How to file a mechanics lien in Ohio

Step by step

13 steps for a subcontractor in Ohio.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check the county recorder for a Notice of Commencement

   Before you start, or in your first few days on site. Your 21-day notice clock starts the first day you work or deliver, so do not wait.

   An Ohio owner is supposed to record a Notice of Commencement with the county recorder before any work starts, and post a copy at the job site. Whether one exists decides whether you owe a Notice of Furnishing at all — if the owner never recorded one, you do not have to serve one. It also tells you exactly who to send that notice to: it names the owner, part owner or lessee, the owner's designee, the original contractors, the lender and any bond.

   Where it goes

   The county recorder for the county the property is in. If the property sits in more than one county, check each one.

   How

   Search the county recorder's records for the property. Look for a copy posted at the job site. You can also serve a written request on the owner, part owner, lessee or designee for a copy — once you do, they have ten days to serve you one.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy or printout of the recorded Notice of Commencement — or a dated printout of your search showing none exists. Keep a copy of any written request you sent plus the delivery receipt.

   What the document must contain

   • A written request for a copy, if you send one, should identify you, the property, and ask for a copy of the recorded Notice of Commencement

   If you miss it: If a Notice of Commencement was recorded and you never serve a Notice of Furnishing, you lose your lien rights. If none was recorded, you owe no Notice of Furnishing — but you cannot know that without looking, and guessing wrong costs you the lien.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.04(A); § 1311.05(H)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Serve the Notice of Furnishing within 21 days of your first day

   Within 21 days after the first day you performed labor or work, or furnished the first materials. Two extensions exist: if the owner records the Notice of Commencement late, you get 21 days from the day it is recorded; if the owner ignores your written request for a copy, you get 21 days from the day it is actually served on you.

   This is the notice that tells the owner and the general contractor you are on the job and expect to be paid. On a private project where a Notice of Commencement was recorded, it is what keeps your lien rights alive. It is not a monthly notice — Ohio is a one-notice state, one per claimant per improvement.

   Where it goes

   Two recipients. (1) The owner's, part owner's or lessee's designee named in the Notice of Commencement, or the owner if no designee is named. (2) The original contractor named in the Notice of Commencement. Three carve-outs: if you contract directly with the original contractor you do not have to serve the original contractor, but you still serve the owner side; if you supply materials directly to the owner, part owner or lessee you do not have to serve the owner, but you still serve the original contractor; and if the Notice of Commencement names more than one original contractor, you do not have to serve any original contractor.

   How

   Certified or registered mail, overnight delivery service, hand delivery, the county sheriff, or any other method that gives you written evidence of receipt. If you send it certified mail, it counts as served on the day you mail it — not the day it arrives.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail receipt showing the postmark date (that date is your service date), the return card or delivery confirmation, a copy of the notice exactly as sent, and the page of the Notice of Commencement showing the designee's and original contractor's names and addresses.

   What the document must contain

   • Use the form set out in the statute
   • Name and address of each person you are serving
   • A description of the location of the property — enough to reasonably identify it
   • The name of the person who hired you
   • The date you first performed labor or work or furnished materials
   • Your name and address as the lien claimant
   • Your signature and the capacity you sign in
   • The statutory warning line: THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY THE OHIO MECHANICS' LIEN LAW

   If you miss it: A late notice does not kill the lien outright, which is exactly what makes it dangerous. It preserves your lien rights only for labor and materials furnished in the 21 days immediately before you served it, and everything after. It does not revive anything older. Serve on day 90 and roughly ten weeks of billings are permanently off the lien, while the lien still looks valid.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.05(A), (B), (C), (D)(1); § 1311.04(I), (J); § 1311.19(A), (B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: On a public job, serve the Notice of Furnishing on the principal contractor within 21 days

   Within 21 days after the first day you performed labor or work or furnished materials at the site of the public improvement.

   Public improvements run on a different statute. This notice preserves your claim against the money the public authority still owes the principal contractor. If your labor and materials on the job are worth more than $30,000, serving this same notice is also what preserves your claim against the public payment bond.

   Where it goes

   The principal contractor. Not the public authority, and not an owner. If you are in direct privity of contract with the principal contractor you do not have to serve it at all. Laborers are exempt.

   How

   Certified or registered mail, overnight delivery, hand delivery, the sheriff, or any method with written evidence of receipt. Certified mail counts as served on the date of mailing.

