Illinois mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Illinois lien deadline
Filing deadline
Claim for lien is recorded with the Recorder of Deeds where the property lies. An original contractor's lien is effective against all parties (lenders, buyers) only if recorded within 4 months of last lienable work; recording within 2 years still binds the original owner, but a sale in the interim defeats it. The chapter states a subcontractor must record its lien within 90 days after completion of its last lienable work. Blanket liens across related parcels under one contract are allowed.
Notice prerequisites
No pre-work notice for original contractors or subs generally, but two subcontractor notices are critical. (1) On an existing owner-occupied single-family residence, a sub must notify the occupant within 60 days of FIRST furnishing labor/materials; late notice caps the lien at what the owner still owes after payments already made. (2) All subs (any tier) must serve a Subcontractor's Notice of Intention to File Mechanic's Lien on the owner of record (or the owner's agent or architect, or the superintendent in charge) and on the lending agency, if known, within 90 days after their last work or delivery. Use registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, a nationally recognized delivery company with tracking, or personal service. The notice is served when it is mailed or handed to the delivery company (770 ILCS 60/24). Recording with the recorder substitutes only for out-of-county or unlocatable parties. The notice caps the lien at its face amount, later work needs a new/amended notice, and the notice is excused only to the extent the sub appears with an amount due on the Contractor's Sworn Statement.
Service on the owner
For subs the pre-lien 90-day notice is the key service step: serve the owner of record (or the owner's agent or architect, or the superintendent in charge) and the lending agency, if known, by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, a nationally recognized delivery company with tracking, or personal service; the notice is served when mailed or handed to the delivery company (770 ILCS 60/24). After proper notice the owner must withhold the noticed amount, and payments made in violation give the owner no credit.
Enforcement
Foreclosure suit within 2 years of completion of the lienable work, in the county where the property lies, joining the full contract chain, all interest holders, and unknown owners/parties with 3 weeks' newspaper publication; a lis pendens must be recorded or the suit does not bind subsequent interests. Any interested person can serve a Section 34 demand compelling suit within 30 days on pain of forfeiture; a claimant who is paid or misses a demand must release within 10 days of written demand or owe $2,500 plus fees.
770 ILCS 60/1 et seq. (Illinois Mechanic's Lien Act), esp. §§ 5, 7, 21, 24, 28, 32, 34, 38.1
770 ILCS 60 — Mechanics Lien Act — published by the Illinois 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 — STATE work: the awarding officer or department. LOCAL work: see below — the recipient changes.
- When — File the verified notice within 180 days of your last item. 30 ILCS 550/2.
- How — Personal service, or deposit as the section directs. 30 ILCS 550/2.
- If late — Filing late or not at all is fatal. A DEFECT in a filed notice is largely forgivable — read below.
- Sue by — 1 year from your last furnishing.
Is there a bond at all?
Moving target, and the statute currently carries two regimes with a hard switchover date. Sec. 1: 'until January 1, 2029, all officials, boards, commissions, or agents of this State, or of any political subdivision thereof, in making contracts for public work of any kind costing over $150,000... shall require every contractor for the work to furnish, supply and deliver a bond.' And: 'On and after January 1, 2029, all officials, boards, commissions, or agents of this State, or of any political subdivision thereof, in making contracts for public work of any kind costing over $50,000... shall require every contractor for the work to furnish, supply and deliver a bond.' The threshold DROPS in 2029, widening coverage. Transportation carve-out: 'Until January 1, 2029, when making contracts for public works to be constructed, the Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority shall require every contractor for those works to furnish, supply, and deliver a bond... only if the public works contract will cost more than $500,000.' Discretionary bonding below the line: 'Until January 1, 2029, local governmental units may require a bond, by ordinance or resolution, for public works contracts valued at $150,000 or less.' Emergency work: 'If the contract is for emergency repairs as provided in the Illinois Procurement Code, proof of payment for all labor, materials, apparatus, fixtures, and machinery may be furnished in lieu of the bond required by this Section.' The bond amount itself 'shall be fixed by the officials, boards, commissions, commissioners or agents' - no statutory percentage.
Who can claim on it
30 ILCS 550/2: 'Every person furnishing material, apparatus, fixtures, machinery, or performing labor, either as an individual or as a sub-contractor, hereinafter referred to as Claimant, for any contractor, with the State, or a political subdivision thereof where bond or letter of credit shall be executed as provided in this Act, shall have the right to sue on such bond or letter of credit.' The statute names NO tier cutoff and imposes no privity requirement - the only qualifier is 'for any contractor.' Rentals are expressly in: 'the terms "material", "labor", "apparatus", "fixtures", and "machinery" include those rented items that are on the construction site and those rented tools that are used or consumed on the construction site in the performance of the contract on account of which the bond is given.' Where Illinois case law stops remote suppliers is not answered by the text.
