How to file a mechanics lien in Nevada

Step by step

13 steps for a subcontractor in Nevada.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm your license covers this exact work

   Before you sign the contract, and again before you file anything.

   If Nevada law requires a license to do your work, you have a lien only if you were licensed to do that work. This bar sits outside every deadline — it does not matter how well you handled the notices.

   Where it goes

   Your own license record.

   How

   Check your Nevada State Contractors Board classification against the scope you actually performed on this job. If your scope drifted outside your classification, that is the thing to raise with your attorney before you spend money recording a lien.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of your active license showing the classification and its limits, dated for the period you worked on the job.

   If you miss it: No lien. NRS 108.222(2) gives the lien only to a contractor or professional who is licensed to perform the work.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.222(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Send the owner a Notice of Right to Lien

   Within 31 days after the first day you delivered material or performed work. If that date has already passed, send it today — every extra day deletes another day of your claim.

   This is the notice that turns on your lien rights. Two separate things ride on it. Without it you cannot perfect or enforce a lien at all (unless you performed labor only). And your lien reaches only the work you furnished in the 31 days before the day you send it, plus everything you furnish after. Send it on day 31 and you keep 100% of the claim; send it on day 120 of a six-month job and roughly three months of billings simply drop out of the lien. Nothing warns you when this happens. You do not need this notice if you contracted directly with the owner or sold materials directly to the owner — it is privity that exempts you, not the job title.

   Where it goes

   The property owner. Subs and equipment/material suppliers also send a copy to the prime contractor, for information only.

   How

   Hand-deliver it to the owner, or send it by certified mail. If you are a subcontractor or an equipment or material supplier, also hand-deliver or certified-mail a copy to the prime contractor. It does not need to be notarized, sworn or acknowledged.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail receipt and return receipt, a dated copy of the notice as sent, and the same for the copy to the prime contractor. Keep the date you sent it — that date is what fixes the 31-day look-back.

   What the document must contain

   • Addressed to the owner by name and address
   • A general description of the materials, equipment, work or services you supplied
   • Identification of the property, by property description or street address
   • The name of the general contractor or subcontractor you are working under
   • The statutory statement that this is not a notice that you have not been paid, but a notice required by law that you may record a lien later if you are not paid
   • Your name as claimant

   If you miss it: Send it late and the lien survives but shrinks: you lose every dollar earned more than 31 days before the day you sent it, and you usually find out when a court reduces your lien. Send it never and, unless you performed labor only, no lien may be perfected or enforced at all.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.245(1), (3), (4), (5), (6)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Check the recorder's index for a Notice of Completion before you trust any deadline

   The moment payment stops, and again the day you sit down to calculate your filing date.

   This is the single most common way a Nevada lien is lost. The owner can record a Notice of Completion. If it is recorded and served the way the statute requires, your recording window becomes 40 days from the day it was recorded — not 90 days from your last day. Owners often record one within days of a trade walking off, so a contractor counting 90 days from their own last day can already be out of time. The 40 days runs from the recording date, not the date you were served.

   Where it goes

   The county recorder for the county where the property sits. Most Nevada counties have an online index.

   How

   Search the county recorder's index for the property by parcel number or owner name and look for a recorded Notice of Completion. If one exists, pull it and read the recording date stamped on it. Then recompute: 40 days from that recording date.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of your index search, and a copy of any Notice of Completion you find showing its recording date. If the owner sent you a copy, keep the envelope and the postmark — the date you received it matters to whether the notice is effective against you.

   If you miss it: You count 90 days, record on day 80, and the lien is weeks or months late and unenforceable. Nothing in the recorder's receipt tells you this happened.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 108.226(1)(b), 108.228(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: On residential work, serve the 15-day Notice of Intent to Lien

   At least 15 full days before you record the lien. Working back from a 90-day deadline, that means serving it by about day 75.

   If the job involves building, altering or repairing multifamily or single-family residences — and the statute expressly includes apartment houses — every claimant except a pure laborer must serve this notice before recording. That includes the prime contractor, who owes no Notice of Right to Lien but still owes this one. Serving it also extends your recording deadline by 15 days, but only because you actually served it. Do not plan around the extra 15 days; plan around serving on time.

   Where it goes

   Both the owner and the reputed prime contractor. Both, not either.

   How

   Personal delivery or certified mail. Then wait. You cannot record the lien until 15 days have passed.

