Maine mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Maine 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
Claimants WITHOUT a direct owner contract must record a sworn Notice of Lien in the registry of deeds of the county where the project lies within 90 days of their last furnishing (amount due, property description adequate to identify, owners' names if known); this step does not apply to those in owner privity. All claimants must then file the lien complaint in court within 120 days of last furnishing. Punch-list/warranty work generally does not extend the clock; the notice must be renewed every 120 days during ongoing work to hold off bona fide purchasers; willful overstatement invalidates, honest error does not.
Notice prerequisites
Nothing before work begins. On homes, and on commercial premises where the owner lives, a subcontractor or supplier without a contract with the owner can recover against the property only up to what the owner still owes its contractor. That amount is fixed when the owner receives your written notice or when the lien lawsuit is served, whichever comes first, so sending the statutory notice to the owner early protects more of your claim. The notice must include the warning set out in 10 M.R.S. § 3255(3). Owners can also defeat liens preemptively by written notice of non-responsibility before furnishing.
Service on the owner
A copy of the Notice of Lien goes to the owner by ordinary mail (post office mailing certificate is conclusive proof of receipt); real estate licensees have an extra certified-mail notice to bona fide purchasers. In the court action, a non-privity claimant may not serve the complaint on the owner until 30 days after filing.
Enforcement
Lien suit in the Superior or District Court where the project lies within 120 days of last furnishing (in practice 90 days to record the notice, 30 more to sue), naming the debtor, owner, and other interest holders; within 60 days of filing the complaint a clerk's certificate, claimant/attorney affidavit, or attested complaint copy must be recorded in the registry of deeds - Maine's lis-pendens equivalent - or the lien is void against bona fide purchasers; successful suits end in public auction with pro rata sharing.
10 M.R.S.A. §§ 3251-3261, esp. §§ 3251, 3253, 3255, 3261; 14 M.R.S.A. § 871 (public bond law)
10 M.R.S. ch. 603 — published by the Maine Office of the Revisor of Statutes.
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 CONTRACTOR ONLY. Maine sends nothing to the surety. 14 M.R.S. § 871(4).
- When — 90 days from your own last day. § 871(4).
- How — Registered or certified mail. § 871(4).
- If late — The whole claim, for the claimant who owes it.
- Sue by — 1 year from your last labor or material. § 871.
Is there a bond at all?
$125,000. Sec. 871(3): 'Except as provided in Title 5, section 1745, before any contract exceeding $125,000 in amount for the construction, alteration or repair of any public building or other public improvement or public work, including highways, is awarded to any person by the State or by any political subdivision or quasi-municipal corporation or by any public authority, that person must furnish to the State or to the other contracting body, as the case may be, the following surety bonds.' The payment bond is Sec. 871(3)(B): 'A payment bond in an amount equal to the full amount of the contract solely for the protection of claimants supplying labor or materials to the contractor or the contractor's subcontractor in the prosecution of the work provided for in the contract. The term "materials" includes rental of equipment. A payment bond issued pursuant to this paragraph must include on its face the name of and contact information for the surety company that issued the bond.' Note the coverage is state work, political subdivisions, quasi-municipal corporations and public authorities alike, and highways are expressly included.
Who can claim on it
Sec. 871(3)(B) fixes the protected class as 'claimants supplying labor or materials to the contractor or the contractor's subcontractor,' and 'materials' expressly 'includes rental of equipment.' Sec. 871(4) gives the action to 'Any person who has furnished labor or material to the contractor or to a subcontractor of the contractor in the prosecution of the work provided for in a contract in respect to which a payment bond has been furnished under subsection 3, paragraph B, and who has not been paid in full before the expiration of 90 days after the day on which the last of the labor was performed by that person or material was furnished or supplied by that person for which a claim is made.' THE CHAIN STOPS AT THE SECOND TIER: a supplier to a sub-subcontractor, or a supplier to a supplier, is outside the words 'to the contractor or to a subcontractor of the contractor.' Sec. 871(2) widens who counts as a person: 'The terms "person" and "claimant" and the masculine pronoun as used in this section shall include individuals, associations, corporations or partnerships.'
