How to file a mechanics lien in Vermont

Step by step

6 steps for a subcontractor in Vermont.

1. 1

   Step 1: Write down the date work first became visible on the property

   At the very start of the job. Capture it the first day something is visibly happening on site, or the day your first delivery lands.

   Vermont dates your lien's priority back to the visible commencement of work or the first delivery of material — not to the day you record it. If your lien is later perfected, it can outrank a mortgage or a sale that was recorded after that date. You need to know that date and be able to prove it.

   Where it goes

   Your own job file. Nothing goes to a government office at this stage.

   How

   This is not a filing. It is record-keeping. Dated site photos, signed delivery tickets and daily logs.

   Proof to keep

   Dated photographs of the first visible work, the first signed delivery ticket, and dated daily reports.

   What the document must contain

   • The calendar date work first became visible on the property, or the date of the first delivery of material
   • Something dated that independently corroborates it

   If you miss it: You do not lose the lien. You lose the ability to prove your early priority date, so a lender or buyer who recorded in the meantime may take ahead of you and there may be nothing left for your claim.

   9 V.S.A. § 1923 (priority dates from 'the visible commencement of work or delivery of material'); reinforced by 9 V.S.A. § 1925(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Send the owner written notice that you will claim a lien

   The statute sets no deadline, so you cannot technically be late — but every day you wait shrinks what your lien is worth. Send it the day you start. Once the owner has paid the general contractor in full, a notice sent the next day secures nothing.

   This is the step Vermont contractors skip, because most online summaries say Vermont requires no preliminary notice. That is wrong. If you did not sign your contract with the property owner, this written notice is the thing that creates your lien. Skip it and you have no lien to record. It also freezes your lien amount: you can only reach the part of the contract price the owner still owes when your notice is received.

   Where it goes

   To the property owner, or to the owner's agent having charge of the property.

   How

   In writing. The statute does not name a delivery method, but your lien amount is fixed at what the owner still owed on the day the notice was RECEIVED, so you carry the burden of proving that date. Use certified mail, return receipt requested, or another method that documents the date it arrived.

   Proof to keep

   The signed return receipt showing the delivery date, plus a copy of the notice exactly as sent. The receipt date is the single most valuable document in a Vermont lien file.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement that you will claim a lien for labor or material
   • The date that payment is due, if you know it — the statute says 'The notice shall include the date that payment is due, if known.'
   • Practically: your name and contact information, identification of the property, and what you are furnishing

   If you miss it: You have no lien at all — not a late lien, no lien. And if you send it after the owner has already paid the general contractor in full, the lien is worth zero dollars even though it is perfectly valid. There is no unjust-enrichment backstop in the statute.

   9 V.S.A. § 1921(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Send written notice to the construction lender too

   Optional

   As soon as you learn there is a construction mortgage on the property, and before the lender advances more money. Its value drops with every draw the lender funds.

   A construction mortgage recorded before your lien normally beats your lien, and on an over-leveraged project that makes your claim worthless. But if you give the mortgage holder written notice that a lien is being claimed, your lien jumps ahead of that mortgage as to every advance the lender makes after your notice — except advances the lender can show were actually spent completing the improvement. Almost no claimant knows to do this.

   Where it goes

   To the mortgage holder — the construction lender. You can identify it from the mortgage recorded in the town land records.

   How

   In writing, sent in a way that documents delivery.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the notice and proof of the date the lender received it.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement that a lien under 9 V.S.A. § 1921 is to be claimed
   • Identification of the property and of your claim

   If you miss it: You keep your lien, but it stays behind the entire construction mortgage. On a project where the loan exceeds the property's value, that usually means you collect nothing.

   9 V.S.A. § 1921(d)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Record your lien memorandum with the town clerk

   Within 180 days. Count from the last day you performed labor or delivered materials. The statute actually measures 180 days from when payment became due for that last work — which is normally a later date — so counting from your last day on the job always gives you an earlier and safer deadline. Never count forward from a payment-due date you are assuming.

   A signed written memorandum asserting your claim, recorded in the land records. This is the step that actually puts the lien on the property. Until you record, the lien from Step 2 exists but expires on its own.

   Where it goes

   The clerk of the TOWN or city where the real estate is situated. Vermont keeps no land records at the county level — there is no county recorder to fall back on.

   How

   Deliver or mail the memorandum to the town clerk with the recording fee. Get it notarized before you go.

   Proof to keep

   The clerk-stamped recorded copy showing the book and page number and the date of recording.

