Florida mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Florida 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
Claim of Lien is recorded with the Clerk of Court/county recorder of each county containing the project within 90 days after the lienor's final furnishing (correcting deficiencies does not count; for rental equipment, the last day the gear was on site and available). It must carry the statutory one-year-expiration WARNING. Liens generally relate back to the recorded Notice of Commencement for priority (professionals and subdivision improvers attach at their own recording).
Notice prerequisites
The owner must record a Notice of Commencement (and post a copy at the site) before work starts (recorded no more than 90 days before construction; exceptions for professional services, subdivision work, and direct contracts under $2,500), attaching any payment bond. Contractors who contract directly with the owner do not serve a Notice to Owner. On a residential property of one to four units with a contract over $2,500, the contract itself must include the Florida lien-law disclosure in Fla. Stat. § 713.015; without it, the lien may not be enforceable against an owner who was harmed by its absence. Lienors without a direct owner contract - except laborers, professionals, and subdivision improvers - must serve a Notice to Owner within 45 days of first furnishing (and before final payment made in reliance on the contractor's final affidavit), in substantially the statutory form. Serve the Notice to Owner on the owner (and on anyone the owner designated in the Notice of Commencement). A sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a subcontractor must also serve the contractor; a supplier to a sub-subcontractor must serve the contractor and, if known, the subcontractor. Failing to serve the notice on time is a complete defense to the lien.
Service on the owner
The Claim of Lien must be served on the owner (and anyone the owner designated in the Notice of Commencement) within 15 days after recording. A contractor must also serve a Contractor's Final Payment Affidavit at least 5 days before suing. An owner's Request for Sworn Statement of Account must be answered, notarized, within 30 days or the lien is lost.
Enforcement
Foreclosure suit within 1 year of recording, but the window collapses to 60 days after an owner serves a Notice of Contest of Lien, or 20 days after a show-cause summons from any interested party. Bonded claims: suit against surety/principal within 1 year. Claims over $30,000 must go to circuit court.
Fla. Stat. ch. 713, pt. I (esp. secs. 713.06, 713.08, 713.13, 713.22-713.245)
Florida Statutes ch. 713, pt. I — Construction Liens — published by The Florida Senate.
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 — Notice to contractor: the contractor. Notice of nonpayment: the contractor AND a copy to the surety.
- When — Notice to contractor: before starting, or within 45 days of starting. § 255.05(2)(a)2.
- How — Served per Fla. Stat. § 713.18. § 255.05(2)(a)2.
- If late — The whole claim — no action lies against the contractor or surety without the notices.
- Sue by — 1 year, except retainage — and the contractor can cut it to 60 days. § 255.05(10).
Is there a bond at all?
Sec. 255.05(1)(d): 'When the work is done for the state and the contract is for $100,000 or less, no payment and performance bond shall be required. At the discretion of the official or board awarding such contract when such work is done for any county, city, political subdivision, or public authority, a person entering into such a contract that is for $200,000 or less may be exempted from executing the payment and performance bond. When such work is done for the state, the Secretary of Management Services may delegate to state agencies the authority to exempt any person entering into such a contract amounting to more than $100,000 but less than $200,000 from executing the payment and performance bond. If an exemption is granted, the officer or official is not personally liable to persons suffering loss because of granting such exemption.' Note the asymmetry: on STATE work $100,000 or less the exemption is automatic; on LOCAL work up to $200,000 it is discretionary.
Who can claim on it
Sec. 255.05(1)(c): the bond is conditioned on the contractor 'promptly making payments to all persons defined in s. 713.01 who furnish labor, services, or materials for the prosecution of the work provided for in the contract,' and 'The claimant shall have a cause of action against the contractor and surety for the amount due him or her, including unpaid finance charges due under the claimant's contract.' The class is therefore the Chapter 713 lienor class, which reaches persons in privity with the contractor, with a subcontractor, or with a sub-subcontractor, and stops there - a supplier to a supplier is outside it. Sec. 255.05(1)(e) makes unenforceable any bond provision 'which further restricts the classes of persons protected by the bond.'
