How to file a mechanics lien in Oregon

Step by step

13 steps for a subcontractor in Oregon.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check the CCB license of the contractor above you before you sign or deliver

   Before the EARLIER of two dates: the day you first contract with the contractor for the project, or the day you first deliver labor, materials or equipment to the site. Whichever comes first is the test date, and it is fixed then.

   On a project to renovate, remodel, repair or otherwise alter an existing owner-occupied residence, you cannot perfect a lien if the contractor you provided or contracted to provide to was unlicensed at that earlier date. A license the contractor picks up later does not fix it. The only escape written into the statute is if the services, labor, materials or equipment were purchased with cash or consumer credit.

   Where it goes

   Oregon Construction Contractors Board.

   How

   Ask the Construction Contractors Board to confirm the contractor's license status. The board may charge a fee for providing the notice.

   Proof to keep

   The CCB's written confirmation of license status, dated on or before your first contract and your first delivery.

   If you miss it: If that contractor was unlicensed at the test date, you may not perfect a claim of lien against the homeowner's property at all — no matter how perfect your notices and timing are.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.036(1)-(3)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

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

   Send it before you start, or at the very latest within 8 working days of your first day or first delivery. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays do not count. It is not a cliff — it is a look-back. It only protects work you supplied after a date 8 working days before you mailed or delivered it.

   This is the notice that keeps your lien alive. You send it if the owner did not hire you directly. It is not a lien — it tells the owner you are on the job and could lien later. Because it works backwards, a late notice usually costs you part of the claim rather than all of it: a contractor working continuously who notices on day 30 loses roughly the first three weeks, but a supplier who dropped one big delivery on day one and notices on day 30 loses the whole thing. On a commercial building — anything not used or intended as a residence — the statute excuses a person who performs labor on it, provides labor AND material for it, or rents equipment used in it. It does NOT excuse a materials-only supplier and it does not excuse a design professional. On a residential building — one the owner occupies or will occupy, with four units or fewer — nobody is excused. Because a four-unit owner-occupied building counts as residential and an unnecessary notice costs nothing, send it.

   Where it goes

   To the owner of the site.

   How

   In writing, delivered in person or by registered or certified mail. It must be substantially in the statutory form. The Construction Contractors Board publishes that form at https://www.oregon.gov/ccb/Documents/Notice%20of%20right%20to%20lien.pdf

   Proof to keep

   The registered or certified mail receipt showing the date, plus a copy of exactly what you sent.

   What the document must contain

   • Owner's name and address
   • Date of mailing
   • Name of the contractor or person who has begun to provide the work
   • Description of the materials, equipment, labor or services
   • Name of the person who ordered them
   • Location of the property
   • Your name, address and telephone number
   • The statutory warning language, including the 8-day look-back statement

   If you miss it: You do not automatically lose everything — you lose the part the notice did not reach. Your lien may be perfected only to the extent the notice was given. Anything supplied more than 8 working days before you sent it is uncovered forever.

   Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 87.021(1), (3)(a), (3)(b); 87.023; 87.018(1)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Copy the lender within 8 working days after every single delivery

   Within 8 days after the date of each delivery of material or supplies, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. The clock restarts with every delivery. On a job with repeat deliveries this is a rolling obligation, not a one-time task.

   This is separate from the owner notice and it is the one suppliers miss. If there is a recorded mortgage or trust deed on the property — on most financed jobs there is — your lien for materials or supplies does not beat that loan unless you copy the lender. The lien survives, it just sits behind the bank, which on a job that went bad usually means there is nothing left for you.

   Where it goes

   To the mortgagee — the lender named as mortgagee or beneficiary in the recorded mortgage or trust deed. You only have to serve a mortgagee whose name and address appear in the recorded instrument or in a recorded assignment.

   How

   Deliver to the mortgagee either a copy of the Notice of Right to a Lien you gave the owner, or a notice in any form giving substantially the same information as the statutory form. In writing, in person or by registered or certified mail.

   Proof to keep

   A dated registered or certified mail receipt for each delivery date, matched to the delivery ticket for that date.

   What the document must contain

   • Substantially the same information as the statutory Notice of Right to a Lien form

   If you miss it: Your lien for materials or supplies has no priority over any recorded mortgage or trust deed on the land or the improvement. You keep the lien and lose the money.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.025(3); § 87.018(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Answer the owner's written demand within 15 working days

   Within 15 days of receiving the owner's written demand, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Only triggered if the owner actually demands.