   Proof to keep

   Certified mail receipt with the postmark date, delivery confirmation, and a copy of the notice as sent.

   What the document must contain

   • Use the notice of furnishing form provided in § 1311.261
   • Your name and address
   • A description of the public improvement site
   • The date you first performed labor or work or furnished materials

   If you miss it: Same rolling look-back as private work: a late notice covers only amounts owed for labor and materials furnished during and after the 21 days immediately before service. Everything older drops out. On a bond claim over $30,000 the same limit applies.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.261(A)(1), (A)(2), (F); § 153.56(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Write down your own first and last day on the job

   Throughout the job, and especially the day you finish. This is the date every other deadline counts from.

   Ohio's filing clock runs from the last day YOU performed labor or work or furnished material — not from when the overall project finishes. A sub who wrapped up in month two of a nine-month job can already be out of time while the job is still visibly running. The affidavit itself has to state your first and last dates, so you need both.

   Where it goes

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

   How

   Keep dated delivery tickets, signed daily reports, time cards, signed field tickets and invoices. Ohio's statute ties the clock to your last labor, work or material for the improvement — do not assume a later callback, warranty visit or punch-list trip restarts it.

   Proof to keep

   Dated tickets or reports signed or received by someone on the other side — a delivery ticket signed at the gate is worth more than your own spreadsheet.

   What the document must contain

   • The first date you performed any labor or work or furnished any material for this improvement
   • The last date you performed any labor or work or furnished any material for this improvement

   If you miss it: If you count from project completion instead of your own last day, you file late and the lien is dead. If you cannot prove your last date, you cannot prove you filed in time.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.06(A), (B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: On an owner-occupied home, put the lender on written notice as soon as you are not being paid

   Optional

   As soon as payment goes late. There is no statutory deadline on this one — earlier is better, because you are racing the next draw out the door.

   On a home construction contract the lender pays the general contractor directly, and the general contractor gives the lender an affidavit saying everyone below has been paid. Once you serve the lending institution written notice of your claim of a right to a mechanics' lien, the lender's failure to get a lien release from you is prima-facie evidence of gross negligence. It is the one pressure point you have before the money leaves.

   Where it goes

   The lending institution financing the home construction contract. The lender is named in the Notice of Commencement if one was recorded; on most home construction contracts none is, so you may have to ask the owner or the general contractor.

   How

   In writing, by a method that gives you written evidence of receipt.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the notice and the delivery receipt showing the lender received it, with the date.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name and address
   • The property
   • The work or materials you furnished
   • That you claim a right to a mechanics' lien for the unpaid amount

   If you miss it: Nothing happens automatically. But you give up the only lever that reaches the money before the owner's final payment goes out — and on an owner-occupied home, once the owner pays the general contractor in full your lien is void.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.011(B)(4), (B)(5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Record the sworn lien affidavit with the county recorder

   Counted from the last day YOU worked or delivered: 60 days if the lien arises in connection with a one- or two-family dwelling or a residential condominium unit; 120 days for an oil or gas well lien; 75 days for everything else, including apartment buildings of three or more units. The 60-day test is about the type of structure — there is no owner-occupancy requirement, so a spec house and a rental duplex both get 60 days.

   This is the lien itself. It is a sworn affidavit recorded against the property, and once recorded it attaches to the improvement and the owner's, part owner's or lessee's interest in the land or leasehold.

   Where it goes

   The county recorder in each county in which the improved property is located.

   How

   Swear the affidavit before someone authorized to administer oaths and get the jurat signed — an unsworn filing is defective. Ohio is unusually permissive about who can administer the oath: it may be an agent for the owner, part owner, lessee, lien claimant, or an interested or other party. Then file it for record. If the improved property sits in more than one county, record a separate affidavit in each county, with a separate fee each time. The statutory fee is $17 base plus $17 housing trust fund for the first two pages, then $4 plus $4 for each page after that, plus a document preservation surcharge of up to $5 — so budget roughly $34 to $39 for a short affidavit, more for a long legal description, and check your county for e-recording charges.

