Iowa mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Iowa 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
Since 1/1/2013 liens are posted electronically on the Secretary of State's Mechanic's Notice and Lien Registry (MNLR), not with county offices: a Mechanic's Lien plus a Verified Statement of Account (amount due after credits, furnishing period, legal description, local address, tax parcel number, owner name/address) within 90 days of the claimant's last furnishing; the registry administrator notifies the owner. A late lien can still be perfected after 90 days by posting plus serving written notice on the owner in the manner of original notices, but a subcontractor's late lien is limited to the balance the owner still owes the GC at service. Punch/repair/warranty work tied to substantial completion generally counts toward last furnishing; manufactured extensions do not. Public projects instead use a Chapter 573 sworn claim with the letting agency within 30 days of completion/final acceptance.
Notice prerequisites
Depends on project type. Commercial: a party furnishing labor/materials to a subcontractor (sub-sub or supplier-to-sub) must give the GC/owner-builder a one-time written notice identifying itself and its subcontractor within 30 days of first furnishing, and later support its lien with a certified statement that the notice was given. Residential: the GC must (a) give the owner statutory lien-warning language in the contract or a separate owner notice and (b) post a Commencement of Work notice on the state MNLR website within 10 days of starting, or it loses its own lien; every subcontractor/supplier must post an electronic Preliminary Notice on the MNLR. Without it there is no lien, and the lien is limited to the balance the owner still owes the GC when the notice is posted and when the owner receives it, so post as soon as you first furnish. On commercial work a missing 30-day notice to the GC also means no lien.
Service on the owner
No claimant-side service for a timely private lien - the MNLR administrator sends notice to the owner; claimant service on the owner is required only for late-filed liens (original-notice manner).
Enforcement
Equitable foreclosure petition in district court of the county where the property lies within 2 years from expiration of the 90-day filing window; no other cause of action may be joined. The owner or contractor can serve a 30-day written demand to sue, and failure to commence within 30 days forfeits the lien. Public (Ch. 573) actions on retainage/bond must be brought between 30 and 60 days after completion and final acceptance.
Iowa Code Chapter 572 (private), esp. §§ 572.2, 572.8-572.14, 572.28; Chapter 573 (public)
Iowa Code ch. 572 — Mechanic’s Lien — published by the Iowa Legislature.
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 § 573.7 claim is FILED with the public body. The § 573.15 notice goes to the prime contractor.
- When — § 573.15 notice: 30 days from FIRST furnishing — not last. Easy to miss.
- How — None prescribed for either — written notice to the prime, filing with the public body.
- If late — § 573.15: the whole claim, against BOTH the retainage and the bond.
- Sue by — A window, not a deadline — § 573.16(1). Read below.
Is there a bond at all?
Sec. 573.2(1): 'Contracts for the construction of a public improvement shall, when the contract price equals or exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars, be accompanied by a bond, with surety, conditioned for the faithful performance of the contract, and for the fulfillment of other requirements as provided by law.' Note the trigger is 'equals or exceeds', not 'exceeds'. The section also permits a bond on lower-priced contracts. NO BOND AT ALL is possible where the requirement is waived under Sec. 12.44 for a targeted small business - and Sec. 573.2(2) then redirects the remedy: 'If the requirement for a bond is waived pursuant to section 12.44, a person, firm, or corporation, having a contract with the targeted small business or with subcontractors of the targeted small business, for labor performed or materials furnished, in the performance of the contract on account of which the bond was waived, is entitled to any remedy provided under this chapter,' available in an action against the public corporation.
Who can claim on it
Sec. 573.7(1): 'Any person, firm, or corporation who has, under a contract with the principal contractor or with subcontractors, performed labor, or furnished material, service, or transportation, in the construction of a public improvement, may file, with the officer, board, or commission authorized by law to let contracts for such improvement, an itemized, sworn, written statement of the claim for such labor, or material, service, or transportation.' Sec. 573.6 states the bond obligation in the same terms: the principal and sureties 'agree to pay to all persons, firms, or corporations having contracts directly with the principal or with subcontractors, all just claims due them for labor performed or materials furnished.' THE CHAIN STOPS by a specific exclusion rather than by tier count - Sec. 573.7(2): 'A person furnishing only materials to a subcontractor who is furnishing only materials is not entitled to a claim against the retainage or bond under this chapter and is not an obligee or person protected under the bond pursuant to section 573.6.' So a supplier to a pure materials supplier is out, expressly, from BOTH the fund and the bond.
What notice you owe
TWO DISTINCT DUTIES, and only one of them is a notice. (1) EVERY CLAIMANT must FILE the claim itself under Sec. 573.7 with the public body - that filing, not a letter, is the operative act, and no one is excused from it, including a subcontractor in privity with the prime. (2) IN ADDITION, a claimant who supplied a SUBCONTRACTOR rather than the principal contractor owes a preliminary written notice to the principal contractor under Sec. 573.15: such a person 'shall not be entitled to a claim against the retainage or bond under this chapter unless' it gives that notice and supports the claim with a certified statement that the principal contractor received it. Sec. 573.15(2): 'This section shall not apply to highway, bridge, or culvert projects as referred to in section 573.28' - so on those projects the sub-tier notice is not owed at all.
Who it goes to
The Sec. 573.7 CLAIM is filed 'with the officer, board, or commission authorized by law to let contracts for such improvement' - the PUBLIC BODY. It does not go to the surety and it does not go to the contractor. The Sec. 573.15 preliminary NOTICE goes to the PRINCIPAL CONTRACTOR. Nothing in chapter 573 requires the claimant to notify the surety at any point.
