District of Columbia mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
District of Columbia lien deadline
Based on the general 90-day period from last furnishing. Exceptions apply — treat this as a planning estimate, not legal advice.
Filing deadline
Notice of Mechanic's Lien recorded with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds "during the construction or within 90 days after the earlier of the completion or termination of the project" (D.C. Code § 40-301.02). The statute permits recording during construction on its face, though the Recorder's office has at times refused mid-project filings — confirm with the Recorder before filing early. The notice must identify the claimant, the owner of record, the property (DC indexes by Lot and Square — filings without them risk rejection), the contracting party, the work, the amount less credits, and attach the contract (or relevant portions).
Notice prerequisites
No notice is required before you start work. If you were hired by the general contractor rather than the owner, your lien can reach only money the owner still owes the general contractor. Sending the owner a written notice of the amount you are owed, as early as possible, and serving a copy of your recorded notice on the owner promptly, stops the owner from safely paying the general contractor that money and protects the amount of your lien (D.C. Code §§ 40-303.02, 40-303.03).
Service on the owner
Within 5 business days after recording, send a copy of the recorded notice to the owner by certified mail to the owner's current address (D.C. Code § 40-301.02(a)(2)). If the certified mail is returned unclaimed or undelivered, post a copy on the property where it can be seen from an entry point. Recording comes first.
Enforcement
Enforcement suit within 180 days after recording (§ 40-303.13), with a notice of pendency (lis pendens) filed with the Recorder of Deeds.
D.C. Code §§ 40-301.01 to 40-303.20 (esp. §§ 40-301.02, 40-301.03, 40-303.13)
D.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 3 — published by the D.C. Law Library.
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 — The prime contractor and nobody else — not the surety, not the District.
- When — 90 days from your own last furnishing. § 2-357.02(d).
- How — THE TWO DC STATUTES DIFFER HERE. Check which one governs your job — read below.
- If late — The whole claim against the bond, under both regimes.
- Sue by — 1 year under both regimes.
Is there a bond at all?
PPRA, Sec. 2-357.02(a)(1): bonds required 'When a construction contract is awarded in excess of $100,000'; the payment bond 'shall be in an amount equal to 100% of the portion of the contract price that does not include the cost of operation, maintenance, and finance' (Sec. 2-357.02(a)(2)). The CPO may reduce performance and payment bonds 'to 50% of the amounts established in subsection (a)' (Sec. 2-357.02(b)(1)) and may substitute a letter of credit of at least 10% for qualifying nonprofit contractors (Sec. 2-357.02(b)(2)). OLDER, Sec. 2-201.01(a): bonds required 'Before any contract, exceeding $25,000 in amount,' with a sliding payment-bond penal sum - one-half the contract amount up to $1,000,000; 40 per centum where more than $1,000,000 and not more than $5,000,000; a flat $2,500,000 where more than $5,000,000. Sec. 2-201.01(b) preserves 'the authority of the Mayor to waive the requirement for performance and payment bonds in such cases as he shall determine.'
Who can claim on it
PPRA, Sec. 2-357.02(d)(1): 'A person who has furnished labor or material to the contractor or its subcontractors for the work provided in the construction contract' - the class is expressly those who supplied the contractor OR its subcontractors, which reaches the second tier and stops there. OLDER, Sec. 2-201.02(a) is broader on its face: 'Every person who has furnished labor or material in the prosecution of the work provided for in such contract,' with no 'to the contractor' limiter. How D.C. courts treat a supplier to a sub-subcontractor is not answered by the text of either section.
What notice you owe
Only the claimant one tier removed from the prime. PPRA, Sec. 2-357.02(d)(2): 'Any person having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor of the contractor, but no contractual relationship express or implied with the contractor furnishing the payment bond.' The older Sec. 2-201.02(a) proviso is worded the same way: 'any person having direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with the contractor furnishing the payment bond.' A subcontractor or supplier in privity with the prime owes NO notice under either statute. Note the corollary: a claimant whose customer is itself a sub-subcontractor is outside the words of the proviso, and neither section tells it what to do.
