Massachusetts mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Massachusetts lien deadline
Filing deadline
Two-step recording in the registry of deeds where the land lies. Step 1: Notice of (Written) Contract / Notice of Subcontract, due by the earliest of 60 days after a recorded Notice of Substantial Completion, 90 days after a recorded Notice of Termination, or 90 days after last labor/materials furnished by the GC or anyone under it. Step 2: a Statement of Account, due by the earliest of 90 days after Substantial Completion notice, 120 days after Termination notice, or 120 days after last furnishing. Personal-labor claimants (no written contract) skip the notice but must record a Statement of Account within 90 days of last work; their lien is capped at 30 days' wages. Design professionals (post-7/1/2011) follow a parallel scheme with their Statement of Account due 30 days after their notice deadline.
Notice prerequisites
Nothing is required before starting work. The lien itself is created mid-stream by recording a Notice of Written Contract (primes) or Notice of Subcontract (subs) in the registry of deeds, which can be done any time after contract signing. Sub-subcontractors who want to escape the cap tied to their intermediate subcontract must serve a Notice of Identification on the GC by certified mail within 30 days of starting work.
Service on the owner
Subcontractors must give the owner actual notice of the recorded Notice of Subcontract; primes and laborers have no actual-notice duty (mailing a copy is still recommended). Recording precedes/accompanies notice rather than the reverse.
Enforcement
Suit in superior or district court where the land lies within 90 days after recording the Statement of Account, plus a second trap: an attested copy of the complaint must be recorded in the registry within 30 days of filing suit. Claims against a lien bond likewise require suit within 90 days (measured from the Section 8 statement or bond-notice receipt).
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 254 (esp. secs. 1, 2, 2A-2D, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15A, 32, 33); ch. 149 sec. 29E (prompt pay)
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 254 — published by the Massachusetts General Court.
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 general contractor that furnished the bond. Not the surety. G.L. c. 149, § 29.
- When — 65 days from your last furnishing. G.L. c. 149, § 29.
- How — Registered or certified mail to the contractor. G.L. c. 149, § 29.
- If late — Total bar for the claimant who owes it.
- Sue by — 1 year from your last work. G.L. c. 149, § 29.
Is there a bond at all?
Required 'when the amount of the contract is more than $25,000' (s. 29, first paragraph). The bond must be 'in an amount not less than one half of the total contract price' - HALF, not 100%, so the penal sum can be exhausted by competing claimants on a heavily-claimed job.
Who can claim on it
Two classes only, and the chain stops hard. (1) Paragraph (2): 'any claimant having a contractual relationship with the contractor principal furnishing the bond' - i.e. anyone in privity with the GC. (2) Paragraph (3): 'Any claimant having a contractual relationship with a subcontractor performing labor or both performing labor and furnishing materials pursuant to a contract with the general contractor but no contractual relationship with the contractor principal furnishing the bond.' Read that literally: the claimant's customer must (a) be a subcontractor whose own contract is WITH THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR, and (b) be a sub that performs LABOR, or labor and materials. A claimant who sold to a materials-only supplier, or to a second-tier subcontractor, is outside both classes and has no bond right at all. Fringe-benefit trustees are covered but 'only in an amount based upon labor performed or furnished as aforesaid for a maximum of two hundred and forty consecutive calendar days' (paragraph 1).
What notice you owe
ONLY paragraph (3) claimants - those with a contract with a labor (or labor-and-materials) subcontractor of the GC but no contract with the GC. A claimant in privity with the contractor principal owes NO notice of any kind. Separately, ANY claimant (privity or not) who claims for specially fabricated material owes a distinct early notice; see "By when".
Who it goes to
The contractor principal (the general contractor that furnished the bond) - and nobody else. Section 29 does not require notice to the surety, to the awarding authority, or to the subcontractor. Nothing is filed with any public office.
