing you complied with RSA 447:17 and RSA 447:18 in filing the claim

    If you miss it: The one-year period is the statute's own limit on the claim you filed. Note the limit of what we can tell you: RSA 447:18 refers to 'such claim,' which reads as the RSA 447:17 bond filing. Whether this one year also extends the RSA 447:15 fund lien is not resolved on the face of the chapter — do not rely on it for the fund lien.

    N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:18(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Expect the owner to bond the attachment off

    Any time after your attachment, on the owner's motion.

    This is the lever the other side pulls, and most contractors never see it coming. The owner can petition the court to have the attachment released and, after notice to everyone interested and a hearing, the court may order the owner to post a bond with sufficient sureties to pay whatever judgment you win, plus costs, within 60 days after judgment. Once the clerk's certificate that the bond was filed is recorded at the registry, the attachment is vacated and dissolved.

    Where it goes

    The court where your case is pending; the clerk's certificate is then recorded in the registry of deeds for the county where the real estate lies.

    How

    By written petition to the court with jurisdiction over the underlying matter. If the court finds the property or the owner's interest in it is worth less than the amount you attached for, the bond is set at that lower value instead.

    Proof to keep

    A copy of the bond and the clerk's certificate. After this, the bond is your security — track it the way you were tracking the property.

    If you miss it: You do not lose your claim, but you lose your grip on the property. Your recovery now runs against the bond and its sureties instead of the real estate.

    N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 511:48, 511:51, 511:52(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Attach only for what you are actually owed

    When the attachment amount is set, and any time afterwards on the owner's application.

    If the attachment is excessive or unreasonable, the owner can apply to the Superior Court to have it reduced or discharged — and on that application YOU carry the burden of proving it is not excessive. If the court finds it excessive or unreasonable under all the circumstances, it shall order the reduction or discharge. Padding the number is how contractors hand the owner a free shot at the whole attachment.

    Where it goes

    The Superior Court.

    How

    The owner applies to the Superior Court. The court's findings and order on this are inadmissible for any other purpose at any other stage of the case.

    Proof to keep

    Invoices, signed change orders, delivery tickets and the contract — the documents that tie your number to work actually performed. That is what discharges the burden.

    If you miss it: An inflated attachment can be cut down or discharged entirely, and the burden of defending the number is yours, not the owner's.

    N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 511:53(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Take the case to judgment

    After the attachment, through the ordinary course of the lawsuit.

    The attachment holds the property. It does not pay you. You still have to win the case and get a lien judgment. Where several claimants have attached the same property, all attaching lien creditors share pro rata according to the amounts of their respective lien judgments in the property or its proceeds, except as RSA 447:11 provides.

    Where it goes

    The court where the action is pending.

    How

    Normal civil litigation in the court where you filed.

    Proof to keep

    The judgment, and the full paper trail from the RSA 447:5 notice through the recorded attachment — every step has to hold up.

    If you miss it: If the action is dismissed or compromised, or judgment goes for the defendant, the attachment made in that action is dissolved with it (RSA 511:45). An attachment with no judgment behind it collects nothing.

    N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 447:12(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: Give a discharge when the attachment ends

    When the attachment is dissolved or released, by judgment or otherwise — on request.

    When it is over, you or your attorney must, on request, give the defendant or the owner of the attached property one or more discharges of the attachment. The discharge may be filed or recorded wherever the attachment was recorded, and the owner then has 30 days to record it and pays the RSA 478:17-g fee.

    Where it goes

    To the defendant or the owner; recorded in the registry of deeds where the attachment was recorded.

    How

    A written discharge, given on request.

    Proof to keep

    A copy of the discharge you gave and the date you gave it.

    If you miss it: This is an obligation, not an option, once you are asked. Leaving a dead attachment clouding somebody's title after you have been paid is the kind of thing that turns a won case into a new one.

    N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 511-A:11 (recording duty and fee at § 511:8)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in New Hampshire

Where you file

Office

New Hampshire Superior Court for the county where the property lies (civil action plus writ of attachment); the writ in lis pendens form and the return of attachment are then recorded at the County Registry of Deeds for that county