By when
Sec. 573.15(1)(a) notice - 30 days from FIRST furnishing, not last: the claimant must notify 'within thirty days of first performing the labor or furnishing the materials, service, or transportation for which a claim may be made,' and it is a ONE-TIME notice that then covers 'additional labor performed or materials, service, or transportation furnished by the same person, firm, or corporation to the same subcontractor for use in the same construction project.' Sec. 573.10 claim filing - two windows: '1. At any time before the expiration of thirty days immediately following the completion and final acceptance of the improvement. 2. At any time after said thirty-day period, if the public corporation has not paid the full contract price as herein authorized, and no action is pending to adjudicate rights in and to the unpaid portion of the contract price.' Sec. 573.11 adds that 'The court may permit claims to be filed with it during the pendency of the action hereinafter authorized, if it be made to appear that such belated filing will not materially delay the action.'
How it must be served
NONE PRESCRIBED for either. Sec. 573.15(1)(a) says only 'Notifies the principal contractor in writing.' Sec. 573.7(1) says only 'file... an itemized, sworn, written statement.' No mail class, no certified or registered requirement, no receipt device. But Sec. 573.15(1)(b) shifts the proof burden onto the claimant by requiring the claim to be supported 'with a certified statement that the principal contractor received the notice described in paragraph a' - so the claimant must be able to prove RECEIPT, not just dispatch, which in practice forces certified mail with return receipt.
What it has to say
Sec. 573.15(1)(a), verbatim: 'Notifies the principal contractor in writing with a one-time notice containing the name, mailing address, and telephone number of the person, firm, or corporation that performed the labor or furnished the materials, service, or transportation, and the name of the subcontractor for whom the labor was performed or the materials, service, or transportation were furnished, within thirty days of first performing the labor or furnishing the materials, service, or transportation for which a claim may be made.' Sec. 573.7(1) requires the claim to be 'an itemized, sworn, written statement of the claim for such labor, or material, service, or transportation' - ITEMIZED and SWORN are the two words that do the work; an unsworn or unitemized invoice summary is not a claim.
If the notice is late, or never given
Sec. 573.15 notice - THE WHOLE CLAIM, against both sources: a sub-tier claimant 'shall not be entitled to a claim against the retainage or bond under this chapter unless' it gives the notice and certifies receipt. Sec. 573.7 filing - the claim is the right; without it there is nothing to adjudicate under Sec. 573.16 and nothing to pay under Sec. 573.18. Filing LATE (after the 30 days following final acceptance) does not automatically destroy the claim but shrinks what it can reach: Sec. 573.10(2) permits it only 'if the public corporation has not paid the full contract price as herein authorized, and no action is pending,' so a claimant who misses the 30-day window is betting that money is still in the public body's hands.
When the suit clock starts
Sec. 573.16(1) - COMPLETION AND FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE IMPROVEMENT. Not the claimant's last day, and not the date of the claim. There is also a second, contractor-triggered clock: Sec. 573.16(2) - 'Upon written demand of the contractor served, in the manner prescribed for original notices, on the person filing a claim, requiring the claimant to commence action in court to enforce the claim, an action shall be commenced within thirty days, otherwise the retained and unpaid funds due the contractor shall be released.'
How long you have to sue
A WINDOW, NOT A DEADLINE. Sec. 573.16(1): the public corporation, the principal contractor, any claimant who has filed a claim, or the surety 'may, at any time after the expiration of thirty days, and not later than sixty days, following the completion and final acceptance of said improvement, bring action in equity in the county where the improvement is located to adjudicate all rights to said fund, or to enforce liability on said bond.' The window OPENS at day 31 and SHUTS at day 60 - thirty days wide. Independently, a contractor's written demand under Sec. 573.16(2) compresses it to 30 days from service of that demand. Sec. 573.15A runs the same 30-to-60-day structure off completion of 95% of the contract where the public corporation uses the early-release procedure.
Where suit is brought
Sec. 573.16(1) - 'action in equity in the county where the improvement is located.' It is a single consolidated proceeding to 'adjudicate all rights to said fund, or to enforce liability on said bond,' not a private two-party suit; Sec. 573.18 then orders payment out of the retained percentage as 'a. Costs of the action. b. Claims for labor. c. Claims for materials. d. Claims of the public corporation.'
The trap
The Iowa remedy is a sworn itemized claim FILED WITH THE PUBLIC BODY that let the contract - not a letter to the surety - and it must then be turned into an equity action inside a thirty-day-wide window that opens thirty days after final acceptance and slams shut at sixty, so a claimant who files its claim, sends the surety a demand and waits for an answer will find both the fund and the bond closed to it while it was still corresponding.
The act itself
No Little Miller Act by that name. Iowa Code chapter 573 is headed 'Labor and Material on Public Improvements' and it is a SINGLE integrated remedy that reaches BOTH the statutory retainage fund and the bond through ONE filing. The claimant does not choose between a fund claim and a bond claim; it files one itemized sworn claim with the public body, and that filing is what unlocks either source.
Where this comes from
Iowa Code ch. 573 - Sec. 573.2 (bond required; waiver for targeted small businesses), Sec. 573.6 (bond condition, read into every bond), Sec. 573.7 (claims for material or labor; who may file; who may not), Sec. 573.10 (time of filing claims), Sec. 573.11 (belated filing during pendency), Sec. 573.12 (retention from payments), Sec. 573.13 (the fund; retainage capped at three percent), Sec. 573.14 (holding the fund; double the claims), Sec. 573.15 (30-day notice owed by claimants of subcontractors), Sec. 573.15A (early release at 95%), Sec. 573.16 (optional and mandatory actions; bond to release), Sec. 573.18 (adjudication and order of payment), Sec. 573.28 (early release of retained funds; highway, bridge and culvert projects).
Iowa Code ch. 572 — Mechanic’s Lien — published by the Iowa Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Iowa.