Rhode Island mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Rhode Island lien deadline
Based on the general 200-day period from last furnishing. Exceptions apply — treat this as a planning estimate, not legal advice.
Filing deadline
There is no separate 'lien claim' filing - mailing plus recording the Notice of Intention in the local land evidence records perfects the lien for furnishings within the trailing 200-day window and going forward. Architects and engineers get an alternate deadline: the later of 200 days after performance or 10 days after visible commencement of construction.
Notice prerequisites
Two distinct notices. (1) Anyone contracting DIRECTLY with the project owner/lessee/tenant (except material suppliers) must give the Notice of Possible Mechanic's Lien (§ 34-28-4.1) — included in the written contract or sent by certified mail RRR before commencing work — or lien rights are lost (and the defaulting contractor must indemnify the owner against lower-tier liens). (2) The core perfection document is the Notice of Intention to Do Work or Furnish Materials: mail it certified/registered RRR to the record owner before or within 200 days of the work, and record a copy in the town/city land evidence records within 200 days. It reaches back only 200 days, so long jobs need periodic re-notices. Undeliverable mail must be recorded with the envelope within 30 days of return.
Service on the owner
The Notice of Intention mailing to the owner of record (last known residence/business, else the property address) is itself the service step and precedes/accompanies recording. In the enforcement suit, the clerk advertises and issues citations, and the plaintiff mails the advertisement to every notice-of-intention filer at least 10 days before the return date.
Enforcement
Very fast: within 40 days of recording the Notice of Intention the claimant must record a Notice of Lis Pendens AND file the Complaint to Enforce in the superior court of the county where the land lies (complaint due within 7 days after the lis pendens). Missing the 40-day window voids the lien. Rival lienors must appear and file an Account and Demand within 20 days after the citation return day. Nonjury proceeding.
R.I. Gen. Laws sec. 34-28-1 to 34-28-37 (esp. 34-28-4, -4.1 Notice of Possible Lien, -7, -10, -17, -25)
R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 34-28 — Mechanics’ Liens — published by the Rhode Island General Assembly.
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 prime contractor who furnished the bond. Not the surety, not the department.
- When — 90 days from your own last furnishing. § 37-12-2.
- How — Certified mail only — one method. § 37-12-2.
- If late — The whole claim, for a claimant not in privity.
- Sue by — TWO years — or longer if the bond says so. Read your bond. § 37-12-5.
Is there a bond at all?
Read § 37-12-1 carefully, because the dollar threshold attaches to ROADS AND BRIDGES ONLY. The section reaches 'Every person ... before being awarded a contract by the department of transportation or by the department of administration, as the case may be, and every person awarded such a contract as a general contractor or construction or project manager or prime contractor for the construction, improvement, completion, or repair of any public road or portion thereof or of any bridge IN WHICH THE CONTRACT PRICE SHALL BE IN EXCESS OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($150,000), OR for a contract for the construction, improvement, completion, or repair of any public building, or portion thereof' - the $150,000 qualifier sits inside the road/bridge clause and no threshold at all is stated for public BUILDING contracts. The bond is 'in a sum not less than fifty percent (50%) and not more than one hundred percent (100%) of the contract price' - so, like Nevada, the penal sum may be only half the contract and can be exhausted by competing claimants. One waiver: 'upon application and for good cause, the chief purchasing officer of the state may waive the bonding requirement for a state of Rhode Island office of diversity, equity and opportunity certified minority business enterprise (MBE) or women-owned business enterprise (WBE) prime contractor or subcontractor on a public works project for up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).'
Who can claim on it
Section 37-12-2 opens to 'Every person who shall have performed labor and every person who shall have furnished or supplied labor, material, or equipment in the prosecution of the work provided for in the contract, in respect of which a payment bond is furnished under § 37-12-1'. The chain stops at the second tier for the notice class: the proviso covers 'any person having direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship express or implied with the contractor furnishing the payment bond'. 'Person' is defined for the whole chapter in § 37-12-1 to 'include a copartnership, a number of persons engaged in a joint enterprise, or a corporation'. The bond conditions in § 37-12-1 are unusually wide and defeat several standard surety defenses: the contractor must pay for labor 'together with penalties assessed pursuant to § 37-13-14.1(b)', and for materials and equipment '(which, as to equipment, shall mean payment of the reasonable rental value, as determined by the respective department, of its use during the period of its use)', 'whether or not the labor is directly performed for or furnished to the contractor or is even directly performed upon the work covered by the contract, and whether or not the materials are furnished to the contractor or become component parts of the work, and whether or not the equipment is furnished to the contractor or even directly used upon the work.'
