Louisiana mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Louisiana lien deadline
Filing deadline
Statement of Claim or Privilege recorded with the Recorder of Mortgages of the parish (each parish if the project spans several). If a Notice of Contract was timely filed: 30 days after the Notice of Termination for everyone except the GC, who gets 60 days. If no Notice of Contract: 60 days from Notice of Termination or, absent one, from substantial completion/abandonment (70 days for suppliers of movables on residential jobs). If a Notice of Contract was filed but no Notice of Termination ever is, outer limits apply: 6 months (non-GC) / 7 months (GC) after substantial completion. Contents: writing, signed (no notarization), reasonable identification of site (full legal description) and owner, amount/nature of obligation reasonably itemized. Public projects: sworn statement filed with the governing authority and recorded in parish mortgage records within 45 days of recorded acceptance or default.
Notice prerequisites
No general preliminary notice; only certain claimants owe one. A general contractor whose contract price is more than $100,000 must have a notice of contract (signed by the owner and the contractor, with a full legal description, the price and the payment terms) filed in the parish mortgage records before starting work, or it has no lien (La. R.S. 9:4811); the owner may attach a statutory payment bond to it to shield the property from sub/supplier liens. An equipment lessor must notify the contractor (and the owner too, if a notice of contract was filed) that it has leased equipment for the job, with the names and addresses of the lessor and lessee and a general description of the equipment. If the notice is given more than 30 days after the equipment first arrives on site, the lessor can recover only rent that accrues after the notice (La. R.S. 9:4804(B)). A supplier who sold materials to a subcontractor must, if a notice of contract was filed, send a notice of nonpayment to both the owner and the contractor within 75 days after the last day of each month in which unpaid materials were delivered, or lose its claim for those materials (La. R.S. 9:4804(C)). Separately, on residential work where no notice of contract was filed, any subcontractor, laborer or supplier may extend its filing period from 60 to 70 days by giving the owner a written notice of nonpayment at least 10 days before filing its statement of claim (La. R.S. 9:4822(D)). That notice is optional. Design professionals hired by a contractor/sub (and their sub-consultants) must notify the owner within 30 days of engagement (La. R.S. 9:4804(A)). Separately, a contractor making residential home improvements must give the owner a written Notice of Lien Rights before or when the contract is signed (La. R.S. 9:4852). This is a consumer disclosure; the statute does not make it a condition of the contractor's lien.
Service on the owner
Where a Notice of Contract was filed, a non-GC claimant must deliver a copy of its statement to the owner (at the address given in the Notice of Contract) within its own filing period (R.S. 9:4822(B) — no method prescribed; certified mail is best practice); sending the owner (and any surety) a certified-mail copy is prudent in every case. A subcontractor with no direct contract with the general contractor must give the general contractor written notice, stating the amount claimed and the subcontractor it worked for, at least 30 days before suing the general contractor or its surety (La. R.S. 9:4804(D)).
Enforcement
Private: suit against the owner within 1 year after filing the Statement of Claim (anniversary-date filing is timely), and a Notice of Lis Pendens must be recorded in the mortgage records within the same year - essential to keep the lien alive; missing the owner suit does not kill timely claims against contractor/surety, and being named in a concursus counts as suit. Public: suit against contractor and/or surety within 1 year of registry of acceptance or default.
La. R.S. 9:4801-4855 (Private Works Act); La. R.S. 38:2241-2248 (Public Works Act)
La. R.S. 9:4801 et seq. — Private Works Act — published by the Louisiana State 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 sworn statement is FILED in the mortgage records AND with the governing authority. Both. R.S. 38:2242(B).
- When — 45 days after RECORDATION OF ACCEPTANCE — not from your last day. R.S. 38:2242(B).
- How — Filed, not mailed. R.S. 38:2242(B).
- If late — The whole claim.
- Sue by — 1 year from registry of acceptance. R.S. 38:2247(A).
Is there a bond at all?
R.S. 38:2241(A)(2): 'For each contract in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars per project, the public entity shall require of the contractor a bond with good, solvent, and sufficient surety in a sum of NOT LESS THAN FIFTY PERCENT of the contract price for the payment by the contractor or subcontractor to claimants as defined in R.S. 38:2242. The bond furnished shall be a statutory bond and no modification, omissions, additions in or to the terms of the contract, in the plans or specifications, or in the manner and mode of payment shall in any manner diminish, enlarge, or otherwise modify the obligations of the bond. The bond shall be executed by the contractor with surety or sureties approved by the public entity and shall be recorded with the contract in the office of the recorder of mortgages in the parish where the work is to be done not later than thirty days after the work has begun.' TWO THINGS EVERY PARAPHRASE GETS WRONG: the penal sum is FIFTY percent of the contract price, not one hundred; and there is a parish-specific carve-out - R.S. 38:2241(A)(3) sets the threshold at 'in excess of two hundred fifty thousand dollars per project in Ascension Parish.' Separately, R.S. 38:2241(A)(1) requires the CONTRACT itself to be written whenever it exceeds five thousand dollars, with an emergency exception under R.S. 38:2212(D) for emergency work under fifty thousand dollars.
