Filing deadline

Certificate of Mechanic's Lien is recorded on the land records with the town clerk of the town where the property lies within 90 days after the claimant last renders services or furnishes materials (measured from substantial completion of the claimant's own contract; trivial work or unreasonable delay does not extend it). Contents: premises description, amount claimed, parties liened, and commencement date; no residential/commercial deadline split.

Notice prerequisites

Nothing is required before work starts. An original contractor may file an affidavit with the town clerk within 15 days of starting work; if it does, subcontractors/suppliers must serve their Notice of Intent to Claim Mechanic's Lien on the original contractor as well as the owner. Claimants lacking a direct owner contract must serve the owner with a Notice of Intent (within the same 90-day post-work window as the lien certificate); a properly served lien certificate has been held to satisfy the notice-of-intent duty, but serving both is recommended.

Service on the owner

A copy of the certificate must be served on the owner no later than 30 days after recording. Service formalities are strict: an indifferent person, state marshal, or proper officer must make in-hand or abode service if the recipient lives in the town where the property lies, certified mail if outside it, and publication if certified mail comes back unclaimed - improper service voids the lien.

Enforcement

Foreclosure suit plus a lis pendens on the land records must both occur within 1 year of recording the lien (or 60 days after final disposition of an appeal of a reduction/discharge order); the same 1-year clock governs suit on a substituted bond. Attorney fees are recoverable in bond actions and, per appellate authority, in foreclosure.

Conn. Gen. Stat. secs. 49-33 to 49-39 (lien fund at 49-36; discharge at 49-35a, 49-37)