Filing deadline

Hawaii is court-based: the claimant files an Application for Mechanic's and Materialman's Lien plus a Notice of Lien and Demand with the circuit court where the property lies, within 45 days after the project-wide Date of Completion (not the claimant's own last work). Date of Completion means the filing of an Affidavit of Publication of a Notice of Completion (published twice, 7 days apart, in a local newspaper) with the circuit court clerk; if no valid notice is published, completion is deemed 1 year after actual substantial completion or abandonment, giving effectively 1 year + 45 days. The court then holds a return hearing and, if contested, a probable cause hearing before ordering the lien to attach; the attachment order must be filed within 7 days with the Land Court Assistant Registrar (Land Court property) or recorded at the Bureau of Conveyances (Regular System).

Notice prerequisites

No preliminary lien notice from claimants. On home construction/improvement work, however, the licensed contractor must verbally explain all parties' lien rights to the homeowner and sign a written contract with required disclosures before any work begins (H.R.S. § 444-25.5); violation is a deceptive trade practice.

Service on the owner

The Application and Notice must be served on the owner, every person with an interest in the property, and the contracting party if different; posting on the improvement substitutes when a party cannot be served; service on one co-owner binds all. The papers are returnable in court not less than 3 nor more than 10 days after service, so a 7-day service window must be hit.

Enforcement

Foreclosure suit must be commenced within 3 months (construed as 90 days) after entry of the order directing the lien to attach, in the circuit court where the property sits; if timely filed the lien survives until discharged. Probable-cause findings do not bind the foreclosure court, so the claimant proves the whole case again.

H.R.S. §§ 507-41 through 507-49, esp. §§ 507-42, 507-43; H.R.S. § 444-25.5