   Once you have sent a Notice of Right to a Lien, the owner may write and demand a list of what you supplied, or a statement of the contract basis for supplying it, and the charge to date.

   Where it goes

   To the owner who made the demand.

   How

   Deliver your statement to the owner. The owner's demand has to be in writing and proved by a receipt or a certified or registered mail delivery receipt.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the owner's demand, a copy of your response, and proof of the date you sent it.

   What the document must contain

   • A list of materials or equipment, or a description of the labor or services supplied, or a statement of the contractual basis for supplying them including the percentage of the contract completed
   • The charge for it to the date of the demand

   If you miss it: You lose the attorney fees and costs you would otherwise get in a suit to foreclose the lien. The lien itself survives.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.027(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Answer the lender's written demand within 15 working days

   Within 15 days of receiving the mortgagee's demand, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Only triggered if the lender demands.

   A mortgagee you notified under the 8-working-day delivery rule may demand a list of those materials or supplies with a statement of the amount due.

   Where it goes

   To the mortgagee who made the demand.

   How

   Deliver the list to the mortgagee. The demand has to be proved by a receipt or a registered or certified mail delivery receipt.

   Proof to keep

   The demand, your response, and dated proof of delivery.

   What the document must contain

   • A list of the materials or supplies delivered
   • A statement of the amount due by reason of that delivery

   If you miss it: You waive the priority the 8-day notice bought you — which was the entire point of sending it. You drop back behind the recorded mortgage.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.025(4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Watch the county record for a completion or abandonment notice

   Throughout the job, and especially any time work on site stops.

   Your 75-day filing clock can run off 'completion of construction' instead of your own last day, and the other side controls that date. Completion of construction happens when the improvement is substantially complete, OR when an original contractor, the owner or the mortgagee posts and records a completion notice, OR when the improvement is abandoned. Abandonment happens automatically on the 75th day after work on the construction ceases, unless the owner or mortgagee posts and records a nonabandonment notice by the 74th day (renewable every 150 days). Anyone claiming a lien for work done before the date of a completion or abandonment notice must still perfect under ORS 87.035.

   Where it goes

   The recording officer's statutory lien record, in the county where the property sits.

   How

   Check the county's statutory lien record. A completion notice must be posted on the property on the date it bears, and recorded within 5 days of posting together with an affidavit stating the date, place and manner of posting.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of any completion, abandonment or nonabandonment notice you find, so you can prove which date your 75 days ran from.

   If you miss it: Nothing happens to you directly — but if a completion notice was recorded and you counted 75 days from your own last day instead, you can file after the bar date and lose the lien without ever seeing it coming.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.045(1)-(7); § 87.050(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Record your claim of lien within 75 days

   The EARLIER of two dates: 75 days after the last day you provided labor, rented equipment or furnished materials; or 75 days after completion of construction. Calendar both and use whichever comes first.

   This is the lien. Until it is recorded you have nothing. The 'whichever is earlier' rule is where people die: a subcontractor who finished in month 2 of an 18-month job is barred 75 days after their own last day, not 75 days after the building opens. Punch-list or warranty work does not automatically restart the clock, and a recorded completion notice can end it before your last day.

   Where it goes

   The recording officer of the county where the improvement is located. If any part of the improvement sits in another county, file in every county it touches.

   How

   File the claim of lien with the county recording officer. It must be verified by oath — sworn by you or by another person with knowledge of the facts, subject to the criminal penalty for false swearing under ORS 162.075. In practice that means signing in front of a notary who administers the oath. Recording fees are set county by county and change; check your county recorder's current schedule before you go.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy with the county's recording stamp, date and instrument number. Keep the recording fee receipt and any title report invoice — the court can allow both as costs, but only if you also gave the notice of intent to foreclose.

   What the document must contain

   • A true statement of your demand, after deducting all just credits and offsets
   • The name of the owner, or reputed owner, if known
   • The name of the person by whom you were employed, or to whom you furnished the materials or rented the equipment (this one is routinely left off and it is an express statutory element)
   • A description of the property to be charged, sufficient for identification, including the address if known
   • The verification — an oath by you or by someone with knowledge of the facts
   • If you gave extended payment terms and want the extra time under ORS 87.055, the terms of that extended payment must be stated in the claim of lien itself

   If you miss it: The lien is gone. There is no late filing and no extension.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.035(1)-(4); § 87.050; § 87.055(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Mail the owner and the lender notice that you filed — within 20 days

   Not later than 20 days after the date you filed the claim of lien.