Recording fee

$15–$35

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Affidavit

How it is served

Personal service

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

What trips people up in New Hampshire

• Recording a 'Notice of Mechanic's Lien' at a registry of deeds. There is no such filing in New Hampshire. Nothing in RSA 447 creates a recordable lien document — the lien arises by operation of law and is secured only by court attachment under RSA 447:10. A recorded notice accomplishes nothing while the 120 days quietly runs out behind it. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Going to the town clerk. Town clerks have no role in RSA 447. The case goes to the Superior Court for the county where the property is; the attachment is recorded at the County Registry of Deeds under RSA 511-A:5. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Starting work before the RSA 447:5 notice goes out. If you were hired by anyone other than the owner, you have no lien until the owner has that written notice. A late notice under RSA 447:6 is capped at what the owner still owes your contractor when it arrives — on a job in payment trouble, that is frequently nothing. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Sending the notice once and stopping. RSA 447:8 requires a written account of your labor, design services or materials every 30 days for the life of the work. Those accounts are what the owner's duty to retain your money is built on. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Waiting for the project to finish. The 120 days runs from YOUR own last labor or materials, not from completion, not from the last payment. An early-trade sub or a supplier who delivered in month 2 is time-barred in month 6 while the job is still running. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Relying on a one-year enforcement deadline. The only 365-day number in New Hampshire is RSA 447:18, and it belongs to the public-works bond claim, measured from the RSA 447:17 filing. Applied to private work it is a roughly 245-day overshoot and a total forfeiture. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Getting an ordinary prejudgment attachment. RSA 447:10 requires the writ AND the return on it to distinctly express that the attachment secures an RSA 447 labor-and-materials lien. Timely is not enough if the papers do not say it. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Missing the lis pendens conditions and losing the no-notice route. RSA 511-A:8, III lets the writ go to the registry without prior application or notice only if it is in lis pendens form and specifically restricts itself to the particular real estate described in the writ and the return. Otherwise RSA 511-A:1 applies and the owner gets notice and a hearing first. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Padding the claim. Under RSA 511:53 the owner can apply to reduce or discharge an excessive or unreasonable attachment, and the burden of proof is on the party who made the attachment — you. An inflated number can cost you the attachment entirely. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Not seeing the bond-off coming. Under RSA 511:48-511:52 the owner can petition, post a bond, and dissolve your attachment by recording the clerk's certificate at the registry. Your security becomes the bond, not the property. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Treating public work like private work. Nothing attaches to public property and RSA 447:2 excludes work for a municipality. The public clock is 90 days from completion AND acceptance — acceptance is a separate event you may never be told about — and below $75,000 (state) or $125,000 (political subdivision) a bond is discretionary and may not exist. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• The public-works timing trap. RSA 447:15 imports 'the liens given by RSA 447:5-14,' and RSA 447:9 gives those liens only 120 days from your own last furnishing. If you finished more than 120 days before the project is completed and accepted, do not assume the 90-day window is still open. The statutes do not resolve the conflict. Act immediately and get counsel. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• A prime contractor on public work assuming it has the same remedy. RSA 447:15 imports only 447:5-14, leaving out the RSA 447:2 privity lien; RSA 447:2 excludes municipal work; and the RSA 447:16 bond is conditioned on payment BY the contractors and subcontractors, not to them. On the text, a contractor in direct privity with the state or a town appears to have neither the fund lien nor the bond claim. We found no case law either way. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• An unlicensed designer assuming a lien. RSA 447:2, II limits professional design services to a licensed architect, licensed landscape architect, licensed engineer, permitted septic designer, certified wetland scientist, certified soil scientist, or licensed land surveyor. Outside that list there is no lien. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Skipping the 15-business-day lender notice. RSA 447:12-b, II says failure 'shall not alone invalidate' the lien — but 'not alone' is doing work in that sentence, and the notice is what sets up the RSA 447:12-a priority fight against the construction mortgage. That priority is usually where the money is. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Giving up because it is an owner-occupied home. RSA 480:4, III expressly excepts liens of mechanics and others for debts created in the construction, repair or improvement of the homestead from the homestead exemption. The house is reachable. The mistake here is quitting, not overreaching. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Thinking you killed your lien by taking a promissory note. RSA 447:14: no lien is defeated by taking a note unless it was taken in discharge of the amount due AND of the lien. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Reading the wrong section of the chapter. RSA 447 also contains a 4-day vessel lien (447:1), a brick-kiln lien (447:3) and a logging lien (447:4). None of them is the construction lien, and RSA 447:3 states its own 90-day period that conflicts on its face with the 120 days in RSA 447:9 — for a brick claim, 90 days is the conservative read. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Calling a lawyer at day 110. Perfection is a lawsuit, not a form. Counsel needs to draft the writ, get the RSA 447:10 recital right, get the lis pendens restriction right and record it, all inside the 120 days. Start that conversation at day 30, not day 115.

After you file

• The attachment secures your claim — it does not pay it. You still have to win the case and get a lien judgment.
• Your attachment takes precedence over lien claims for labor, design services, materials or other things done or furnished AFTER the attachment was made — except work done under a contract that already existed when you attached, or work necessary to preserve the property attached (RSA 447:11). Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Where several lien creditors have attached the same property, they share pro rata according to the amounts of their respective lien judgments in the property or its proceeds, except as RSA 447:11 provides (RSA 447:12). You are not necessarily first just because you were first. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Your attachment has precedence and priority over a construction mortgage on the same work (RSA 447:12-a) — but the mortgagee defeats that by showing the loan proceeds went toward invoices or claims of subcontractors and suppliers on that job, or that it received an affidavit from the mortgagor that the work was complete and the subs and suppliers have been or will be paid. Any agreement waiving this priority is enforceable only on the same showing. Wage claims of employees under RSA 275:42 are outside this priority rule. Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• Record the attachment at the registry or a bona fide purchaser for value can take the property free of it (RSA 511-A:5). Against the owner and everyone else it is effective from the time of service or as the court orders.
• Once the RSA 511-A:2 notice of intent has been served on the defendant, no additional service is required to perfect the attachment (RSA 511-A:5-a). Source(opens the statute in a new tab)
• If you attached ex parte, the owner can ask for a hearing and the court shall grant it as promptly as possible; the court may also impose reasonable conditions on the ex parte attachment (RSA 511-A:8, closing paragraph).
• The owner can petition to release the attachment by posting a bond; recording the clerk's certificate at the registry vacates and dissolves the attachment (RSA 511:48-511:52). Your security then runs against the bond and its sureties.
• The owner can apply to reduce or discharge an excessive or unreasonable attachment, and you bear the burden of proving it is not excessive (RSA 511:53).
• If the action is compromised, dismissed, or judgment is rendered for the defendant, the attachment made in that action is dissolved (RSA 511:45).
• On public work, filing the RSA 447:17 statement of claim only reserves your place — you have one year from that filing to file a petition in the Superior Court for the county where the contract is principally performed, or to intervene in one already filed, with a copy to the principal and surety (RSA 447:18).
• When the attachment is dissolved or released, you or your attorney must give a discharge on request (RSA 511-A:11); the owner then has 30 days to record it and pays the RSA 478:17-g fee (RSA 511:8). Source(opens the statute in a new tab)