Who can claim on it
R.S. 38:2242(A) defines 'claimant' broadly and by function rather than by tier: 'any person to whom money is due pursuant to a contract with the owner or a contractor or subcontractor for doing work, performing labor, or furnishing materials or supplies for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public works, or for transporting and delivering such materials or supplies to the site of the job by a for-hire carrier, or for furnishing oil, gas, electricity, or other materials or supplies for use in machines used in the construction, alteration, or repair of any public works, including persons to whom money is due for the lease or rental of movable property used at the site of the immovable and leased to the owner, contractor, or subcontractor by written contract, and including registered or certified surveyors or engineers or consulting engineers, or licensed architects, or their professional subconsultants employed by the owner or by the contractor or subcontractor in connection with the building of any public work.' TWO EXPRESS CUT-OFFS: (i) equipment lessors qualify only under a WRITTEN contract, and only if 'the lessor of the movables shall deliver a copy of the lease to the owner not more than ten days after the movables are first placed at the site of the immovable for use in the work' (38:2242(C)(1)), with rentals recoverable only for the period the movable is at the site (38:2242(C)(2)); (ii) R.S. 38:2242(E): 'If an architect or engineer has not been employed by the contractor or subcontractor, he shall have no claim to or privilege on the funds due the contractor or subcontractor, nor shall such architect or engineer be within the coverage of the payment and performance bond required by R.S. 38:2241.'
What notice you owe
EVERY CLAIMANT MUST RECORD - and recording is not notice, it is the claim. On top of that, a claimant with a direct contract with a SUBCONTRACTOR but none with the prime owes an ADDITIONAL written notice to the contractor (R.S. 38:2247(A)). And a MATERIALMAN carries a separate, earlier duty: R.S. 38:2242(F) - 'if the materialman has not been paid by the subcontractor and has not sent notice of nonpayment to the general contractor and the owner, then the materialman shall lose his right to file a privilege or lien on the immovable property.' A further, optional notice track exists for materialmen who want the surety's fast-pay obligation under R.S. 38:2241(C)(2) and 38:2247(B): notice of nonpayment to the general contractor, the surety and the owner no sooner than forty-five days after delivery, with payment due from the surety within ten days of a payment notice if the material was not paid for within ninety days of delivery.
Who it goes to
THE SWORN STATEMENT GOES TO TWO PLACES AT ONCE, AND ONE OF THEM IS A RECORDING OFFICE. R.S. 38:2242(B): the claimant may 'file a sworn statement of the amount due him WITH THE GOVERNING AUTHORITY having the work done AND RECORD IT IN THE OFFICE OF THE RECORDER OF MORTGAGES for the parish in which the work is done.' Both acts, not either. The 45-day sub-tier notice under 38:2247(A) goes to THE CONTRACTOR. The materialman's 38:2242(F) notice of nonpayment goes to THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR AND THE OWNER. The materialman's surety-track notices under 38:2241(C)(2) and 38:2247(B) go to THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR, THE SURETY AND THE OWNER. The lessor's copy of the lease goes to THE OWNER.
By when
THE MAIN CLOCK DOES NOT RUN FROM THE CLAIMANT'S LAST DAY. R.S. 38:2242(B): 'Any claimant may after the maturity of his claim and WITHIN FORTY-FIVE DAYS AFTER THE RECORDATION OF ACCEPTANCE of the work by the governing authority or of NOTICE OF DEFAULT of the contractor or subcontractor, file a sworn statement of the amount due him with the governing authority having the work done and record it in the office of the recorder of mortgages for the parish in which the work is done.' Forty-five days from a RECORDATION the claimant must go and look for. R.S. 38:2241.1 forces that recordation to happen: the public entity must record acceptance 'not later than thirty calendar days after the date of completion or substantial completion of such work' (A), and if it does not, the contractor must record within forty-five calendar days (C), with the public entity's failure 'subject to a writ of mandamus' (D). The 45-day sub-tier notice to the contractor runs from the same event: 'within forty-five days from the recordation of the notice of acceptance by the owner of the work or notice by the owner of default' (38:2247(A)). The materialman's 38:2242(F) notice runs from a MONTH-END: the certified mail must be 'deposited in the U.S. mail on or before seventy-five days from the last day of the month in which the material was delivered... or no later than the statutory lien period, whichever comes first.' The lessor's lease copy: 'not more than ten days after the movables are first placed at the site.'