   Proof to keep

   The recorder's stamped copy showing the date and hour of filing and the instrument or recording number, plus the fee receipt. The recorder is required to endorse the date and hour on every affidavit.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount due over and above all legal setoffs
   • A description of the property to be charged with the lien — sufficient if made the way § 1311.04(B)(1) describes
   • The name and address of the person to or for whom the labor or work was performed or material was furnished
   • The name of the owner, part owner or lessee, if known
   • Your name and address as lien claimant
   • The first and last dates you performed labor or work or furnished material
   • The jurat — sworn to before, and subscribed in the presence of, the officer

   If you miss it: No lien. The deadline cannot be extended. Filing on day 75 on a house is 15 days late and the lien is worthless.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.06(A), (B)(1)-(3), (C), (D), (E); § 317.32(A)(1)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

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

   Within 30 days after you file the affidavit. If you cannot get it served, post a copy in a conspicuous place on the premises within 10 days after those 30 days expire — so by day 40 at the outside.

   Recording is not the finish line. Ohio requires a second step: getting a copy of the recorded affidavit into the owner's hands. On an owner-occupied home, the owner's receipt of this copy is also what cuts off the defence that they already paid the general contractor in full.

   Where it goes

   The owner, part owner or lessee of the improved property, or their designee. NOT the general contractor. The general contractor's document was the earlier Notice of Furnishing. Serving only the GC is not compliance.

   How

   Sheriff, certified or registered mail, overnight delivery, hand delivery, or any method with written evidence of receipt. Watch the timing rule: the mailing-date shortcut applies only to a Notice of Furnishing. This copy is served on RECEIPT. Mailing it on day 29 does not satisfy the 30-day rule. One exception works in your favour — if you serve at the address given in the Notice of Commencement and it comes back unclaimed or refused, service is complete when first attempted.

   Proof to keep

   The signed return receipt or delivery confirmation showing the date of receipt. If you had to post instead, keep dated photographs of the posted copy on the premises and a written record of every service attempt that failed.

   What the document must contain

   • A copy of the affidavit exactly as recorded, including the recorder's endorsement

   If you miss it: The statute requires it. Treat it as a hard deadline — the safe assumption is that a lien served late is exposed to attack. On an owner-occupied home the consequence is concrete and immediate: until the owner receives this copy, a full payment to the general contractor voids your lien.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.07; § 1311.19(A), (B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: On an oil or gas well, mail a copy of the affidavit to the purchaser or pipeline carrier

   As soon as the affidavit is recorded. The lien does not bind the buyer of the oil or gas until this is done.

   An oil and gas lien reaches the lease or leasehold estate, the oil or gas produced, and the proceeds. But the part that actually gets you paid — the proceeds in the buyer's hands — does not attach until the buyer or carrier has a copy of your affidavit.

   Where it goes

   Any purchaser of the oil or gas, and any pipeline carrier.

   How

   By certified mail.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail receipt and return card for each purchaser and carrier.

   What the document must contain

   • A copy of the affidavit recorded under § 1311.06

   If you miss it: Your lien is not effective against that purchaser or pipeline carrier. The proceeds can be paid out and you have no claim on them.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.021(B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: On a public job, serve your affidavit on the public authority within 120 days

   Within 120 days from the performance of your last labor or work, or the furnishing of your last material.

   There is no lien on public property in Ohio. Instead you serve a sworn affidavit on the public authority, and the authority must then hold back that amount from the principal contractor — up to the remaining contract balance — and put it in escrow, to be released only by court order, by agreement, or if you fail to sue in time. A principal contractor cannot use this remedy; it sues on its contract.

   Where it goes

   The representative of the public authority named in the notice of commencement for the public improvement.

   How

   Serve it — do not record it against the public land. Recording a § 1311.06 affidavit against public property gets you nothing and burns the 120 days. The authority is barred from holding funds for a claimant who failed to serve the required notice of furnishing, so do not skip that earlier step.

   Proof to keep

   Proof of service on the named representative with the date, and a copy of the affidavit as served.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount due and unpaid for the labor and work performed and material furnished
   • The dates the last labor or work was performed and the last material furnished
   • All credits and setoffs
   • Your post office address
   • Sworn form; laborers may authorize an agent to prepare and file, and one affidavit may carry several laborers' claims if each is separately itemized

   If you miss it: You have no claim on the withheld funds. Your remaining route is the payment bond, which has its own separate deadlines.

   Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.26; § 1311.28(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: On a public job, file a copy of that affidavit with the county recorder within 30 days

    Within 30 days after you served the affidavit on the public authority.

    This filing does not make or break your claim — it sets your place in line. A claimant who files gets a preference, as to payments later due from the public authority, over claimants who did not file. Failing to file does not affect the validity of your claim.