Who it goes to
The contractor (the prime) and no one else. Neither section requires notice to the surety and neither requires notice to the District.
By when
90 days, running from the claimant's own LAST furnishing - 'within 90 days after the date on which the person did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the last of the material upon which the claim is made' (Sec. 2-357.02(d)(2)); the older Sec. 2-201.02(a) says 'within 90 days from the date on which such person did or performed the last of the labor, or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which such claim is made.' Not first furnishing. Separately, under both sections the right of action itself does not mature until 90 days have run after the claimant's last labor or material.
How it must be served
THE TWO STATUTES DIVERGE HERE, AND THIS IS THE DANGEROUS FIELD. PPRA, Sec. 2-357.02(d)(2): 'The notice shall be personally served or served by other form of receipted transmittal that confirms actual delivery to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts its business or at the contractor's residence.' OLDER, Sec. 2-201.02(a): 'Such notice shall be served by mailing the same by registered mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place he maintains an office or conducts his business, or his residence, or in any manner in which the United States Marshal for the District of Columbia is authorized by law to serve summons.' Registered mail is expressly sufficient under the older section; the PPRA section does not name mail at all and demands a method that 'confirms actual delivery.'
What it has to say
Identical in both: 'stating with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the party to whom the material was furnished or supplied or for whom the labor was done or performed.' Nothing else is enumerated - no project description, no dates, no itemization.
If the notice is late, or never given
The whole claim against the bond. Under both sections the notice is the condition on which the non-privity claimant 'shall have a right of action upon the payment bond' - miss it and there is no action, not a reduced one. Neither section contains a saving clause for defective or prejudice-free notices.
When the suit clock starts
The claimant's own last day. PPRA, Sec. 2-357.02(e): 'after the expiration of one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by the person bringing the action'; Sec. 2-357.02(f) repeats it as 'one year from the date that the final labor was performed or the material was supplied.' OLDER, Sec. 2-201.02(b): 'after the expiration of 1 year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by him.' Not from completion, not from acceptance, not from the notice.
How long you have to sue
1 year under both regimes.
Where suit is brought
THE TWO STATUTES DIVERGE HERE TOO. PPRA, Sec. 2-357.02(e): 'An action instituted upon a payment bond shall be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction within the District... The obligee named in the bond need not be joined as a party in the action.' OLDER, Sec. 2-201.02(b): 'Every suit instituted under this section shall be brought in the name of the District of Columbia for the use of the person suing, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, irrespective of the amount in controversy in such suit... The District of Columbia shall not be liable for the payment of any costs or expenses of any such suit.' The older section compels captioning in the District's name; the PPRA section does not mention it.
The trap
Two payment-bond statutes are simultaneously in the current D.C. Code with different thresholds ($25,000 vs $100,000), different service rules and different captioning rules, and the newer one requires a 'receipted transmittal that confirms actual delivery' - so the plain registered mail that the older Sec. 2-201.02 expressly blesses can fail the 90-day notice under Sec. 2-357.02.
The act itself
No popular name. Two distinct bond regimes are both live in the current Code: the older public-contractor bond sections, and the bond subchapter of the Procurement Practices Reform Act of 2010 (D.C. Law 18-371).
Where this comes from
CURRENT/PPRA: D.C. Code Secs. 2-357.01 to 2-357.06 (Title 2, ch. 3A, subch. VII, 'Bonds and Other Forms of Security'), the operative one being Sec. 2-357.02 'Contract performance and payment bonds in construction contracts.' OLDER: D.C. Code Secs. 2-201.01 and 2-201.02. Applicability and exemptions for the PPRA regime: Sec. 2-351.05.
D.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 3 — published by the D.C. Law Library.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in District of Columbia.