How to file a mechanics lien in Tennessee

Step by step

12 steps for a subcontractor in Tennessee.

1. 1

   Step 1: Work out whether you are a prime contractor or a remote contractor

   Before you sign anything. Everything else in this guide keys off the answer.

   Tennessee has two classes of claimant and they have completely different deadlines. A prime contractor signed the contract with the property owner. A remote contractor signed with anyone else. It has nothing to do with the size of your company or your trade — a one-man drywall crew hired straight by the owner is a prime contractor, and a large mechanical contractor hired by the GC is a remote contractor.

   Where it goes

   Your own contract file.

   How

   Look at whose name is on the other side of your contract. If it is the property owner (or the owner's agent), you are a prime contractor. If it is a general contractor, a construction manager or another sub, you are a remote contractor.

   Proof to keep

   A signed copy of your contract or purchase order showing exactly who hired you.

   If you miss it: You follow the wrong deadline schedule. The most common version of this mistake is a subcontractor who thinks they have a year to sue when they actually have 90 days from the day they served their lien.

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-101(12), (14)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Confirm you hold the license Tennessee requires for this work

   Before you start work, and keep it current for the whole job.

   If the work you are doing requires a Tennessee contractor's or tradesman's license and you do not hold one, you have no lien. Perfect notices will not save the claim.

   Where it goes

   Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors.

   How

   Check that your license is active and that its classification and monetary limit cover this scope of work.

   Proof to keep

   Your license number, classification and expiration date, plus a dated screenshot or certificate showing it was active during the job.

   If you miss it: You have no lien on the property at all, and the statute also limits an unlicensed contractor to actual documented expenses in court.

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-6-103 (see also § 66-11-102(a))(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Check whether the property is public — if it is, there is no lien

   Before you start. The bond notice is due within 90 days after the public work is completed, and suit within six months after completion of the public work or of your own labor or materials, whichever applies.

   You cannot put a mechanics lien on public property in Tennessee. Schools, city and county buildings, state facilities: no lien. What you get instead is a claim against the payment bond the contractor gave the public body, and it runs on its own, shorter clock.

   Where it goes

   To the contractor who executed the bond, or to the public official who let the contract — the mayor for a municipality, the county mayor for a county, the governor for the state.

   How

   Serve a written notice of claim by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal delivery. The notice must state the nature of the claim, give an itemized account of the material furnished or labor done and the balance due, and describe the property improved.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail return receipt or signed delivery record, a copy of the notice, and a copy of the payment bond itself.

   What the document must contain

   • The nature of the claim
   • An itemized account of the material furnished or labor done
   • The balance due
   • A description of the property improved

   If you miss it: Miss the 90-day notice and you lose the bond claim. Miss the six-month suit window in § 12-4-206 and the claim is gone. Filing a mechanics lien on public property instead does nothing for you.

   Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 12-4-205, 12-4-206(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Search the register of deeds for a recorded 100% payment bond

   Before you start work, and again before you spend money preparing a lien.

   If the owner recorded a payment bond equal to 100% of the prime contractor's price before visible commencement of operations, in favor of remote contractors, then no remote contractor on that job has a lien. Your claim goes against the bond instead. This is rare, but it is cheap to check and expensive to discover late.

   Where it goes

   Register of deeds for the county where the property sits.

   How

   Search the grantor/grantee index for the owner and the prime contractor, and ask the prime contractor for a copy of any recorded bond.

   Proof to keep

   Either a copy of the recorded bond with its book and page number, or a dated search result showing none was recorded.

   If you miss it: You spend the 90 days perfecting a lien that does not exist, and may run out the time to make a claim on the bond that does.

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-124(c)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: On a 1-4 family home, find out whether the owner lives there

   Before you start work. Ask who lives in the house.

   On "residential real property" — one dwelling unit the owner lives in or intends to live in as a principal residence, or a 2, 3 or 4 unit building where the owner lives in one of them — a lien exists only in favor of the prime contractor. If you did not contract with the owner, you have no lien on that house. There is one exception: where the owner and the general contractor are the same person, or one person controls both the owner and the contracting business, then anyone in contractual privity with that owner/GC does have a lien.

   Where it goes

   The owner, the hiring party, and the county property assessor's records.

   How

   Ask the owner or the general contractor directly, and check the property records and tax records for an owner-occupancy or homestead indication. Put the answer in writing.

   Proof to keep

   Written confirmation of who occupies the property, and your contract showing who hired you.

   If you miss it: You record a lien that does not exist. That gets you nothing on the house, and under § 66-11-135 you can be made to release it and pay the owner's damages and attorney fees. Your contract claim and any Prompt Pay Act remedy survive; the lien does not.