    Where it goes

    The county recorder for the county where the public improvement is located, or each county if it spans more than one.

    How

    File a copy of the same affidavit you served on the public authority.

    Proof to keep

    The recorder's stamped copy with the recording date and instrument number.

    What the document must contain

    • A copy of the affidavit served under § 1311.26

    If you miss it: Your claim stays valid, but claimants who did file get paid ahead of you out of the detained funds.

    Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.29(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: On a public job, make the payment bond claim — 90 days to the sureties, one year to sue

    Furnish the sureties a statement of the amount due not later than 90 days after the principal contractor or design-build firm completes the contract and the public improvement is accepted. Then sue on the bond no earlier than 60 days after you furnish that statement, and not later than one year from the date of acceptance of the public improvement.

    On most Ohio public jobs the payment bond, not the affidavit on funds, is where the money actually comes from — the escrowed funds are capped at whatever contract balance is left. The bond covers lawful claims of subcontractors, material suppliers and laborers, and you can sue on it even if you had no direct contract with the principal contractor.

    Where it goes

    The surety company on the bond. The bond and surety are identified in the notice of commencement for the public improvement.

    How

    Furnish a written statement of the amount due to the sureties. If your labor and materials on the job exceed $30,000, you must also have served the § 1311.261 notice of furnishing on the principal contractor — and your bond recovery is then limited to amounts owed for labor and materials furnished during and after the 21 days before you served it.

    Proof to keep

    Proof of delivery of the statement to the sureties with the date, and documentation of the date the public improvement was accepted — both of your deadlines hang off that acceptance date.

    What the document must contain

    • A statement of the amount due you for labor, work or materials furnished on the public improvement

    If you miss it: Miss the 90-day statement or the one-year suit window and the bond claim is gone. These run off completion and acceptance of the whole improvement, which is a different date from your own last day — do not reuse the 120-day date.

    Ohio Rev. Code § 153.56; § 153.54(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: If you receive a Notice to Commence Suit, you have 60 days

    Within 60 days after service of the notice on you is complete. This is not on your calendar — it starts the day it lands.

    This is the lever the other side can pull, and it is the single thing most likely to cost an Ohio contractor a valid lien. The owner, part owner, lessee, mortgagee, anyone else with an interest in the property, or a contractor who has posted security, can serve you a written notice to commence suit. The moment it is served, your six-year lien becomes a 60-day lien. It is routine whenever an owner wants to clear title to sell or refinance. On a public job, the public authority, the principal contractor or a subcontractor can serve the same kind of notice with the same 60 days.

    Where it goes

    Court of common pleas, against the owner and all other interested persons.

    How

    You have to actually file suit — commence an action to enforce the lien. Nothing else stops the clock. The notice will typically come by sheriff or certified mail, and may come by newspaper publication if you cannot be found, so an unopened certified envelope is not a defence.

    Proof to keep

    The notice itself with the envelope and postmark, and the date of service. The person who served it must file an affidavit with the county recorder within 30 days describing how service was made — that recorded affidavit is the public record of your start date.

    What the document must contain

    • Nothing for you to draft at this step — but note the date service was completed on you, because that date, not the lien filing date, starts the 60 days

    If you miss it: The lien is void and the property is wholly discharged from it. Filing suit and then dismissing it with prejudice before adjudication has the same effect. You still have your contract claim for the money — you just lose the security.

    Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.11(A), (B); § 1311.311 (public improvements)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Sue to enforce the lien within six years of recording it

    Within six years after the affidavit is filed with the county recorder — unless someone serves you a Notice to Commence Suit first, which cuts it to 60 days. If you bring the action within that time, the lien stays in force until final adjudication.

    Recording the lien does not collect the money. Enforcing it means a court action against the owner and everyone else with an interest in the property or the improvement. The court can order the property rented or sold as justice and equity require, and may allow reasonable attorney fees to be paid out of the fund realized for lien claimants.

    Where it goes

    Against the owner and all other persons interested, either as lienholders or otherwise, in the improvement and the land it stands on.

    How

    By petition, as in other cases of liens. This is a lawsuit — it is where you need a construction attorney, not software.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint and the date of filing.

    What the document must contain

    • Name every party with an interest in the property or the improvement, including other lienholders

    If you miss it: The lien expires. Six years feels like forever, which is exactly the trap — most Ohio liens that die, die on the 60-day Notice to Commence Suit, not on the six-year clock.