   Recording is not the end of it. Oregon makes you tell the owner and the mortgagee in writing that the claim has been filed, and attach a copy of the lien. This is the second place people forfeit money after doing everything else right.

   Where it goes

   To the owner and to the mortgagee. Notice mailed to the owner who already received your Notice of Right to a Lien counts, unless you have actual knowledge that ownership changed. Notice to a mortgagee who received your ORS 87.025 notice counts, unless you have actual knowledge the mortgagee changed.

   How

   Mail it, with a copy of the claim of lien attached.

   Proof to keep

   Proof of mailing dated within 20 days of recording, and a copy of the packet you sent.

   What the document must contain

   • A written statement that the claim of lien has been filed
   • A copy of the claim of lien, attached

   If you miss it: The lien survives, but you get no costs, no disbursements and no attorney fees in the foreclosure suit. On a small-balance lien that is most of the money you were going to recover.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.039(1)-(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Deliver a notice of intent to foreclose at least 10 days before you sue

   Not later than 10 days before you commence the suit. Because the suit itself has to be brought within 120 days of recording, in practice this has to go out by about day 110. The date the product shows you as '120 days' is not the last day you have to act.

   A written notice to the owner and the mortgagee stating that you, or others, intend to commence suit to foreclose the lien. In court you have to plead and prove you did it.

   Where it goes

   To the owner of the property on which the lien is claimed, and to the mortgagee.

   How

   In writing, delivered in person or by registered or certified mail. Notice delivered to a mortgagee who received your ORS 87.025 notice counts, unless you have actual knowledge the mortgagee changed.

   Proof to keep

   The dated delivery receipt. You will have to plead and prove this in the lawsuit, so keep it where your lawyer can find it.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement that you, or others, intend to commence suit to foreclose the lien

   If you miss it: You lose all costs, disbursements and attorney fees. You also lose the recording fee and title report costs, because the court only allows those when this notice was given, pleaded and proven.

   Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.057(1), (3); § 87.060(5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: If the owner then demands a list, send it within 5 days

    Within 5 days after the owner's demand. Only triggered after you have sent the notice of intent to foreclose.

    Once the notice of intent has gone out, the owner can demand a list of the materials and supplies with the charge for them, or a statement of the contractual basis for the obligation you will sue on.

    Where it goes

    To the owner who demanded it.

    How

    Furnish it to the owner.

    Proof to keep

    The demand, your response, and dated proof you sent it within 5 days.

    What the document must contain

    • A list of the materials and supplies with the charge for them, OR a statement of the contractual basis for the owner's obligation, for the amount you will claim in the foreclosure suit

    If you miss it: Same as skipping the notice of intent — no costs, no disbursements, no attorney fees. You must plead and prove compliance with this subsection too.

    Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.057(2), (3)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: File the foreclosure suit within 120 days of recording

    Within 120 days after the date the claim of lien was filed. If you gave extended payment AND the terms of it are stated in the recorded claim of lien, 120 days after that extended payment expires — but never more than 2 years from the date you recorded.

    The lien stops binding the improvement 120 days after you record it unless suit has been brought in a proper court to enforce it. There is nothing you can record later to renew it. A side agreement to extend credit that is not written into the recorded lien extends nothing.

    Where it goes

    Circuit court. Lien foreclosure suits get preference on the court's calendar over other civil suits except suits the state is a party to.

    How

    Suit in circuit court. The suit is deemed commenced as provided in ORS 12.020; for construction lien claimants other than the plaintiff, ORS 87.055(2) sets when their claims are deemed commenced.

    Proof to keep

    The filed complaint with the court's date stamp.

    What the document must contain

    • Pleading and proof that you gave the ORS 87.057 notice of intent to foreclose

    If you miss it: The lien dies on day 120. The underlying debt may still be collectable other ways, but your claim against the property is over.

    Or. Rev. Stat. § 87.055; § 87.060(1), (5), (7)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Public jobs only: send a payment-bond claim notice within 180 days

    No later than 180 days after the day you last provided labor or furnished materials. 200 days if the claim is for a required contribution to a fund of an employee benefit plan.

    A public contract is not a lien job. Your statutory route to payment is a right of action on the contractor's payment bond, and it exists only if you give this written notice. The numbers and the triggers are completely different from the 75/120 private-lien track — do not carry them over.

    Where it goes

    To the contractor (or subcontractor) AND to the contracting agency. It may go to any place the contractor or subcontractor maintains an office or conducts business, or to their residence.

    How

    Sent by registered or certified mail, or hand delivered. You must sign the notice. It must be in writing substantially in the form set out in the statute.