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-146(a)(1)-(2), (b)(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Serve the monthly Notice of Nonpayment, every month, all job long

   Within 90 days of the last day of each month in which you provided the work, labor, materials, services, equipment or machinery you have not been paid for. A June notice is due within 90 days of June 30; a July notice within 90 days of July 31. One notice can cover several months only if it goes out within 90 days of the end of the earliest month it covers.

   This is the step that kills more Tennessee lien claims than anything else. If you are a remote contractor and you are unpaid, you must serve a Notice of Nonpayment for each month you furnished work or materials that has not been paid for. It is not a one-time preliminary notice. It repeats. It does not apply to 1-4 family residential units.

   Where it goes

   Two recipients, both of them: the property owner, and the prime contractor. You may rely on the names, addresses and property description shown on the building permit for the job.

   How

   Serve it by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, by hand delivery evidenced by a properly notarized sworn statement confirming delivery, or by a commercial delivery service that provides written confirmation of delivery. Certified mail is only presumed served three business days after you mail it, so mailing on day 90 is late. Tennessee sets out a form in § 66-11-145(d); substantially the same form is fine.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of every month's notice, both green cards or delivery confirmations for every month, and a running log matching each month worked to the notice that covered it. If it ever gets litigated, this log is the case.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name and address
   • A general description of the work, labor, materials, services, equipment or machinery you provided
   • The amount owed as of the date of the notice
   • A statement of the last date you performed work or provided labor, materials, services, equipment or machinery
   • A description sufficient to identify the real property

   If you miss it: The statute is blunt and broad: a remote contractor who fails to give the notice "shall have no right to claim a lien under this chapter," and the only carve-out is the retainage held to guarantee your performance. It does not say "for that month only." Treat one missed month as a threat to the whole lien.

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-145(a), (b), (d) (service: § 66-11-149(c), (d); building permit info: § 66-11-149(a), (b))(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Watch the register of deeds for a Notice of Completion

   Within 30 days of the date it is recorded. On a 1-4 family residential building, within 10 days. Start watching as the job nears completion and keep watching afterward.

   This is the owner's kill switch, and most contractors never see it coming. Once the owner or a purchaser records a Notice of Completion, any claimant who wants a lien has to serve a written notice of claim within a very short window or lien rights expire. You are only entitled to be handed a copy if you are a remote contractor who already served a Notice of Nonpayment — otherwise the recording alone starts your clock, whether you saw it or not.

   Where it goes

   Watch at the register of deeds for the county where the property sits. Serve your notice of claim on the person, firm or organization designated for that purpose in the recorded Notice of Completion.

   How

   Search the register of deeds index for the property and the owner's name regularly near and after completion. If one is recorded, serve your written notice of claim by one of the statutory service methods in § 66-11-149(c).

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of the recorded Notice of Completion showing its recording date, plus your notice of claim and its delivery confirmation.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount of your claim
   • A certification that the claim does not include any amount owed to you on any other job or under any other contract

   If you miss it: Your lien rights expire. Not weaken — expire. Note one protection: a Notice of Completion recorded before the improvement is actually complete is void and of no effect (§ 66-11-143(f)).

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-143(d), (e)(2), (f)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Serve your Notice of Lien on the owner

   Within 90 days after the date the improvement is complete or is abandoned. "Abandoned" means operations have stopped for 90 days and the owner or prime contractor intends to stop permanently or indefinitely (§ 66-11-112(b)). Note that this clock runs off the whole improvement, not your last day on site.

   A remote contractor has to do two separate things to perfect a lien, and this is the first. You serve a written Notice of Lien on the property owner. This is a different act from recording it, and doing only one of the two is fatal. Be deliberate about the date you serve: your entire time to sue runs from this date, not from recording and not from the deadline.

   Where it goes

   The owner of the property on which the improvement is being made.

   How

   Serve it by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, by hand delivery evidenced by a properly notarized sworn statement confirming delivery, or by a commercial delivery service that provides written confirmation of delivery. Certified mail is only presumed served three business days after mailing. It may be substantially in the form at § 66-11-112(d).

   Proof to keep

   The signed return receipt or delivery confirmation, and a clear record of the exact date service was completed. Put that date at the top of your file — every remaining deadline counts from it.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name as lien claimant
   • The nature of the labor or material you supplied
   • The contract under which the lien is claimed
   • The name of the party you contracted with
   • The first date you supplied material or performed work
   • The last date you supplied material or performed work
   • The amount owed
   • A reasonably certain description of the improved property

   If you miss it: You have no perfected lien. Serving the owner is a condition of having the lien at all under § 66-11-115(a)(2).