By when
65 days, running from LAST FURNISHING: 'within sixty-five days after the day on which the claimant last performed the labor or furnished the labor, materials, equipment, appliances or transportation included in the paragraphs (1) coverage.' SEPARATE 20-DAY CLOCK for specially fabricated material: the claimant may enforce that part of the claim 'only if such claimant has given the contractor principal written notice of the placement of the order and the amount thereof not later than twenty days after receiving the final approval in writing for the use of the material.' AND NOTE THE OTHER 65: paragraph (2) contains a second, different 65-day period that is NOT a notice at all - a privity claimant who 'has not been paid in full for any amount claimed due ... within sixty-five days after the due date for same' may then sue. That one runs from the INVOICE DUE DATE and is a waiting period, not a deadline.
How it must be served
'shall be served by mailing the same by registered or certified mail postage prepaid in an envelope addressed to the contractor principal at any place at which the contractor principal maintains an office or conducts his business, or at the contractor principal's residence, or in any manner in which civil process may be served.' Registered or certified mail; ordinary first-class mail, fax and email are not among the prescribed methods.
What it has to say
'stating with substantial accuracy the amount claimed, the name of the party for whom such labor was performed or such labor, materials, equipment, appliances or transportation were furnished'. Two items only; 'substantial accuracy' is the standard.
If the notice is late, or never given
Total bar for the paragraph (3) claimant: it 'shall have the right to enforce any such claim as provided in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (2) ONLY IF such claimant gives written notice'. No notice, no bond claim at all. The specially-fabricated-material notice is partial: missing it costs only 'any part of a claim covering specially fabricated material', not the whole claim.
When the suit clock starts
The day on which the claimant last performed the labor or furnished the labor, materials, equipment, appliances or transportation included in the claim. NOT from the notice, not from completion, not from final payment.
How long you have to sue
One year: '(a) by filing a petition in equity within one year after the day on which such claimant last performed the labor or furnished ... and (b) by prosecuting the claim thereafter by trial in the superior court to final adjudication and execution.' Two timing safety valves in paragraph (5): 'The court shall not dismiss any petition on the ground that it was filed before the sixty-fifth day after the day the claimant last performed the labor ..., nor shall the court dismiss any petition on the ground that a claim involves more than one contract with the same party and that the one year period has elapsed as to any one contract; provided, that the court shall not enter a decree upon any claim or part thereof prior to the seventieth day after the day the claimant last performed the labor or furnished ...'. So you may FILE early but no decree issues before day 70.
Where suit is brought
Superior court, by petition in equity. Section 29 prescribes NO county or venue - the word 'county' does not appear in the section in connection with filing. Speedy-trial and anti-consolidation rules apply (paragraph 4): the court 'shall advance for speedy trial' on motion, and 'shall not consolidate for trial the petition of any claimant ... with the petition of one or more other claimants on the same bond' absent substantial overlap of evidence. Reasonable legal fees are allowed by paragraph (6) to a claimant who obtains a decree.
The trap
There are two different 65-day periods and they measure from different events for different people - the paragraph (3) NOTICE runs 65 days from the claimant's last furnishing and is owed only by a claimant whose customer is a labor (or labor-and-materials) subcontractor holding a contract directly with the general contractor, while the paragraph (2) 65 days is merely a wait after the invoice DUE DATE for claimants in privity - so a supplier who sold to another supplier, or to a second-tier sub, has no bond claim no matter how perfect its notice.
The act itself
No popular name. Practitioners call it 'the c. 149 s. 29 bond' or the public payment bond statute; it is not styled a Little Miller Act and it is NOT modelled on the Miller Act - it has its own vocabulary ('contractor principal', 'petition in equity') and its own clocks.
Where this comes from
G.L. c. 149, s. 29 ('Security for payment by contractors for public buildings or works; notice of claims; recovery of payment'). Related: c. 30, s. 39A/39F/39M and c. 149, s. 44A et seq. for the underlying procurement regime.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 254 — published by the Massachusetts General Court.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Massachusetts.