    Proof to keep

    Registered or certified mail receipts for both recipients, or dated hand-delivery receipts.

    What the document must contain

    • Name of the contractor or subcontractor and the name of the public body
    • Your name as claimant
    • A brief description of the labor or materials performed or furnished, and by whom
    • The dollar amount of the claim
    • Whether the claim is on the public works bond or the payment bond
    • The name of the principal and, if known, the surety or sureties on the bond
    • A brief description of the work the bond was taken for
    • The name of the contractor or subcontractor the material or labor was supplied to
    • Your signature

    If you miss it: You have no right of action on the bond. There is no lien to fall back on.

    Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 279C.600(1), 279C.605(1)-(5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Public jobs only: sue on the bond within 2 years of your last day

    No later than 2 years after you last provided labor or materials. Note the trigger — it runs from your last day on the job, not from the notice and not from any filing.

    The action on the contractor's public works bond or payment bond. You can only bring it if you already gave the notice of claim.

    Where it goes

    A circuit court of this state, or the federal district court of the district.

    How

    An action instituted on the relation of the claimant, brought in the name of the contracting agency that let the contract.

    Proof to keep

    The filed complaint with the court's date stamp, plus your 180-day notice receipts.

    What the document must contain

    • That you have filed and served the notice or notices of claim required by ORS 279C.600 and 279C.605

    If you miss it: The bond claim is time-barred.

    Or. Rev. Stat. § 279C.610(1)-(3)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Oregon

Where you file

Office

County Clerk / recording officer of the county or counties in which the improvement, or some part of it, is situated

Recording fee

$76–$111

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Under oath

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 Oregon

• Counting 75 days from when the building was finished. The filing deadline is the EARLIER of 75 days after your own last day and 75 days after completion of construction (ORS 87.035(1)). A sub who demobilized early is barred while the job is still running. This is the single most expensive mistake in Oregon.
• Not knowing the owner can move the finish line. An original contractor, the owner or the mortgagee can post and record a completion notice once all original contractors have substantially performed, and that fixes 'completion of construction' for everyone (ORS 87.045(1)(b), (2)). An improvement is also deemed abandoned on the 75th day after work ceases unless a nonabandonment notice is posted and recorded by the 74th day (ORS 87.045(5), (6)). Either one can cut off your window before your own last day — for example, when you come back for punch list or warranty work.
• Treating the 8-day notice as calendar days, or as a hard cliff. It is 8 days excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and it runs BACKWARDS from the day you mail it (ORS 87.021(1)). Late does not automatically mean zero — but if you made one large delivery up front and notice late, everything is outside the window and you lose the whole claim.
• Assuming the commercial exemption covers you. ORS 87.021(3)(b) excuses only a person who performs labor upon, provides labor AND material for, or rents equipment used in a COMMERCIAL improvement. A materials-only supplier on a commercial job is not excused, and neither is a design professional. And on a residential building — owner-occupied, four units or fewer — nobody is excused. Misclassifying a four-unit owner-occupied building as commercial forfeits the lien.
• Original contractor on a residential job over $2,000 who never delivered the Information Notice to Owner at signing. ORS 87.093(6) is absolute: no lien at all on that contract, and there is no late cure once the contract is signed.
• Original contractor on a residential job over $2,000 with no written contract. ORS 87.037 plus ORS 701.305: no lien.
• Sub or supplier on a remodel of an existing owner-occupied residence who never checked the contractor's CCB license. ORS 87.036(1) bars perfection if that contractor was unlicensed at the EARLIER of contracting and first delivery — so the check has to happen before the first truck rolls, not at lien time.
• Architect or engineer hired by the general contractor on a home the owner lives in. ORS 87.021(1) says no lien is created under ORS 87.010(5) or (6) for services provided for an owner-occupied residence at the request of an agent of the owner. No notice and no filing can rescue it — the lien never existed.
• Supplier who never copied the lender after each delivery. ORS 87.025(3) is delivery-keyed and effectively rolling. Miss it and your lien sits behind the construction loan, which on a distressed job usually means zero recovery. Note also ORS 87.025(6): a lien for ALTERATION AND REPAIR of an improvement, commenced after a mortgage or trust deed was recorded, does not take precedence over that mortgage unless the loan financed the alteration or repair.
• Stopping after recording. Two separate post-filing notices each carry the same penalty — loss of all costs, disbursements and attorney fees: the 20-day notice of filing with a copy of the lien attached (ORS 87.039), and the 10-day notice of intent to foreclose (ORS 87.057). Both must be pleaded and proven for the intent notice; both are routinely skipped by people who think recording finished the job.
• Reading '120 days' as the date you have to act by. The notice of intent to foreclose has to go out at least 10 days before suit, so the practical last day to start the sequence is about day 110 (ORS 87.055 with ORS 87.057(1)).
• Relying on extended payment terms that are not written into the recorded lien. ORS 87.055 extends the 120 days only 'if extended payment is provided and the terms thereof are stated in the claim of lien.' A side letter extends nothing.
• Leaving the hiring party's name off the claim of lien. ORS 87.035(3)(c) expressly requires the name of the person who employed you, or to whom you furnished the materials or rented the equipment. A lien that does not name it is facially deficient.
• Signing the claim of lien instead of swearing it. ORS 87.035(4) requires verification by oath, subject to the criminal penalties for false swearing under ORS 162.075. By the same token, inflating the demand without deducting all just credits and offsets is criminal exposure, not just civil risk.
• Filing in one county when the improvement crosses two. ORS 87.035(2) says the county OR COUNTIES in which the improvement, or some part of it, is situated.
• Equipment renters claiming the contract amount. ORS 87.010(3) caps a rental lien at the reasonable rental value of the equipment notwithstanding the terms of the rental agreement, so the lienable number can be less than what the rental contract says you are owed.
• Tenant improvement work where the building owner did not authorize it. An owner who knows construction is happening can escape a lien on their interest by posting a written notice of nonresponsibility in a conspicuous place on the land or improvement within 3 days after obtaining knowledge of the construction (ORS 87.030(1)). That does not apply to a lien already prohibited under ORS 87.037.
• Recording a construction lien on a public project. Oregon's statutory route on a public contract is the payment bond claim under ORS 279C.600 and 279C.605 — 180 days from your last day to notice, 2 years from your last day to sue. Both numbers and both triggers differ from the private track.