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-115(a)(2) (timing: § 66-11-112(a); service methods: § 66-11-149(c), (d))(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Record the sworn Notice of Lien with the register of deeds

   No later than 90 days after the date the improvement is complete or is abandoned. Same clock as serving the owner.

   You record a sworn statement — the Notice of Lien — in the county land records. It has to be sworn to and notarized by someone who actually knows the facts, not just signed. For a remote contractor this is the second of the two required acts, alongside serving the owner. The recording fee you pay becomes part of the amount of your lien.

   Where it goes

   The register of deeds of the county where the real property, or any affected part of it, lies.

   How

   Take or send the sworn, notarized statement to the register and pay the recording fee. The fee is set by the county; ask for the receipt. Use substantially the form at § 66-11-112(d).

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy with its book and page number and recording date, and the register's fee receipt.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name as lien claimant
   • The nature of the labor or material you supplied
   • The contract under which the lien is claimed
   • The name of the party you contracted with
   • The first date you supplied material or performed work
   • The last date you supplied material or performed work
   • The amount owed
   • A reasonably certain description of the improved property
   • A sworn verification by a person with knowledge of the facts, with a notary acknowledgment (§ 66-22-101)
   • The name and address of the person who prepared the instrument (§ 66-24-115)

   If you miss it: For a remote contractor, no recording means no perfected lien. For a prime contractor, your claim against the owner is not extinguished by late recording, but recording within the 90 days is what protects your priority against anyone who buys the property or lends against it afterward without notice of your lien (§ 66-11-112(b)) — and if a Notice of Completion has been recorded, the 10-day or 30-day window in § 66-11-143(e)(2) can end your lien rights outright.

   Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-112(a), (b), (d) (oath: § 66-22-101; preparer: § 66-24-115)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: File suit within 90 days of the day you served your Notice of Lien

    Within 90 days of the date of service of your Notice of Lien.

    A remote contractor's lien lasts only 90 days. Not a year. The 90 days runs from the date you served the Notice of Lien on the owner — not from the date you recorded it, and not from the deadline. If you served early on a long job, your lien can expire before the job is even finished.

    Where it goes

    A court of law or equity — in practice, the chancery court — or the court of general sessions, in the county where the property sits.

    How

    File a complaint, petition or civil warrant that seeks the issuance of an attachment. It must be filed under oath, set out the facts supporting the lien, state the sum claimed, describe the property, name every person whose interest you seek to attach and sell, and pray for a writ of attachment. The clerk will require a bond of $1,000 or the amount of the lien claimed, whichever is less. If a bond has already been recorded under §§ 66-11-124, 66-11-136 or 66-11-142, an attachment is not necessary.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint, the writ of attachment, proof of service on every named party, and your bond.

    If you miss it: The lien is gone. It expires by operation of law at the end of the 90 days and you cannot revive it. Your contract claim against whoever hired you survives; the claim against the property does not.

    Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-115(b) (procedure: § 66-11-126)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: If you are served with a written demand to sue, you have 60 days

    Within 60 days after the demand is served on you.

    The owner, the owner's agent or the prime contractor can force your hand. They serve a written demand telling you to file suit and describing the property. From that moment you have 60 days, and it overrides the longer windows — it can cut a prime contractor's remaining year down to two months.

    Where it goes

    A court of law or equity, or general sessions, in the county where the property sits.

    How

    Commence the proceeding, or file your claim in a pending creditors' or foreclosure proceeding. Same requirements as any enforcement suit under § 66-11-126.

    Proof to keep

    The demand itself with the date you received it, the envelope or delivery record, and the file-stamped complaint showing you filed inside the 60 days.

    If you miss it: The lien is forfeited. The statute says so in those words.

    Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-130(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Release the lien once it is paid, forfeited or expired

    Within 30 days after you are served with written notice demanding the release.

    When your lien has been satisfied, has expired, has been forfeited, or has been adjudged against you, you have to clear it off the land records. The owner triggers this by serving you a written demand for release.

    Where it goes

    The register of deeds of the county where the lien was recorded.

    How

    Record a release of lien with the register of deeds where the lien is recorded, referencing the book and page.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded release with its book and page number and recording date, and a copy sent back to the owner.

    If you miss it: You become liable to the owner for all damages arising from the failure, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees.

    Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-135(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Tennessee

Where you file

Office

County Register of Deeds

Recording fee

$12–$32

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 Tennessee

• Treating the Notice of Nonpayment as a one-time preliminary notice. It is monthly and it repeats for the whole job. The statute says a remote contractor who does not serve it "shall have no right to claim a lien under this chapter," carving out only retainage (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-145(a), (b)).
• A subcontractor or supplier believing they have a year to sue. They have 90 days from the date they served their Notice of Lien. Only the prime contractor gets a year, and it runs from completion, not from filing (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-11-115(b), 66-11-106).
• Serving the Notice of Lien as early as possible. Service starts the 90-day suit clock. Serve it the week you finish on a job that runs another six months and the lien can die before the project does (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-115(b)).
• Recording the lien and never serving the owner, or serving the owner and never recording. A remote contractor must do both, inside the same 90 days. One without the other is fatal (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-11-115(a)(2), 66-11-112(a)).
• Counting the 90 days from your own last day on site. The clock runs from the date the whole improvement is complete or abandoned — usually later than your last day, sometimes much later, and always a question of fact. Calendaring 90 days from your own last furnishing is a safe internal alarm because that date always falls on or before the real deadline (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-112(a), (b)).
• Assuming the two Tennessee residential rules cover the same houses. The monthly-notice exemption in § 66-11-145(a) covers all 1-4 family residential units with no occupancy test. The no-lien bar in § 66-11-146(a)(1) covers only units the owner lives in or intends to live in as a principal residence. On a rental duplex or a spec house the owner does not occupy, a remote contractor still has a full lien and still owes no monthly notice. Read only one of these rules and you either walk away from a good claim or blow a good one.
• Missing the owner's Notice of Completion. Once it is recorded, a claimant who has not already staked a claim has 10 days on 1-4 family residential and 30 days on everything else to serve a written notice of claim, or lien rights expire. Only remote contractors who already served a Notice of Nonpayment are entitled to be handed a copy — for everyone else, the recording alone starts the clock (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-143(d), (e)(2)).
• Ignoring a written demand to commence suit. It cuts the window to 60 days and forfeits the lien if missed, no matter how much of the 90 days or the year was left (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-130).
• Mailing on the last day. Certified mail is only presumed served three business days after mailing; overnight commercial delivery, one business day after. A notice that must be served by day 90 has to leave well before day 90 (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-149(d)).
• Working without the license the job requires. An unlicensed contractor or tradesman has no lien where a license is required — it does not matter how clean the paperwork is (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-6-103, 66-11-102(a)).
• Padding the lien amount. Interest, service charges, late fees, attorney fees and anything else that did not result in an improvement to the property are excluded from the lien. The register's recording fee is part of the lien amount (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-11-102(e), 66-11-112(a)).
• Not checking for a recorded 100% payment bond before starting. If the owner recorded one before visible commencement of operations, remote contractors have no lien on that job at all and must go to the bond instead (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-124(c)).
• Trying to lien public property. It cannot be done in Tennessee. The remedy is a payment bond claim with a 90-day notice and a six-month suit deadline of its own (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 12-4-205, 12-4-206).
• Expecting to reach the owner's fee interest when a tenant hired you. Where the work was furnished to a lessee, the lien reaches the tenant's leasehold interest (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-11-101(8), 66-11-147).
• Filing a plain breach-of-contract complaint to enforce the lien. The complaint has to be under oath, describe the property, name every party whose interest you want attached and sold, and pray for a writ of attachment, with a bond of $1,000 or the lien amount, whichever is less (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-126).
• Assuming a lien-waiver clause in the contract already killed the claim. A contract provision that purports to waive lien rights in advance is void and unenforceable as against public policy (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-124(b)).

After you file

• Recording the lien does not collect the money. It is a placeholder that expires on a schedule. A remote contractor has 90 days from the date of service of the Notice of Lien; a prime contractor has one year from completion or abandonment (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-11-115(b), 66-11-106).
• Write the date you served the owner at the top of the file. For a remote contractor, that single date — not the recording date — is what every remaining deadline counts from (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-115(b)).
• Keep watching the register of deeds. A Notice of Completion recorded after you file still runs its 10-day or 30-day clock, and a Notice of Completion recorded before the improvement was actually complete is void (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-143(e)(2), (f)).
• Expect a written demand to sue. The owner, the owner's agent or the prime contractor can serve one at any point and reduce your window to 60 days, with forfeiture if you miss it (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-130).
• If someone records a bond to indemnify against your lien, the lien comes off the property and your claim moves to the bond. You still have to bring your action in time (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-142).
• You can fix a notice of lien. Any notice of lien may be amended at any time during the period allowed for serving or recording it, in good faith and without prejudice to another interested person, and the amendment must be served or recorded the same way as the original (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-119).
• A typo is not automatically fatal. Substantial compliance is sufficient, and a document that substantially satisfies the requirements is effective even with nonprejudicial errors or omissions (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-148).
• When the lien is paid, forfeited, expired or adjudged against you, record a release within 30 days of a written demand or you owe the owner damages, costs and reasonable attorney fees (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-11-135).