   Proof to keep

   Certified mail receipts and return receipts for both the owner and the prime contractor, plus a dated copy of the notice. You will need the service date to show the 15 days ran.

   What the document must contain

   • Substantially the same information the notice of lien itself must contain — see the recording step for that list

   If you miss it: On residential work, a lien for anything other than labor may not be perfected or enforced without it. Not reduced — gone.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.226(6), (7)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Record the Notice of Lien with the county recorder

   Within 90 days after the latest of three dates: the work of improvement was completed, your last delivery of material or equipment, or your last day of work. If a Notice of Completion was recorded and served (see the Notice of Completion step), it is 40 days from the day that notice was recorded instead. On residential work, serving the 15-day notice of intent adds 15 days to whichever window applies.

   This is the act that creates the lien against the property. Nevada does not give subs or suppliers a shorter window than the prime — everyone gets the same one. The amount you state must be what is left after deducting all just credits and offsets, not your gross invoice total.

   Where it goes

   The office of the county recorder for the county where the property, or some part of it, is located.

   How

   Record it with the county recorder, in person, by mail, or through an e-recording service where the county accepts one. It must be verified — you swear to it in front of a notary, who signs a 'subscribed and sworn to' jurat. It does not need to be acknowledged; a standard acknowledgment certificate is the wrong notarial block for this document. Expect a per-document recording fee: NRS 247.305 sets a $25 base and each county adds its own surcharges on top (Washoe County publishes $43 per document).

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy showing the recorder's document number and the recording date. Every deadline after this one runs from that recording date.

   What the document must contain

   • The Assessor's Parcel Number(s)
   • The amount of the original contract
   • The total amount of all additional or changed work, materials and equipment
   • The total amount of all payments received to date
   • The amount of the lien after deducting all just credits and offsets
   • The name of the owner, if known
   • The name of the person who employed you, or to whom you furnished the material or equipment
   • A brief statement of the terms of payment of your contract
   • A description of the property sufficient to identify it
   • Your printed name as claimant and an authorized signature
   • The sworn verification, signed before a notary ('subscribed and sworn to' — a jurat, not an acknowledgment)

   If you miss it: No lien. And note the flip side: knowingly making a false statement in or about a recorded notice of lien is a gross misdemeanor carrying a fine of $5,000 to $10,000.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.226(1), (2), (3), (4), (5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Split the amount across each building if the lien covers more than one

   Optional

   At the same moment you record the notice of lien.

   If your one lien covers two or more separate buildings or mining claims owned by the same person, sitting on separate legal parcels that already existed when construction started, you have to state how much is owed on each one. Skip it and you do not lose the lien, but you drop behind every other claimant and encumbrancer who did state it.

   Where it goes

   Inside the recorded notice of lien.

   How

   Break out the lienable amount building by building inside the notice of lien itself.

   Proof to keep

   Your working calculation showing how you split the total, and that you split it in good faith or pro rata — the statute protects a good-faith estimate or a pro rata split.

   What the document must contain

   • The lienable amount due on each separate building or mining claim

   If you miss it: Your lien is postponed behind the liens of other claimants and encumbrancers for value who did designate per building.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.231(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner within 30 days

   Within 30 days after you record the notice of lien.

   Recording is only half the job. The statute separately requires that a copy of the recorded lien reach the owner. A perfectly timed recording with no follow-up service is incomplete, and nothing on the recorder's receipt warns you.

   Where it goes

   The owner. If there is more than one owner, serving one owner properly keeps the lien alive even if you miss another. Subcontractors also deliver to the prime contractor.

   How

   One of three ways: hand a copy to the owner or the owner's registered agent; or send it by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner's home, usual place of business, or the registered agent's address. Only if you genuinely cannot determine any of those addresses may you fall back on posting a copy conspicuously on the property, handing a copy to anyone residing there, and mailing a copy to the statutory address list. If you are a subcontractor, also deliver a copy to the prime contractor.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail receipt and the signed return receipt, or a dated delivery record. If you used the posting fallback, keep photographs of the posting and proof of every mailing.

   If you miss it: You have not met the statutory requirements for your lien. Separately, a subcontractor who fails to deliver a copy to the prime contractor faces license discipline under NRS chapter 624, though that failure alone does not invalidate the lien.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.227(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Record an amended lien if something in it is wrong

   Optional

   Any time before or during the trial of the foreclosure action.