What notice you owe
Only the non-privity claimant - 'any person having direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship express or implied with the contractor furnishing the payment bond' (§ 37-12-2). A claimant in privity with the bonded prime sues under the first half of § 37-12-2 and owes no notice.
Who it goes to
'the contractor' - the prime who furnished the payment bond. Not the surety, not the Department of Transportation or Department of Administration.
By when
Ninety (90) days from the CLAIMANT'S OWN last furnishing: 'within ninety (90) days from the date on which the person furnished or performed the last of the labor, or furnished or supplied the last of the material or equipment for which the claim is made' (§ 37-12-2). Separately, and often confused with it, § 37-12-2 imposes a 90-day WAITING period on every claimant, in privity or not: the right to sue arises only for a person 'who has not been paid in full therefor before the expiration of a period of ninety (90) days after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or furnished by him or her, or material or equipment furnished or supplied by him or her'.
How it must be served
One method only: 'The notice shall be served by mailing the same by certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place he or she maintains an office, conducts his or her business, or his or her residence.' (§ 37-12-2). Certified mail - registered mail is NOT among the alternatives, and no personal-service option is given.
What it has to say
Two enumerated items: the notice must state 'with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the party to whom the labor was furnished or performed or the material or equipment was furnished or supplied' (§ 37-12-2).
If the notice is late, or never given
The whole claim, for the non-privity claimant: § 37-12-2 gives such a person a right of action 'upon giving written notice'. Nothing is lost by a privity claimant, who owes none.
The small-claim floor
$150,000, but for public ROAD and BRIDGE contracts only (§ 37-12-1). No threshold is stated for public building contracts and there is no dollar floor on an individual claim.
When the suit clock starts
The claimant's own last furnishing: 'after the day on which the last of the labor was furnished or performed or material or equipment was furnished or supplied by any person claiming under the section' (§ 37-12-5).
How long you have to sue
Two (2) years - or longer if the bond itself says so, which is an unusual one-way ratchet: 'No suit instituted under § 37-12-2 shall be commenced after the expiration of two (2) years, OR UNDER THE MAXIMUM TIME LIMIT AS CONTAINED WITHIN ANY LABOR OR MATERIAL PAYMENT BOND REQUIRED UNDER § 37-12-1, WHICHEVER PERIOD IS LONGER, after the day on which the last of the labor was furnished or performed or material or equipment was furnished or supplied by any person claiming under the section' (§ 37-12-5). A bond term can therefore lengthen the claimant's window but not shorten it below two years - so the bond must always be read alongside the statute.
Where suit is brought
A single statewide venue is fixed by § 37-12-3: 'The remedy on the bond shall be by a civil action brought in the superior court for the counties of Providence and Bristol and in any suit brought on the bond the rights of the state shall be prior to those of all creditors.' Suit in the Superior Court sitting for another county is not the remedy the statute gives.
The trap
Chapter 37-12 by its own terms reaches only contracts awarded by the Department of Transportation or the Department of Administration, so on a city or town public work the claimant has no statutory bond right at all and everything - who may claim, what notice is owed, how long there is to sue - is governed by the municipality's bond form.
The act itself
No popular name. R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 37-12, 'Contractors' Bonds', enacted P.L. 1934, ch. 2105 - it predates the Miller Act by a year and is drafted as a STATE contractors' bond law, not a general public-works law.
Where this comes from
R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 37-12-1 to 37-12-11. Payment-claim core: § 37-12-1 (contractors required to give bond; terms and conditions), § 37-12-2 (rights of persons furnishing labor and materials; the 90-day notice), § 37-12-3 (remedies of creditors and state; priority of claims; venue), § 37-12-4 and § 37-12-6 (intervention and consolidation), § 37-12-5 (time limitation on creditors' actions), § 37-12-7 (notice of pendency of suit), § 37-12-8 (certified copies of documents), § 37-12-9 (payment into court by surety).
R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 34-28 — Mechanics’ Liens — published by the Rhode Island General Assembly.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Rhode Island.