How it must be served
For the SWORN STATEMENT: no mailing method is prescribed, because it is not mailed - it is FILED with the governing authority and RECORDED with the recorder of mortgages of the parish where the work is done. For the 45-day sub-tier notice, R.S. 38:2247(A): 'The notice shall be served by mailing the same by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place that the contractor maintains an office in the state of Louisiana.' For notices under 38:2247, subsection (E) and the mirror provision in 38:2241(C)(5): 'registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the last known address of the general contractor, the surety, and the owner. The return receipt indicating that registered mail or certified mail was properly addressed to the last known address of the general contractor, the surety, and the owner and deposited in the United States mail REGARDLESS OF WHETHER the registered or certified mail was actually delivered, refused, or unclaimed satisfies the notice provision of this Section.' Dispatch, correctly addressed, is enough - non-delivery does not defeat it. The materialman's 38:2242(F) notice uses the same certified-mail-return-receipt formula.
What it has to say
R.S. 38:2242(B) requires only 'a sworn statement of the amount due him' - the amount, under oath. Nothing further is enumerated for the recorded statement. R.S. 38:2247(A) requires the sub-tier notice to state '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 or service was done or performed.'
If the notice is late, or never given
THE WHOLE CLAIM, twice over. R.S. 38:2247(A) preserves the right of action only for a claimant 'who has complied with the notice and recordation requirements of R.S. 38:2242(B)' - so a claimant who did not record has no action on the bond at all. And a sub-tier claimant who recorded but did not additionally notify the contractor is barred: 'before any claimant having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship with the contractor shall have a right of action against the contractor or the surety on the bond furnished by the contractor, the claimant shall, IN ADDITION TO the notice and recordation required in R.S. 38:2242(B), give written notice to the contractor within forty-five days.' Separately, R.S. 38:2242(F): a materialman who fails the 75-day notice of nonpayment 'shall lose his right to file a privilege or lien on the immovable property.'
When the suit clock starts
R.S. 38:2247(A) - 'the registry of acceptance of the work or of notice of default of the contractor.' The same recordation event that starts the 45-day clock also starts the one-year clock; neither runs from the claimant's last day on the job.
How long you have to sue
ONE YEAR. R.S. 38:2247(A): 'the action must be brought against the surety or the contractor or both within one year from the registry of acceptance of the work or of notice of default of the contractor.' Note also a second one-year rule that catches the unwary on the recordation side - R.S. 38:2242.1(F): 'The effect of filing for recordation of a statement of claim or privilege and the privilege preserved by it shall cease as to third persons unless a notice of lis pendens identifying the suit is filed within one year after the date of filing the claim or privilege.'
Where suit is brought
R.S. 38:2243(A): 'If at the expiration of the forty-five days any filed and recorded claims are unpaid, the public entity shall file a petition in the proper court of the parish where the work was done, citing all claimants and the contractor, subcontractor, and surety on the bond and asserting whatever claims it has against any of them, and shall require the claimants to assert their claims. IF THE GOVERNING AUTHORITY FAILS TO FILE THE PROCEEDING ANY CLAIMANT MAY DO SO.' R.S. 38:2243(B): 'All the claims shall be tried in concursus and the claims of the claimants shall be paid in preference to the claims of the public entity.' So the ordinary shape is a single concursus in the parish where the work was done, which the public entity is supposed to open and which the claimant may open if it does not.
The trap
The Louisiana claim is a RECORDING, not a letter - a sworn statement of the amount due that must be filed with the governing authority AND recorded in the mortgage records of the parish within forty-five days of the RECORDATION OF ACCEPTANCE, an event the claimant must go looking for in the mortgage records rather than one measured from its own last day - so a claimant who mails the surety a demand and waits has preserved nothing at all.
The act itself
The Louisiana Public Works Act. Part III of Chapter 10 of Title 38 is headed 'Claims of Subcontractors, Materialmen, and Laborers on Public Works.' It is not a notice statute - it is a RECORDATION statute, built on the same machinery as the private lien law, and the operative act is a filing in the mortgage records.
Where this comes from
La. R.S. 38:2241 et seq. - principally R.S. 38:2241 (written contract and bond), 38:2241.1 (acceptance of governing authority), 38:2242 (claimant defined; filing of sworn statements of amounts due; payment by contracting authority), 38:2242.1 (cancellation of claims; lis pendens), 38:2243 (petitions by authorities against claimants, contractors and surety; preferential payment), 38:2247 (construction of Part - the one-year action and the 45-day sub-tier notice).
La. R.S. 9:4801 et seq. — Private Works Act — published by the Louisiana State Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Louisiana.