   What the document must contain

   • A written memorandum asserting your claim, signed by you — that is all 9 V.S.A. § 1923 requires on its face
   • A notary acknowledgment: 27 V.S.A. § 341(a) requires instruments affecting an interest in land to be 'acknowledged by the grantor before a notary public' to be recorded
   • Practically, so the lien can be identified and enforced: your name, the owner's name, the property address and description, the town, the amount claimed, a description of what you furnished, and the date payment became due

   If you miss it: The lien 'shall not continue in force' past 180 days. It is gone, and nothing revives it.

   9 V.S.A. §§ 1921(c), 1923; notarization 27 V.S.A. § 341(a); recording fee 32 V.S.A. § 1671 ($15.00 per page)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: File suit AND get a judge to attach the property

   Within 180 days of recording your memorandum. If payment was not yet due when you recorded, the 180 days run from when payment becomes due instead — but treat 180 days from recording as your deadline, because it is the shorter branch and you are safe under either. Start the attachment motion months ahead, not weeks. This period cannot be extended.

   Two separate acts, one deadline. Filing the lawsuit alone does not save your lien — the statute requires you to commence the action AND cause the real estate to be attached. Attachment is not something you buy at the counter: the writ issues only on the order of a Superior judge, which means a motion and a court ruling. A contractor who files the complaint on day 170 and assumes the lien is safe will lose it.

   Where it goes

   The Vermont Superior Court, civil division, for the county where the action is pending or the property is located. The attested copy of the attachment goes to the land records of the town where the property sits.

   How

   Commence a civil action in Superior Court and move for a writ of attachment against the property. The court clerk issues the writ only upon a Superior judge's order approving the attachment. Once issued, the serving officer leaves a true and attested copy of the attachment, with a description of the property, at the office where deeds for that property are recorded.

   Proof to keep

   The filed complaint with its docket number and file-stamp date, the signed order approving attachment, the issued writ, and the town clerk's record of the attachment.

   What the document must contain

   • A complaint commencing the action on the claim
   • A motion for approval of attachment, supported by affidavit
   • A judge's order approving the attachment, and the writ issued on it
   • The officer's attested copy of the attachment plus a description of the estate attached, left at the town clerk's office

   If you miss it: The lien is not perfected and it dies. 9 V.S.A. § 1922 refers directly to a lien that 'has not been perfected within the time required under section 1924 of this title.' Hitting the deadline with only a filed complaint is the same as missing it.

   9 V.S.A. § 1924; writ procedure 12 V.S.A. § 3295; recording of the attachment 12 V.S.A. § 3291; perfection consequence 9 V.S.A. § 1922(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Record a certified copy of your judgment with the town clerk

   Within five months after the date of the judgment.

   Winning the lawsuit is not the end. Recording the certified judgment is what makes the property actually stand as security for the amount you won, dating back to the visible commencement of work. This deadline is missing from nearly every summary of Vermont lien law.

   Where it goes

   The office of the clerk of the town in which the real estate or other property is situated.

   How

   Obtain a certified copy of the record of the judgment from the court and record it with the town clerk. The costs of the copy and the recording are added to the amount secured.

   Proof to keep

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

   What the document must contain

   • A certified copy of the record of the judgment
   • The judgment record must contain a brief statement of the contract on which it is founded (9 V.S.A. § 1924)

   If you miss it: You still hold a money judgment, but the property is no longer held as security for it and the relation-back priority never attaches. You lose the security the entire process existed to obtain.