    Ohio Rev. Code § 1311.13(C); § 1311.16(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Ohio

Where you file

Office

County Recorder

Recording fee

$34–$60

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn affidavit

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 Ohio

• Using 75 days on a house. The deadline is 60 days whenever the lien arises in connection with a one- or two-family dwelling or a residential condominium unit (§ 1311.06(B)(1)). The test is the structure, not who lives there — a spec house, a rental duplex and an owner's home all get 60 days. An apartment building of three or more units falls back to 75.
• Counting from the end of the job. The clock runs from the last labor, work or material furnished by the person claiming the lien (§ 1311.06(B)). A sub who finished in month two of a nine-month job can be time-barred while the job is still visibly running and everyone still calls them 'on the job'. Do not let a warranty callback or punch-list trip convince you the clock reset.
• Reading 'six years' as safety. Any owner, part owner, lessee, mortgagee, other person with an interest in the property, or a contractor who posted security can serve a Notice to Commence Suit and collapse the six years to 60 days (§ 1311.11(A), (B)). It is standard practice when an owner wants to sell or refinance. Nothing in your own calendar predicts it — the day it is served is the day your deadline changes.
• Thinking a timely lien is enough on an owner-occupied home. On a home construction contract or home purchase contract, no original contractor, subcontractor, material supplier or laborer has a lien at all if the owner paid the original contractor in full before receiving a copy of the affidavit under § 1311.07 — and the owner can record an affidavit of full payment that makes any lien perfected afterwards void (§ 1311.011(B)(1)). The race is against the owner's final check, not against the 60-day deadline. Record and serve early.
• Holding a perfect residential lien and still collecting nothing. Even where the owner has not paid in full, every subcontractor, material supplier and laborer claim on a home construction contract is capped at the unpaid balance owed the original contractor and shared pro rata, with laborers taking priority (§ 1311.011(B)(2)). If the GC is 90 percent paid, that ceiling is 10 percent of the contract, split among everyone.
• Treating recording as the finish line. Serving a copy of the recorded affidavit on the owner side within 30 days is a second, separate deadline, with a conspicuous-posting fallback within 10 days after that (§ 1311.07). It is where a lot of otherwise-clean Ohio liens fall over.
• Serving the affidavit copy on the general contractor. Section 1311.07 runs to the owner, part owner or lessee, or their designee — not the GC. The GC's document was the earlier Notice of Furnishing. A contractor who served only the GC has not complied.
• Applying the mailbox rule to the wrong document. Under § 1311.19(B), a Notice of Furnishing sent certified is served on the date of mailing; everything else, including the § 1311.07 copy of the affidavit, is served on receipt. Mailing the affidavit copy on day 29 does not satisfy the 30-day rule.
• Serving the Notice of Furnishing late and assuming it is fine because the lien still shows valid. It is not fine. A late notice preserves only what you furnished in the 21 days immediately before service, and everything after — it does not revive anything older (§ 1311.05(D)(1)). Every day of delay permanently deletes a day of receivable while the lien status still reads green.
• Skipping the Notice of Furnishing because you assume the owner never recorded a Notice of Commencement. The exemption is real (§ 1311.05(H)) but it turns on a fact you cannot see without searching the county recorder. Search first; if any Notice of Commencement exists, serve within 21 days.
• Believing your 21-day window has closed. If the owner records the Notice of Commencement late, your window runs 21 days from the recording date; if the owner ignores your written request for a copy, it runs 21 days from the day it is actually served on you (§ 1311.04(I), (J)). Check the recording date before you give up.
• Serving the Notice of Furnishing on only one recipient. It goes to the owner's designee named in the Notice of Commencement (or the owner) AND the original contractor named in it. Being in direct privity with the original contractor excuses you only from serving the original contractor — you still serve the owner side (§ 1311.05(A)).
• Running a public job through the private process. On a public improvement there is no lien on the property at all: you serve a sworn affidavit on the public authority within 120 days (§ 1311.26) rather than recording against real estate, and the later recorder filing affects priority among claimants only (§ 1311.29). Record a § 1311.06 affidavit against public land and you have no remedy and have burned the 120 days. Also remember the payment bond has its own 90-day and one-year deadlines running off acceptance of the improvement (§ 153.56).
• Assuming the general contractor can claim the public-funds lien. Section 1311.26 lists subcontractors, material suppliers and laborers. The principal contractor is not an eligible claimant — its remedy is a contract claim against the public authority.
• Using an Ohio number on a federal project. Ohio's lien chapter does not reach federal property. The remedy on a federal job is a claim on the federal payment bond under the Miller Act, which has its own notice and suit deadlines. None of the Ohio dates apply.
• Confusing Ohio's two residential tests. The 60-day filing deadline attaches to any one- or two-family dwelling or residential condo unit, full stop (§ 1311.06(B)(1)). The § 1311.011 protections — no Notice of Furnishing owed, the full-payment bar, the pro-rata cap — additionally require that the dwelling be used or intended as the owner's, part owner's or lessee's personal residence. A spec house or a 1-2 family rental gets the short 60-day deadline AND still owes the 21-day Notice of Furnishing. That is the worst combination and the easiest one to get wrong.
• Filing in one county when the property straddles a line. Section 1311.06(A) requires an affidavit recorded in each county in which the improved property is located, each with its own fee.
• Filing an unsworn affidavit. Ohio requires an oath and a jurat (§ 1311.06(A), (C)). The rule on who can administer it is unusually generous — it may be an agent for the owner, the lien claimant or any interested party — so there is no excuse for skipping it.
• Not knowing the lien can be bonded off. Under § 1311.11(C) a bond, cash deposit or other approved security can be substituted for the lien, and once the court approves it the lien is void and the property wholly discharged — your claim moves to the bond. The party who posted the security can then also serve you the 60-day Notice to Commence Suit.
• A design professional trying to file under Chapter 1311. Architects, engineers and surveyors lien under §§ 4703.201-4703.203 and §§ 4733.301-4733.303 instead, only on commercial real estate, only with a written contract signed by the owner, and always behind every Chapter 1311 mechanics' lien no matter when it was recorded.