   Nevada lets you correct or clarify a recorded lien. A difference between the original and the amended version does not defeat the lien unless it came from fraud, was intentional, or actually misled the other side to their prejudice. A mistake in the owner's name does not defeat the lien either, subject to the same limits.

   Where it goes

   The county recorder where the original was recorded, then the owner.

   How

   Record the amended notice of lien with the same county recorder, then serve the owner with the amended notice the same way you served the original.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded amended lien, and proof of service on the owner within 30 days of recording it.

   If you miss it: Serving the amended lien is on the same 30-day clock as the original. The uncorrected error stays in the record and becomes something the other side argues about at trial.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.229(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Wait 30 days after recording before you file the foreclosure complaint

   Day 30 after the notice of lien was recorded.

   Nevada's enforcement window is a band, not an open runway. You cannot file the foreclosure complaint until 30 days have run from the recording date. There are narrow exceptions: filing into a foreclosure action already on file, and filing in order to comply with the notice requirements of NRS 108.239.

   Where it goes

   Nothing is filed during this period — it is a waiting period.

   How

   Count 30 days from the recording date stamped on your lien, and calendar the earliest filing date.

   Proof to keep

   Your recorded lien showing the recording date, which fixes both ends of the enforcement window.

   If you miss it: A complaint filed too early is filed in the teeth of the statute and invites dismissal.

   Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.244(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: File the foreclosure lawsuit within 6 months of recording

    Within 6 calendar months after the date the notice of lien was recorded. Count months, not 180 days.

    The lien stops binding the property 6 months after recording unless you have started a court action in that time. After the 6 months the lien is treated as expired and stops giving anyone notice of your claim. There is one narrow way to buy time: a written extension signed by both you and a person with an interest in the property, recorded in the same county before the 6 months run out. It binds only the people who signed it, cannot be given twice, and can never reach beyond 1 year from the recording date.

    Where it goes

    Any court of competent jurisdiction located in the county where the property is.

    How

    File a complaint that sets out the particulars of your demand and describes the property to be charged.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint showing the filing date, next to the recording date on your lien.

    If you miss it: The lien expires. It no longer binds the property and gives no constructive notice to anyone.

    Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.233(1), (2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: Record the lis pendens and start the 3-week publication the day you file

    At the time you file the complaint and issue the summons. Not later.

    Filing the complaint on time is not enough by itself. Two more things have to happen the same day. You record a notice that the lawsuit is pending, which is what keeps the property from being sold out from under your claim. And you start a published notice of foreclosure so other lien claimants can join.

    Where it goes

    The county recorder for the lis pendens; a newspaper published in the county for the notice of foreclosure; the other recorded lien claimants by mail or personal delivery.

    How

    Record the notice of pendency with the recorder of each county where any part of the property sits, naming the parties, the object of the action and the property description (NRS 14.010). Then arrange for a notice of foreclosure to be published once a week for 3 successive weeks in a newspaper published in the county. If the recorder's index shows other liens against the same property, also send those claimants a copy of the published notice by registered or certified mail, or deliver it in person. If you later change venue, record a fresh notice of pendency naming the new court and county.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded lis pendens with its document number, the newspaper's affidavit of publication covering all three weeks, and mailing receipts for every other recorded lien claimant.

    What the document must contain

    • Notice of pendency: the names of the parties, the object of the action, and a description of the property in that county
    • Notice of foreclosure: notice to everyone holding or claiming a lien on the property to file written statements of the facts constituting their liens, with dates and amounts, with the clerk and on you and on the defendant

    If you miss it: A timely complaint with no recorded lis pendens leaves the property free to be transferred out from under the claim, and you have not done what the statute requires at the time of filing.

    Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.239(1), (2), (4), (5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: If your lien is bonded off, sue the principal and surety within 9 months

    Within 9 months after the date you were served with notice that the surety bond was recorded. If the bond was one posted against the whole prime contract, it is the later of 9 months from that service or 9 months from completion of the work of improvement.

    The owner or contractor can record a surety bond that releases your lien off the property. When that happens your claim moves off the dirt and onto the bond, and the clock changes identity: a different deadline, against different defendants. A calendar still counting down to your 6-month lien date is now tracking the wrong date against the wrong parties.