   9 V.S.A. § 1925(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Vermont

Where you file

Office

Town Clerk's Office of the town or city in which the real estate is situated

Recording fee

$15–$45

Notarization

Required

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 Vermont

• Believing Vermont requires no preliminary notice. This is the single most expensive mistake in the state. The statute says a non-privity claimant has a lien 'by giving notice in writing to such owner.' No notice, no lien — and you find out at the 180-day mark, when it is unfixable (9 V.S.A. § 1921(b)).
• Sending the owner notice late and ending up with a valid, worthless lien. Your lien 'shall extend to the portions of the contract price remaining unpaid at the time such notice is received.' Every dollar the owner pays the general contractor before your notice lands is permanently beyond your reach. On a job near completion this turns a timely-looking claim into a zero-dollar claim (9 V.S.A. § 1921(b)).
• Not being able to prove WHEN the owner received the notice. Because the lien amount is fixed at the moment of receipt, a hand delivery or plain-mail notice with no documentation invites the owner to say it arrived after the final check went out. Certified mail with a return receipt is evidence, not a formality.
• Filing the lawsuit and stopping there. 9 V.S.A. § 1924 requires you to commence the action AND cause the property to be attached within the same 180 days, and the writ issues only on a Superior judge's order (12 V.S.A. § 3295). Both steps are necessary and the period cannot be extended. This is a deadline you can hit exactly and still forfeit the lien.
• Counting the 180-day recording deadline forward from a payment-due date. The statute really does run from when payment became due for your last work, which is later than your last day on site — but that date is frequently disputed, contract-dependent, or never fixed at all. If your assumption is wrong you file late. Count from your last day of work, which can only be early.
• Recording with the wrong clerk. Vermont has no county land recording whatsoever. It must be the clerk of the specific town or city where the land lies. A filing lodged with a county office or a neighboring town does not charge the property, and the defect usually surfaces after the 180 days have run (9 V.S.A. § 1923).
• Showing up without a notary. Section 1923 asks only that the memorandum be 'signed by him or her,' so a contractor who reads the lien statute alone will not get it acknowledged — while 27 V.S.A. § 341(a) requires acknowledgment before a notary for instruments affecting an interest in land. A rejection at the counter on day 178 is a forfeiture, because there is no time left to cure.
• Winning the case and then sitting on the judgment. 9 V.S.A. § 1925 gives you five months from the date of judgment to record a certified copy with the town clerk. Miss it and the property is no longer holden for the amount you won.
• Never telling the construction lender. Under 9 V.S.A. § 1921(d) a construction mortgage recorded before your lien takes precedence. Written notice to the mortgagee flips priority as to later advances, but almost no claimant knows the step exists, so the lien sits behind the whole loan.
• Assuming a no-lien clause in the subcontract killed your rights. It did not — 9 V.S.A. § 1921(f) makes advance lien waivers unenforceable. The danger is that contractors who believe the clause do nothing, and the 180 days expire while they assume they have no claim.
• Filing a lien on a public project. Publicly owned property is generally not lienable, and no general Vermont payment-bond statute covering state buildings or municipal projects was located. There is one confirmed exception: contractors on Agency of Transportation improvement projects are covered by an additional surety bond for the benefit of labor and materialmen, which the Secretary may waive on contracts of $100,000.00 or less (19 V.S.A. § 10). On any other public job, a lien is the wrong remedy and the deadline it implies is false comfort.
• Relying on a lien when your trade may not be lienable at all. Section 1921 reaches persons who perform labor or furnish materials. Bare equipment rental is textually neither, and design-only services with no physical improvement are arguable at best. No Vermont case law resolving either was located. A claimant in these categories who relies on the lien instead of suing on the contract can let the contract remedy go stale.
• Assuming an owner-occupied home is off limits. It is not. 9 V.S.A. § 1927 expressly applies the subchapter to homestead property. The residential exemption that exists in many other states does not exist here.
• Overlooking that the lien does not reach the whole parcel. It covers land 'used or designed for use in connection with such improvements' but not 'other adjacent lands used for purposes of profit' (9 V.S.A. § 1921(e)).

After you file

• Recording the memorandum does not end anything — it starts the next clock. You have 180 days from recording to both commence your action and get the property attached (9 V.S.A. § 1924).
• Begin the attachment motion early. The writ issues only upon a Superior judge's order approving the attachment (12 V.S.A. § 3295), so it requires motion practice and a ruling rather than a counter filing. Build in far more time than the filing of the complaint alone would need.
• Make sure the attachment actually reaches the land records. After the writ issues, the officer must leave a true and attested copy of the attachment, with a description of the property, at the office where deeds for that property are recorded (12 V.S.A. § 3291).
• You gain leverage the moment the owner has your notice. Once an owner has received written notice of a lien under § 1921(b) and has not paid the claim, the owner may not deed, mortgage or otherwise convey the property without disclosing the lien in writing to the buyer or mortgagee. An owner who fails to disclose 'shall be liable to the person injured in a civil action on this statute for the damages so sustained' (9 V.S.A. § 1922). Note that this duty falls away if the lien was not perfected in time under § 1924.
• If several claimants have liens and the owner does not owe enough to pay everyone, the liens 'shall be paid pro rata' out of what is due or to become due from the owner (9 V.S.A. § 1923). Your recovery is capped by the pool, not just by your invoice.
• After judgment, record a certified copy with the town clerk within five months. Only then is the property holden for the judgment amount, dating back to the visible commencement of work (9 V.S.A. § 1925).
• Once recorded, you may obtain possession and foreclose the owner's equity of redemption as in the case of a mortgage (9 V.S.A. § 1925).
• If the property owner dies during the process, the lien and the action do not abate — the executor or administrator is cited in and the case proceeds against the representative of the deceased (9 V.S.A. § 1926).