What notice you owe
EVERY CLAIMANT, in privity or not. This is Illinois's departure from the federal model. 30 ILCS 550/2 conditions the right of action itself on the verified notice - 'any Claimant... shall have no such right of action unless it shall have filed a verified notice of said claim' (State work) and 'the Claimant shall have no right of action unless it shall have filed a verified notice of that claim' (political subdivision work). A first-tier subcontractor that contracted directly with the general contractor owes exactly the same verified notice as a remote supplier.
Who it goes to
TWO RECIPIENTS, and the first one depends on who owns the project. STATE work: 'the officer, board, bureau or department awarding the contract.' POLITICAL SUBDIVISION work: 'the Clerk or Secretary of the political subdivision' - NOT the awarding department. AND, in both cases, a copy to the CONTRACTOR. The surety is not noticed.
By when
TWO CLOCKS, chained. (1) File the verified notice with the public body 'within 180 days after the date of the last item of work or the furnishing of the last item of materials, apparatus, fixtures, and machinery' - the claimant's own last furnishing. (2) Then serve the copy on the contractor 'within 10 days of the filing of the notice with the agency awarding the contract' (State) / 'within 10 days after the filing of the notice with the Clerk or Secretary' (political subdivision) - this second clock runs from the DATE YOU FILED, not from furnishing, so filing early shortens nothing but starts the 10 days early. Filing is by a mailbox rule: 'The verified notice shall be deemed filed on the date personal service occurs or the date when the verified notice is mailed in the form and manner provided in this Section.'
How it must be served
30 ILCS 550/2: 'The Claimant may file said verified notice by using personal service or by depositing the verified notice in the United States Mail, postage prepaid, certified or restricted delivery return receipt requested limited to addressee only.' Note how specific that is - certified or restricted delivery, return receipt requested, LIMITED TO ADDRESSEE ONLY. Ordinary certified mail without the addressee-only restriction does not match the words. The copy to the contractor is to be filed 'in a like manner as provided herein.' The notice must be VERIFIED - sworn - not merely signed.
What it has to say
Five enumerated items: '(1) the name and address of the claimant; the business address of the Claimant within this State and if the Claimant shall be a foreign corporation having no place of business within the State, the notice shall state the principal place of business of said corporation and in the case of a partnership, the notice shall state the names and residences of each of the partners; (2) the name of the contractor for the government; (3) the name of the person, firm or corporation by whom the Claimant was employed or to whom he or it furnished materials, apparatus, fixtures, or machinery; (4) a brief description of the public improvement; (5) a description of the Claimant's contract as it pertains to the public improvement, describing the work done by the Claimant and stating the total amount due and unpaid as of the date of verified notice.'
If the notice is late, or never given
Failure to file at all, or late, is fatal to the whole claim - 'shall have no such right of action unless.' But a DEFECT in a filed notice is largely forgiven: 'No defect in the notice herein provided for shall deprive the Claimant of his right of action under this article unless it shall affirmatively appear that such defect has prejudiced the rights of an interested party asserting the same.' Read the saving clause narrowly - it rescues a notice that is imperfect, not one that is absent, late, unverified, or filed with the wrong officer.
When the suit clock starts
30 ILCS 550/2: 'no action shall be brought later than one year after the date of the furnishing of the last item of work, materials, apparatus, fixtures, or machinery by the Claimant.' The claimant's own last furnishing - the SAME event the 180-day notice clock runs from. Not from the notice, not from acceptance, not from final settlement.
How long you have to sue
1 year from the claimant's last furnishing.
Where suit is brought
'Such action shall be brought only in the circuit court of this State in the judicial circuit in which the contract is to be performed' - 'only' makes it exclusive. Caption: the claimant sues 'in the name of the State, or the political subdivision thereof entering into such contract, as the case may be, for his use and benefit.' Pleading requirement: 'in such suit the plaintiff shall file a copy of such bond or letter of credit, certified by the party or parties in whose charge such bond or letter of credit shall be, which copy shall, unless execution thereof be denied under oath, be prima facie evidence of the execution and delivery of the original.'
The trap
The 180-day notice clock and the 1-year suit clock both run from the claimant's own last item of work, so a claimant that uses its full 180 days has already burned half the suit window - and on local work the verified notice must go to the Clerk or Secretary of the political subdivision, not to the department that awarded the contract, so filing with the obvious recipient destroys the claim.
The act itself
Public Construction Bond Act.
Where this comes from
30 ILCS 550/1 and 30 ILCS 550/2 (Act 550; formerly Ch. 29, pars. 15 and 16). Sec. 1 sources: P.A. 103-570, eff. 1-1-24; 104-168, eff. 6-1-27. Sec. 2 source: P.A. 101-65, eff. 1-1-20.
770 ILCS 60 — Mechanics Lien Act — published by the Illinois General Assembly.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Illinois.