    Where it goes

    Any court of competent jurisdiction located in the county where the property is.

    How

    Bring an action against the bond's principal and the surety, and your debtor. If you already sued to foreclose before the bond was recorded, you can amend the complaint to add claims against the principal and surety instead.

    Proof to keep

    The notice of the bond's recording and the date you were served with it — that service date starts the 9 months.

    If you miss it: You lose the claim against the bond, which by then is the only thing your claim attaches to.

    Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.2421(1), (2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Record the release within 10 days of being paid

    As soon as practicable, and no later than 10 days after the lien is fully satisfied or discharged.

    Once you are paid you have to clear the lien off the title. This is an obligation with its own penalty, and it is easy to forget after the money lands.

    Where it goes

    The same county recorder where the notice of lien was recorded.

    How

    Record a discharge or release of the notice of lien, substantially in the form printed in NRS 108.2437(1), signed by you.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded release with its document number and recording date.

    What the document must contain

    • The date you recorded the notice of lien, and its book and document number
    • The county where it was recorded
    • The name of the owner or purported owner
    • The legal description or address of the property or improvements
    • A statement releasing, satisfying and discharging the notice of lien
    • Your signature as lien claimant

    If you miss it: You are liable to the owner in a civil action for actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, plus the owner's reasonable attorney's fees and costs of bringing the action.

    Nev. Rev. Stat. § 108.2437(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Nevada

Where you file

Office

County Recorder of the county where the property, or some part of it, is located

Recording fee

$37–$50

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn statement

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 Nevada

• Counting 90 days without checking for a Notice of Completion. If the owner recorded one and served it as NRS 108.228 requires, your window is 40 days from the day it was recorded. Owners commonly record one right after a trade finishes, so a lien filed on 'day 85' can already be a month and a half late. There is a possible defense — NRS 108.228(5) makes a Notice of Completion ineffective against any prime contractor or claimant the owner failed to send a copy to by certified mail within 10 days of recording — but that is something to raise after the fact, not a reason to let a date slip. Note also that the owner only has to send it to claimants who already delivered a Notice of Right to Lien or filed a written request, which is another reason to send that notice early.
• Treating a late Notice of Right to Lien as a passed checkbox. It is not pass/fail, it is dollar-denominated. NRS 108.245(6) gives you a lien only for work furnished in the 31 days before the day you sent it, plus everything after. Miss by three months on a long job and three months of billings quietly vanish from the claim. If you are already late, the fix is to send it the same day, because the look-back is measured from the send date.
• Calling an apartment or condominium job 'commercial' and skipping the 15-day Notice of Intent to Lien. NRS 108.226(6) covers the construction, alteration or repair of multifamily or single-family residences, expressly including apartment houses, and NRS 108.226(7) excludes only nonresidential construction projects. The statutory line is whether you are working on dwellings, not whether the job is in your commercial book of business. Get it wrong on a residential job and the lien may not be perfected or enforced at all.
• A prime contractor assuming the residential 15-day notice does not apply to them. It does. NRS 108.245(5) exempts the prime from the Notice of Right to Lien, but NRS 108.226(6) binds every claimant except laborers — the prime included — to the 15-day Notice of Intent. Being right about the first rule is what makes people wrong about the second.
• Recording the lien and stopping there. NRS 108.227(1) separately requires a copy of the recorded lien to reach the owner within 30 days after recording. Nothing on the recorder's receipt mentions it.
• Quoting the enforcement deadline as a year, or as 180 days. NRS 108.233(1) says 6 calendar months from the recording date, and after that the lien is deemed expired and gives no constructive notice. On the other end, NRS 108.244 bars filing the complaint until 30 days have run from recording. The window is a band from roughly day 30 to the 6-month mark.
• Filing the foreclosure complaint on time and nothing else. NRS 108.239(2) requires, at the time of filing, a recorded notice of pendency under NRS 14.010 and a notice of foreclosure published once a week for 3 successive weeks, plus mailing that published notice to other recorded lien claimants under NRS 108.239(4). A timely complaint with no lis pendens leaves the property transferable.
• Losing the lien to a bar that has nothing to do with deadlines. Below $500 in value there are no lien rights at all (NRS 108.2214). If your work required a Nevada license and you were not licensed for it, there is no lien (NRS 108.222(2)). Neither bar shows up anywhere in a deadline calculation.
• Putting the gross invoice total on the lien. NRS 108.226(2)(a) requires the amount after deducting all just credits and offsets. An owner or debtor can move under NRS 108.2275 to have the lien released as frivolous or reduced as excessive on 15 to 30 days' notice, and if they win the court awards them costs and reasonable attorney's fees. Knowingly making a false statement in or about a recorded lien is a gross misdemeanor with a $5,000 to $10,000 fine (NRS 108.226(4)).
• Using an acknowledgment block instead of a jurat. NRS 108.226(3) requires the lien to be verified by oath and says it need not be acknowledged to be recorded. The statutory form in NRS 108.226(5) carries a 'subscribed and sworn to before me' jurat. A document prepared with a standard acknowledgment certificate is not verified.
• Assuming a 30-day work stoppage starts the clock. NRS 108.22116 defines completion as the owner occupying, using or accepting the work with all work ceasing — or a 30-day cessation, but only if a notice of completion is timely recorded and served and the work does not resume under the same contract. Secondary sources that describe '30 days of stoppage, then 90 days to file' are leaving the condition off.
• Perfecting flawlessly on a tenant build-out with nothing behind it. On lessee-caused work the lessee is the one who must record a notice of posted security and either fund a construction disbursement account or record a bond (NRS 108.2403). Separately, a disinterested owner such as a landlord can cut liens off its own interest by recording a notice of nonresponsibility within 3 days of learning of the work and serving it on the lessee and prime contractor (NRS 108.234). Both are levers the other side pulls, and neither shows up on your calendar.
• Accepting a contract clause that waives lien rights, or signing a release on a non-statutory form. NRS 108.2453 voids contract terms that waive or impair lien rights. NRS 108.2457 makes a waiver unenforceable unless it is on one of the statutory forms and, for a conditional waiver, unless you were actually paid the amount identified in it.
• Recording a chapter 108 lien on a public job. There is no mechanics lien on public property in Nevada. The remedy is a claim on the prime's payment bond, required on public contracts over $100,000 (NRS 339.025(1)). If your contract is with a subcontractor rather than the prime, you must serve the prime written notice within 30 days after first furnishing, and a second written notice stating the amount claimed within 90 days after your last labor or material (NRS 339.035(2)). Suit on the bond must be brought within 1 year of your own last labor or material (NRS 339.055(2)) — that clock runs from your last day, not from any recording. Federal projects run on the Miller Act instead: 90-day notice to the prime for claimants without a contract with the prime, and suit within 1 year of last furnishing (40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)).

