Filing deadline

Claim of Construction Lien filed in the land records within 90 days after the claimant's last work or material furnishing (courts are expected to borrow federal Miller Act reasoning on what counts as last furnishing). The statute's mandatory recitals must appear or the lien is invalid; liens may later be amended up or down. Regime dates from the April 11, 2014 rewrite (85-7-401 et seq.), which first extended rights below owner-privity parties down to the 2nd tier.

Notice prerequisites

Only second-tier claimants (sub-subcontractors and suppliers to subcontractors) must act early: a written Notice of Lien Rights to the prime contractor (or to the owner if there is no prime) within 30 days of first work or delivery, stating the claimant, its customer, the project, the work/materials, and contract price. Suppliers selling on open account are advised to notice each sale. On single-family residential jobs, non-privity claimants must instead send the owner a Pre-Lien Notice at least 10 days before filing a lien.

Service on the owner

A copy of the filed lien must be sent to the owner within 2 business days of filing by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery (§ 85-7-405(1)(b)), and also to the prime contractor if the claimant is not the prime; service follows filing.

Enforcement

Within 180 days of the lien filing the claimant must bring a Payment Action against its contract counterparty (best practice: combine it with a Lien Action against the owner in one suit) or the lien is void; a Notice of Payment and Lien Action goes in the lis pendens records at commencement, with copies to owner and prime. An owner/prime/sub can file a Notice of Contest of Lien that compresses the suit deadline to 90 days (the statutory form says 60 - a known internal conflict). Suit is excused only where a judgment against the counterparty is unobtainable (bankruptcy, death, or unmatured pay-if-paid condition).

Miss. Code Ann. sections 85-7-401 to 85-7-433 (2014 act; esp. 85-7-403, 85-7-405, 85-7-407, 85-7-409, 85-7-413, 85-7-415, 85-7-419, 85-7-421, 85-7-423, 85-7-431)