What notice you owe
TWO SEPARATE NOTICES, ON TWO SEPARATE CLOCKS, and only claimants NOT in privity with the contractor owe either. (1) NOTICE TO CONTRACTOR OF INTENT TO LOOK TO THE BOND - owed by 'A claimant, except a laborer, who is not in privity with the contractor.' (2) NOTICE OF NONPAYMENT - owed by 'A claimant who is not in privity with the contractor and who has not received payment for furnishing his or her labor, services, or materials.' A claimant IN PRIVITY with the contractor owes NEITHER. Read the two sentences against each other: the words 'except a laborer' appear ONLY in the first, so on the face of the statute a laborer not in privity is excused from the 45-day notice but is NOT excused from the notice of nonpayment. Sec. 255.05(2)(a)2. then conditions suit on both: 'An action for the labor, services, or materials may not be instituted against the contractor or the surety unless the notice to the contractor and notice of nonpayment have been served, if required by this section.'
Who it goes to
Notice to contractor: the contractor. Notice of nonpayment: the contractor, AND 'a copy of the notice of nonpayment on the surety.' The public entity receives neither; its only role is that 'A claimant may apply to the governmental entity having charge of the work for copies of the contract and bond and shall thereupon be furnished with a copy of the contract and the recorded bond' (Sec. 255.05(1)(c)).
By when
NOTICE TO CONTRACTOR: 'before commencing or not later than 45 days after commencing to furnish labor, services, or materials for the prosecution of the work' - it runs from the claimant's own FIRST furnishing. Fallback: 'If the payment bond is not recorded before the commencement of work or before the recommencement of work after a default or abandonment as required by subsection (1), the claimant may serve the contractor with such written notice up to 45 days after the date that the claimant is served with a copy of the bond.' NOTICE OF NONPAYMENT: a window with a floor as well as a ceiling - 'must be under oath and served during the progress of the work or thereafter but may not be served earlier than 45 days after the first furnishing of labor, services, or materials by the claimant or later than 90 days after the final furnishing of the labor, services, or materials by the claimant or, with respect to rental equipment, later than 90 days after the date that the rental equipment was last on the site of the improvement and available for use.' Sec. 255.05(2)(a)2. fixes the measuring event: 'The time periods for service of a notice of nonpayment or for bringing an action against a contractor or a surety are measured from the last day of furnishing labor, services, or materials by the claimant and may not be measured by other standards, such as the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or the issuance of a certificate of substantial completion.'
How it must be served
Sec. 255.05(2)(a)2.: 'Notices required or permitted under this section must be served in accordance with s. 713.18.' The notice of nonpayment additionally 'must be under oath' - the prescribed form carries a declaration and a notary jurat. Sec. 255.05(12) repeats the Sec. 713.18 rule for any document under the section.
What it has to say
NOTICE TO CONTRACTOR: no contents enumerated beyond that it be 'a written notice that he or she intends to look to the bond for protection.' NOTICE OF NONPAYMENT: contents are enumerated and the form is prescribed - (1) the labor, services or materials furnished and the amount unpaid to date, 'of which $ is unpaid retainage'; (2) the amount paid to date and for what; (3) what the claimant expects to furnish in future and the amount expected to become due, if known; plus the sworn declaration and notarization. Sec. 255.05(2)(a)2. adds: 'Any notice of nonpayment served by a claimant who is not in privity with the contractor which includes sums for retainage must specify the portion of the amount claimed for retainage.'
