Filing deadline

Statement of Account and Claim of Lien (notarized, with property description, amount, owner and claimant identities, invoices, an Affidavit of Notice, and the name of a person authorized to release the lien) is filed with the circuit clerk of the project county within 120 days of the last substantial work or last materials furnished; trivial or remedial touch-up work does not restart the clock. Filing may occur no sooner than 10 days after the Notice of Intent.

Notice prerequisites

Residential: a statutory Pre-Construction Notice to Owner must reach the owner before materials/work are supplied; the contractor is obligated to give it (one notice covers all claimants, and a claimant relying on someone else's notice is protected only prospectively). A residential contractor who skips it cannot sue on the contract at all, and it is exempt if the contractor bonds the job or the sale is direct to the owner. Commercial: claimants must serve a Notice to Owner and Contractor within 75 days after their last labor/materials, with statutory wording. Both project types also require a Notice of Intent to File a Lien served on the owner at least 10 days before recording.

Service on the owner

Pre-lien notices go to the owner (and GC on commercial jobs) by personal service, restricted-delivery return-receipt mail, or any method with third-party delivery verification; the 10-day Notice of Intent must precede filing. After recording, notice of the lien should be sent to the owner by registered mail - attorney fees are recoverable only if the claimant sent this post-filing demand and remains unpaid 20 days later.

Enforcement

Foreclosure suit must be filed within 15 months after the lien is filed, joining all contract parties and everyone with an interest in the property (prime contractor is a necessary party); a lis pendens must be filed contemporaneously with the petition.

Ark. Code Ann. sec. 18-44-101 et seq. (esp. 18-44-114, -115, -117, -118, -119)