After you file

• Within 20 days of recording, mail the owner and the mortgagee written notice that the claim of lien was filed, with a copy of the lien attached (ORS 87.039(1)). Missing it costs you all costs, disbursements and attorney fees (ORS 87.039(2)).
• Your lien binds the improvement for only 120 days from the filing date unless suit is brought in that time (ORS 87.055). Calendar day 110 as well as day 120 — the notice of intent to foreclose has to be delivered to the owner and the mortgagee at least 10 days before you file (ORS 87.057(1)).
• The owner or any interested person can move your lien off the property. They may file a surety bond with the recording officer, or deposit money with the county treasurer, for at least 150 percent of the amount claimed or $1,000, whichever is greater (ORS 87.076(1), (2)) — at any time after the claim of lien is filed (ORS 87.076(3)). Once that is done the property is entirely free of the lien and your claim attaches to the bond or money instead (ORS 87.083).
• That same person can also deliver you a written demand that the lien be released, with notice that they can recover their actual costs or $500, whichever is greater. If you neither release the lien within 10 days of the demand nor bring a foreclosure suit within the ORS 87.055 time, you become liable for those costs or $500, whichever is greater (ORS 87.076(4)).
• Once the notice of intent to foreclose has gone out, the owner can demand a list of materials and supplies with charges, or a statement of the contractual basis. You have 5 days (ORS 87.057(2)), and you must plead and prove compliance (ORS 87.057(3)).
• In the foreclosure suit, actual costs of the labor, equipment, services and material you provided create a rebuttable presumption that those costs are the reasonable value of them (ORS 87.060(2)). The court allows or disallows the lien; if it is disallowed and a party demanded a jury in writing before trial, remaining issues triable to a jury go to a jury (ORS 87.060(3), (4)). Attorney fees at trial and on appeal go to the party who prevails on validity and foreclosure (ORS 87.060(5)).
• If sale proceeds are not enough to pay every lienholder, the liens are paid pro rata and each claimant gets execution for the balance (ORS 87.060(6)).
• If you are a builder selling the home you built, ORS 87.007 puts a separate duty on YOU as the seller of record: protect the purchaser from liens that are not yet perfected when the sale closes, using one of the statutory methods (title insurance without construction lien exceptions, a 25 percent escrow, a 25 percent bond or letter of credit, written waivers from claimants owed over $5,000, or closing after the perfection deadline has run), and deliver a signed form saying which one you chose. It covers new single family residences, condominium units and residential buildings of up to four units, and existing ones with $50,000 or more of construction or improvements completed within three months of the sale. Violation is a Class A violation and the purchaser can recover up to twice actual damages plus fees within two years of the sale.