The form the statute prescribes
NOTICE OF NONPAYMENT To: (Name of contractor and address) (Name of surety and address) The undersigned claimant notifies you that: 1. Claimant has furnished (describe labor, services, or materials) for the improvement of the real property identified as (property description) . The corresponding amount unpaid to date is $ , of which $ is unpaid retainage. 2. Claimant has been paid to date the amount of $ for previously furnishing (describe labor, services, or materials) for this improvement. 3. Claimant expects to furnish (describe labor, services, or materials) for this improvement in the future (if known), and the corresponding amount expected to become due is $ (if known). I declare that I have read the foregoing Notice of Nonpayment and that the facts stated in it are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. DATED on , . (Signature and address of claimant) STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF The foregoing instrument was sworn to (or affirmed) and subscribed before me by means of [ ] physical presence or sworn to (or affirmed) by [ ] online notarization this day of , (year) , by (name of signatory) . (Signature of Notary Public - State of Florida) (Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public) Personally Known OR Produced Identification Type of Identification Produced --- SECOND PRESCRIBED FORM, Fla. Stat. s. 255.05(2)(a)1. (recorded by the CONTRACTOR, not the claimant; it shortens the claimant's suit window to 60 days) --- NOTICE OF CONTEST OF CLAIM AGAINST PAYMENT BOND To: (Name and address of claimant) You are notified that the undersigned contests your notice of nonpayment, dated , , and served on the undersigned on , , and that the time within which you may file suit to enforce your claim is limited to 60 days after the date of service of this notice. DATED on , . Signed: (Contractor or Attorney)
If the notice is late, or never given
The whole claim: 'An action for the labor, services, or materials may not be instituted against the contractor or the surety unless the notice to the contractor and notice of nonpayment have been served, if required by this section.' Two qualifications cut the other way, both verbatim from Sec. 255.05(2)(a)2.: 'The negligent inclusion or omission of any information in the notice of nonpayment that has not prejudiced the contractor or surety does not constitute a default that operates to defeat an otherwise valid bond claim,' and 'a minor mistake or error in a notice of nonpayment, or a good faith dispute as to the amount unpaid, does not constitute a willful exaggeration that operates to defeat an otherwise valid claim against the bond.' But overstating deliberately is fatal: 'A claimant who serves a fraudulent notice of nonpayment forfeits his or her rights under the bond... The service of a fraudulent notice of nonpayment is a complete defense to the claimant's claim against the bond.' And advance waiver is void: 'A claimant may not waive in advance his or her right to bring an action under the bond against the surety.'
When the suit clock starts
Sec. 255.05(10): 'within 1 year after the performance of the labor or completion of delivery of the materials or supplies' - the claimant's own last furnishing, and Sec. 255.05(2)(a)2. forbids measuring it from a certificate of occupancy or of substantial completion. If the contractor records a Notice of Contest of Claim Against Payment Bond, the clock is re-keyed entirely: 60 days from the date of SERVICE of that notice.
How long you have to sue
1 year, 'except an action for recovery of retainage' (Sec. 255.05(10)). But the contractor can unilaterally cut it to 60 days: under Sec. 255.05(2)(a)1., 'The claim of a claimant upon whom such notice is served and who fails to institute a suit to enforce his or her claim against the payment bond within 60 days after service of such notice is extinguished automatically.'
Where suit is brought
No court or venue is prescribed by Sec. 255.05. The section instead forbids the bond from prescribing one: Sec. 255.05(1)(e) makes unenforceable any provision in a payment bond issued on or after October 1, 2012 'which restricts the venue of any proceeding relating to such bond, which limits or expands the effective duration of the bond, or which adds conditions precedent to the enforcement of a claim against the bond beyond those provided in this section.' Attorney's fees to the prevailing party are mandatory: 'the prevailing party is entitled to recover a reasonable fee for the services of his or her attorney for trial and appeal or for arbitration.'
The trap
A claimant not in privity with the prime owes TWO notices, and the first one - the 45-day notice of intent to look to the bond - runs from the claimant's own FIRST furnishing, so it expires months before the claimant has any reason to think it will not be paid, and no later notice of nonpayment can cure its absence.
The act itself
No formal popular name; Sec. 255.05 is universally referred to as Florida's Little Miller Act or the public payment bond statute.
Where this comes from
Fla. Stat. Sec. 255.05 (the whole section). It borrows two other statutes by reference: the protected class is defined by Sec. 713.01, and every notice under the section is served under Sec. 713.18 (Sec. 255.05(12): 'Unless otherwise provided in this section, service of any document must be made in accordance with s. 713.18.').
Florida Statutes ch. 713, pt. I — Construction Liens — published by The Florida Senate.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Florida.