Construction and Mechanic’s Liens

Six months after the indebtedness accrued, under § 429.080, RSMo. The lien statement is filed with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property is located, and it must contain a just and true account of the demand due after all credits, a correct description of the property, and verification by affidavit. When the indebtedness “accrued” is usually tied to the last date of substantial work or delivery of materials on the project — not to the date an invoice went unpaid, and not to warranty or punch-list work performed later to extend the deadline. If your calculation of the accrual date is what stands between you and a lien, get it reviewed rather than assumed.

No, and this is the single most common way Missouri lien claimants lose. Section 429.170, RSMo requires that an action to enforce the lien be commenced within six months after filing the lien statement. The filing preserves the claim; the suit enforces it. A claimant who files a perfect lien statement on time and then spends eight months negotiating with the owner has an expired lien and nothing but a contract claim. Calendar the enforcement deadline the day you file, and treat settlement discussions as running in parallel with suit preparation rather than in place of it.

Yes, and which notice depends on who you are. An original contractor — one in direct contract with the owner — must have given the owner the written notice required by § 429.012, RSMo, in ten-point bold type, warning that persons supplying labor or materials may claim a lien. Missouri courts treat that notice as a condition precedent to lien rights, so it has to have been given as part of the contracting process, not manufactured afterward. Everyone else — subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, suppliers — must give the owner or the owner’s agent ten days’ notice before filing, under § 429.100, stating the claim and the amount and from whom it is due.

Unfortunately, yes. Missouri’s lien attaches because the property was improved and the improver was not paid; it does not depend on whether the owner paid someone else. If a general contractor takes the owner’s money and does not pay the plumbing subcontractor, the plumber can still lien the property. That result feels wrong to owners and it is the reason lien waivers exist. The protection is procedural: conditional waivers with each progress payment, unconditional waivers when funds clear, waivers from every tier and not just the general, a current list of subcontractors and suppliers, joint checks on large trade payments, and no final payment until the file is complete. If a lien is already filed, check the notices and the two deadlines first — that is where invalid liens are found.

A lien waiver is a document in which a contractor, subcontractor or supplier gives up lien rights for work performed or payment received. There are two important distinctions. A conditional waiver takes effect only when the payment actually clears; an unconditional waiver takes effect on signature regardless of whether the cheque is good. And a waiver may be limited to a progress payment through a stated date, or it may be a final waiver covering everything. Contractors should sign conditional waivers for progress payments and reserve unconditional final waivers for funds already received. Owners should collect them at every tier with every payment. Read what you are signing: an unconditional final waiver signed in exchange for a promise is a gift.

Usually yes, on the contract. The mechanic’s lien is a security interest in the property; it is not the debt. If the § 429.080 filing deadline or the § 429.170 enforcement deadline has run, the claim against the property is gone but the claim against the party who agreed to pay you generally survives, subject to the ordinary contract limitations period. Breach of contract, quantum meruit and unjust enrichment counts are the usual vehicles. What you lose is the leverage: a lien clouds title and stops a closing, while a contract judgment has to be collected from whatever assets the defendant has. That difference is exactly why the deadlines are worth calendaring. See business litigation.

This is one of the more technical questions in the area and it is genuinely fact-dependent. Priority disputes between mechanic’s lien claimants and deeds of trust turn on the timing of the commencement of the work relative to recording of the security instrument, on the character of the improvements, and on doctrines Missouri courts have developed around when lien rights relate back. The stakes are large, because in a foreclosure the priority order decides who is paid and who is not. If you are a lender, a title insurer, a claimant, or an owner with a project that has stalled with a construction loan on it, this is not a question to resolve from a general description — the analysis depends on recorded dates and on what was visible on the ground when the deed of trust was recorded.

Yes. Section 429.016, RSMo sets out requirements applicable to residential work and includes a forfeiture provision for failing to meet them — meaning a claimant who does not comply can lose lien rights entirely, not merely face a defect. Residential owners are also the people least likely to know that a subcontractor can lien their home after they have paid the general contractor, which is part of why the statute treats residential work distinctly. Contractors doing residential work in Missouri should have the notice and documentation practice built into their standard process rather than assembled per project; homeowners should insist on waivers even on modest jobs. Getting this reviewed once, at the level of your standard contract and forms, is far cheaper than getting it litigated.

Section 429.080, RSMo requires a just and true account of the demand due after all just credits have been given, a correct description of the property to be charged, and verification by the claimant’s affidavit. Each of those is a place liens fail. “Just and true” means the amount has to be right — a lien inflated to create negotiating room can be attacked as not being a just and true account, which risks the entire lien rather than just the excess. The property description must be legally correct; a street address is generally not a description of the property. And the affidavit must be properly made. Have the statement prepared or reviewed by someone who does this work; the filing fee is small and the cost of a defective statement is the whole claim.

Chapter 429 extends lien rights beyond the trades who swing hammers, and Missouri law addresses claims by those who furnish materials, machinery and certain professional services in connection with an improvement. Whether a particular claimant qualifies, and what notices apply to them, depends on their relationship to the owner and to the improvement — the original contractor / non-original contractor distinction in § 429.012 and § 429.100 drives which notice you owe. Rental equipment, off-site fabrication, and design work performed before construction begins each raise their own questions. If you are in one of those categories, confirm your rights and your notice obligations at the start of the project, not when payment stops.

Generally yes, and it is often the practical answer when a lien is blocking a sale or a refinance. Bonding around substitutes a surety bond for the property as the security for the claim: the lien is released of record, the closing proceeds, and the dispute continues against the bond rather than against the real estate. That separates the merits of the payment dispute from the transaction deadline, which is usually where the pressure is coming from. The mechanics, the amount required, and the title insurer’s willingness to insure over the released lien all need to be coordinated before the closing date, so raise it early. The alternative — paying the claim under protest to clear title — also works but generally costs more and forfeits leverage.

Three tracks, and they run at once. First, secure the site and document everything: photographs of the current state, the contract and every change order, all payments made, and a written record of the abandonment and of your attempts to get the contractor back. Second, deal with the money — a contractor who has been paid ahead of the work owes the difference, and a breach of contract claim measures your damages by what it costs to complete the work properly, so get real completion bids rather than estimates. Third, protect the property from liens: subcontractors and suppliers who were not paid by the departed general can still lien your home, so find out who they are, ask for the § 429.100 notices, and get waivers from anyone you pay directly. If the contractor was licensed or bonded, there may be additional remedies. See general litigation.