After you file

• Serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner within 30 days of recording — that deadline starts the moment the recorder stamps the document, and it is the step most often skipped.
• Calendar both ends of the enforcement band from the recording date: no complaint before day 30 (NRS 108.244), complaint filed within 6 calendar months (NRS 108.233(1)).
• Expect the owner to have options. They can move to expunge the lien as frivolous or reduce it as excessive on 15 to 30 days' notice, with costs and attorney's fees going to whoever wins that motion (NRS 108.2275). They can record a surety bond that releases the lien off the property, which moves your claim to the bond and replaces your 6-month date with a 9-month date against the principal and surety (NRS 108.2413, 108.2415, 108.2421). Watch for both.
• If you do sue, the lis pendens, the 3-week publication and the mailing to other recorded lien claimants all have to happen at the time of filing, not afterward (NRS 108.239(2), (4)). If the case changes venue, record a fresh notice of pendency naming the new court and county (NRS 108.239(5)).
• Other claimants will be able to join your action by filing statements of facts after publication, and the court may consolidate separate lien suits without changing anyone's priority (NRS 108.239(3), (6)).
• Your priority does not depend on when you recorded. Mechanics liens are preferred to any lien, mortgage or encumbrance that attached after construction commenced — meaning the date work or materials first became visible from a reasonable inspection of the site (NRS 108.22112, 108.225).
• An extension of the 6-month period is possible but narrow: it must be in writing, signed by you and by a person with an interest in the property, recorded in the same county before the 6 months run out, and acknowledged as a deed is. It binds only the signers, cannot be repeated, and can never reach past 1 year from the recording date (NRS 108.233(1)(b), (2)).
• When you are paid, record the discharge or release within 10 days. Failing to do so exposes you to actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, plus the owner's attorney's fees and costs (NRS 108.2437).