Delaware mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Delaware lien deadline
Filing deadline
The Statement of Claim doubles as the foreclosure complaint and is filed with the Prothonotary of the Superior Court in the county of the structure. Contractors in direct contract with the owner: 180 days, measured from any of nine statutory trigger dates (contractual completion date, contract limitation dates, receipt of 90% of the contract price, final invoice, certificate of occupancy, owner acceptance, architect's completion certificate, or completion of permanent financing) - some triggers can fall well after physical completion. All other claimants (subs/suppliers): 120 days from their own last labor/delivery, or from the date final payment (including retainage) is due to them or is made to their contractor. Punch-list/repair return trips do not extend the clock. Sub-$100 labor claims go to Justice of the Peace court in a narrow 10-day window opening 20 days after last labor.
Notice prerequisites
No pre-work notice or filing is required of any party.
Service on the owner
Within 10 days after filing, the claimant must send a copy of the claim by certified mail return-receipt to all existing lienholders on the property and to leasehold tenants. Recovery proceeds by writ of scire facias: for occupied residences a copy of the writ is left with a resident; otherwise the sheriff posts it on the front of the structure.
Enforcement
There is no separate later suit - filing the Statement of Claim/Complaint itself commences the foreclosure action, so the 180/120-day filing deadlines are effectively the suit deadlines.
25 Del. C. secs. 2701-2732 (trust fund and prompt pay at 6 Del. C. secs. 3501-3506)
25 Del. C. ch. 27 — Mechanics’ Liens — published by the Delaware General Assembly.
Work on Public Property
No mechanics lien attaches to public property in any state. On a government job the remedy is the prime contractor’s payment bond, and it runs on its own act with its own deadlines — not the lien deadlines above.
- Who — Nobody — Delaware prescribes no claim notice at all.
- When — There is no notice clock. The only clock is the suit limitation. § 6962(d)(9)d.
- How — Not applicable.
- If late — Nothing, because nothing is owed. All the risk sits in the limitation period.
- Sue by — 1 year if the bond says so, otherwise 3 years — READ YOUR BOND. § 6962(d)(9)d.
Is there a bond at all?
No dollar figure appears in the statute. Sec. 6962(a) Applicability: 'Any state contract for which an agency is a party and for which the probable cost is greater than the amount set by the Contracting and Purchasing Advisory Council pursuant to Sec. 6913 of this title for small public works contracts shall be subject to the provisions of this section.' Sec. 6913(d)(4) makes the Council responsible for 'Setting the dollar amount thresholds required in this chapter. When setting these dollar amount thresholds, the Council shall take into consideration operational issues and inflation. Nothing in this subsection shall affect the amounts set in Sec. 6960 of this title.' Below that threshold, Sec. 6961(c) makes bonding discretionary: 'Bid and performance bonds as authorized in Sec. 6962 of this title may be made a requirement by the agency for contracts made pursuant to this section.' Where the section does apply, the bond is Sec. 6962(d)(9)a.: 'a good and sufficient bond to the contracting agency for the benefit of the agency, with corporate surety authorized to do business in this State, in a sum equal to 100% of the contract price and the bond form used shall be the standard form issued by the Office of Management and Budget.' The current Council-set dollar amount is not stated in the section itself - ask the awarding agency what threshold applied to this contract.
Who can claim on it
Sec. 6962(d)(9)d.: 'Every firm furnishing materiel or performing labor under the contract for which the successful bidder is liable may maintain an action on the bond for its own use in the name of the agency in any court of competent jurisdiction for the recovery of such sum or sums as may be due such firm from the successful bidder.' The chain is not cut by tier but by the words 'for which the successful bidder is liable' - the bond answers for sums due FROM the prime, so a claimant must trace liability back to the prime rather than merely show it supplied the job. The bond condition in Sec. 6962(d)(9)b. is broader in flavor: it includes 'the payment in full, to every firm furnishing materiel or performing labor in the performance of the contract, of all sums of money due it for such labor or materiel.' Where Delaware case law stops remote suppliers is not answered by the text.
What notice you owe
NO ONE. Section 6962 prescribes no claimant notice of any kind, at any tier, as a condition of the right of action. A claimant not in privity with the prime owes nothing that a first-tier subcontractor does not.
Who it goes to
No recipient prescribed, because no notice is prescribed. The only affirmative step the statute gives a claimant is informational rather than jurisdictional: Sec. 6962(d)(9) contemplates suit directly, and there is no counterpart to the Miller Act's notice-to-prime.
By when
None. There is no notice clock in the statute. The only clock a Delaware claimant runs is the suit limitation in Sec. 6962(d)(9)d.
How it must be served
None prescribed - there is no notice to serve.
What it has to say
No contents prescribed - there is no notice to serve.
If the notice is late, or never given
Nothing, because nothing is owed. Delaware forfeits no part of the claim for want of notice; the entire risk is loaded onto the limitations period instead.
When the suit clock starts
Two different triggers, and which one applies depends on the wording of the particular bond. Sec. 6962(d)(9)d.: 'if the bond so provides, no suit shall be commenced after the expiration of 1 year following the date on which the successful bidder ceased work on the contract. Otherwise, suits may be commenced at any time within 3 years following the date the last work was done on the contract.' Note the two triggers are not the same event either: 'the date on which the successful bidder ceased work' (the PRIME's last day) for the 1-year branch, and 'the date the last work was done on the contract' for the 3-year branch.
How long you have to sue
1 year if the bond contains the limitation; otherwise 3 years. The statute delegates the length of its own limitations period to the bond form.
Where suit is brought
'any court of competent jurisdiction.' No venue is prescribed. The action is brought by the claimant 'for its own use in the name of the agency' - the agency's name is used, but the agency is not the real party in interest.
The trap
Delaware issues no payment bond at all - you sue on the 100% performance bond - and your limitations period is either 1 year or 3 years depending on what that particular bond form says, so the deadline cannot be calculated without first obtaining and reading the bond.
The act itself
No popular name and, strictly, no Little Miller Act. The payment protection sits inside the 'Public Works Contracting' subchapter of the State Procurement chapter and is usually just called the Delaware public works bond statute.
Where this comes from
29 Del. C. Sec. 6962 (Title 29, ch. 69, subch. IV), and specifically Sec. 6962(d)(9). Supporting: Sec. 6902 (definitions), Sec. 6913 (Contracting and Purchasing Advisory Council sets dollar thresholds), Sec. 6961 (small public works contract procedures).
25 Del. C. ch. 27 — Mechanics’ Liens — published by the Delaware General Assembly.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Delaware.