What notice you owe
ONLY THE SECOND-TIER CLAIMANT. Sec. 871(4): 'Any such claimant having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor of the contractor furnishing such a payment bond but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with that contractor does not have the right of action upon that payment bond unless the claimant has given written notice to the contractor within 90 days.' A claimant in privity with the prime owes NOTHING - no preliminary notice, no notice of nonpayment, no notice of intent. Note the exclusion is of contractual relationship 'express OR IMPLIED', so a claimant relying on an implied relationship with the prime to escape the notice duty is on thin ground and should serve the notice anyway.
Who it goes to
THE CONTRACTOR ONLY. Not the surety, not the contracting body, not the public owner. Maine is unusual in requiring nothing to be sent to the surety at any stage.
By when
90 days, running from the CLAIMANT'S OWN last day - 'within 90 days from the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor, or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which the claim is made.' THERE IS A SEPARATE MATERIAL-SUPPLIER RULE that most summaries omit: where the amount of a material supplier's claim is not ascertainable because final quantity estimates are unavailable, 'The notice of claim from the material supplier to the contractor furnishing the payment bond must be filed before the expiration of 90 days following the determination by the contracting authority of the final quantity estimates.'
How it must be served
Sec. 871(4): 'Such a notice must be served by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts business, or at the contractor's residence.' Registered or certified mail only; three permissible addresses.
What it has to say
Sec. 871(4) - 'stating 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 was done or performed.' Two items only; 'substantial accuracy' is the standard, not exactness.
If the notice is late, or never given
THE WHOLE CLAIM, for the claimant who owes it: such a claimant 'does not have the right of action upon that payment bond unless the claimant has given written notice to the contractor within 90 days.' There is no saving clause for late, defective or unprejudicial notice, and no discretion to excuse it.
When the suit clock starts
Sec. 871(4), second paragraph - 'the date on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied for the payment of which the action is brought.' Read the qualifier: 'for the payment of which the action is brought' ties the date to the claimant's own unpaid work, not to the project's completion. There is also a RIPENING PERIOD before suit may be filed at all: the claimant must be one 'who has not been paid in full before the expiration of 90 days after the day on which the last of the labor was performed by that person or material was furnished or supplied by that person for which a claim is made.'
How long you have to sue
ONE YEAR. 'Any such action may not be commenced after the expiration of one year from the date on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied for the payment of which the action is brought, except that in the case of a material supplier, when the amount of the claim is not ascertainable due to the unavailability of final quantity estimates, the action may be commenced before the expiration of one year from the date on which the final quantity estimates are determined.' Combined with the 90-day ripening rule, the practical window is from day 91 to day 365 after the claimant's last furnishing.
Where suit is brought
Sec. 871(6): 'An action on a performance bond furnished under subsection 3, paragraph A or an action on a payment bond furnished under subsection 3, paragraph B in accordance with subsection 4 must be brought in the county in this State where the construction, alteration or repair of the public building or other public improvement or public work is located.' Venue is mandatory and is the county of the work, not of the contractor.
The trap
On Maine work there may be NO BOND TO CLAIM ON: Sec. 871(3-A) lets the State or contracting authority accept an irrevocable letter of credit in place of the payment bond outright, and 5 M.R.S. Sec. 1745 lets the Director of the Bureau of General Services accept proposals from persons 'that are not bonded in accordance with the requirements of Title 14, section 871' where a properly advertised improvement drew no qualified bonded proposal - and Sec. 871 says nothing whatever about a claimant's rights against a substituted letter of credit, so confirm what security actually exists before drafting a bond claim.
The act itself
The Public Works Contractors' Surety Bond Law of 1971 - the statute names itself. 14 M.R.S. Sec. 871(1): 'This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Public Works Contractors' Surety Bond Law of 1971".' The whole regime is ONE section.
Where this comes from
14 M.R.S. Sec. 871, subsections 1 through 6 (1 title, 2 definitions, 3 surety bonds, 3-A letter of credit, 4 actions, 5 application, 6 jurisdiction). The bonding requirement is expressly subject to 5 M.R.S. Sec. 1745.
10 M.R.S. ch. 603 — published by the Maine Office of the Revisor of Statutes.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Maine.