After you file

• Serve a copy of the recorded affidavit on the owner, part owner or lessee, or their designee, within 30 days of filing — and remember it is served on receipt, not on mailing. If service cannot be accomplished, post a copy conspicuously on the premises within 10 days after the 30 days expire (§ 1311.07, § 1311.19(B)). This is the most common second forfeiture point in Ohio.
• On an owner-occupied home, that service is doing double duty. Until the owner receives the copy, a payment in full to the original contractor wipes out the liens of every subcontractor, supplier and laborer, and the owner can record an affidavit of full payment to prove it (§ 1311.011(B)(1)). Getting the copy delivered is urgent, not clerical.
• On an oil or gas well lien, mail a copy of the affidavit by certified mail to any purchaser of the oil or gas and any pipeline carrier. Until you do, the lien is not effective against them and the proceeds can be paid away (§ 1311.021(B)).
• On a public job, the authority must detain the claimed amount from the principal contractor or the remaining contract balance and hold it in escrow, released only by court order, by agreement of the parties, or if you fail to sue in time (§ 1311.28). File your copy with the county recorder within 30 days to get priority over non-filing claimants (§ 1311.29), and keep the separate bond deadlines running (§ 153.56).
• Watch the mail. A Notice to Commence Suit from the owner, a mortgagee, any other interested party, or a contractor who has posted security starts a 60-day clock to file suit, and missing it makes the lien void and the property wholly discharged (§ 1311.11(A), (B)). The person who served it has to record an affidavit of service with the county recorder within 30 days, so the public record will show your start date. On public jobs, § 1311.311 does the same thing with the same 60 days.
• Expect the other side to try to bond the lien off. A bond, cash deposit or approved government obligation can be substituted for the lien security under § 1311.11(C); once the court approves it, the lien is void and the property discharged, and your claim rides on the security instead. The party who posted it can then serve you the 60-day notice.
• Otherwise the lien continues in force for six years after the affidavit is filed, and if you bring an action to enforce within that time it continues until final adjudication (§ 1311.13(C)). Enforcement is a court action against the owner and all other interested parties, and the court may allow reasonable attorney fees out of the fund realized for lien claimants (§ 1311.16).
• Design professionals: serve the recorded affidavit on all parties named in it within 30 days of recording, file the enforcement complaint within two years of recording, respond to any written demand to enforce within 60 days, and — for engineers and surveyors — record a written release within 30 days after the claim is satisfied (§§ 4703.202, 4703.203, 4733.302, 4733.303, 4733.304).