Utah mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Utah lien deadline
Filing deadline
Notice of Construction Lien recorded with the county recorder where the property lies, by the earlier of 90 days after a Notice of Completion is filed or 180 days after final completion of the original contract (180 days is the absolute cap). Preconstruction lien: record a Notice of Preconstruction Lien within 90 days after finishing preconstruction services. 'Final completion' keys off certificate of occupancy, final inspection, or no substantial work remaining - not the claimant's own last day.
Notice prerequisites
Everyone doing construction work, GC and subs alike, must e-file a Preliminary Notice on the State Construction Registry (scr.utah.gov) within 20 days of starting work; a late notice takes effect only 5 days after filing and forfeits lien rights for anything furnished before that effective date. Preconstruction/design providers instead file a Notice of Retention on the Registry within 20 days of starting, on pain of losing the preconstruction lien entirely. After a Notice of Completion is filed, the window for new Preliminary Notices shrinks to 10 days.
Service on the owner
Send a copy of the recorded lien notice to the reputed owner by certified mail within 30 days after recording. Missing this does not kill the lien but bars recovery of attorney fees and costs. Filing precedes service.
Enforcement
Foreclosure suit must be filed within 180 days after recording the lien notice (if owner bankruptcy intervenes, 90 days after the stay lifts). A lis pendens must be recorded in each county where the lien is recorded within the same 180-day window; without it the lien is void except against parties to the suit or those with actual knowledge. Prevailing party may recover fees/costs; 10% statutory interest.
Utah Code Ann. Title 38, Ch. 1a (Preconstruction and Construction Liens), incl. 38-1a-802 (waivers); Contractors' Bonds Title 14.
Utah Code Title 38, Ch. 1a — Preconstruction and Construction Liens — published by the Utah 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 State Construction Registry designated agent — not the prime, not the surety.
- When — Before you commence any action on the bond. § 63G-6a-1104(3). The day-count is in Title 38 — read below.
- How — As prescribed by § 38-1b-202.
- If late — Total forfeiture of the bond claim. § 63G-6a-1104(2).
- Sue by — 1 year after your last day. § 63G-6a-1103(4)(c).
Is there a bond at all?
None -- there is no dollar threshold. Sec. 63G-6a-1103(1): 'Except as provided in Subsection (5), if a construction contract is awarded under this chapter, the contractor to whom the contract is awarded shall deliver the following bonds or security to the procurement unit ... (b) a payment bond satisfactory to the procurement unit that is in an amount equal to 100% of the price specified in the contract and is executed by a surety company authorized to do business in the state or any other form satisfactory to the procurement unit, which is for the protection of each person supplying labor, service, equipment, or material for the performance of the work provided for in the contract.' Two escape hatches: Sec. 63G-6a-1103(3) permits rules waiving any bond 'for circumstances in which the procurement official considers any or all of the bonds to be unnecessary to protect the procurement unit'; and NEW Sec. 63G-6a-1103(5), added by H.B. 508 (2026 General Session, effective May 6, 2026), provides that the Division of Facilities Construction and Management 'is not required to obtain from a contractor a performance bond or payment bond for a construction contract administered by the division,' though it 'may require' one if it 'determines that the bond is necessary to protect the division from financial loss or performance risk.'
Who can claim on it
Very broad, no tier cut-off stated. Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(a): 'a person has a right of action on the payment bond under this section for any unpaid amount due to the person if: (i) the person has furnished labor, service, equipment, or material for the work provided for in the contract for which the payment bond is furnished under this section; and (ii) the person has not been paid in full within 90 days after the last day on which the person performed the labor or service or supplied the equipment or material for which the claim is made.' Nothing in Part 11 limits the right to first- or second-tier claimants. Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(d): 'The obligee named in the bond need not be joined as a party to the action.'
What notice you owe
A preliminary notice, owed by essentially everyone. Sec. 63G-6a-1104(1): 'Any person furnishing labor, service, equipment, or material for which a payment bond claim may be made under this chapter shall provide preliminary notice to the designated agent as prescribed by Section 38-1b-202, except that this section does not apply: (a) to an individual performing labor for wages; or (b) if a notice of commencement is not filed as prescribed in Section 38-1b-201 for the project or improvement for which labor, service, equipment, or material is furnished.' Sec. 63G-6a-1104(4): the wage-labor exemption 'does not exempt the following from complying with the requirements of this section: (a) a temporary labor service company or organization; (b) a professional employer company or organization; or (c) any other entity that provides labor.' Privity with the prime is irrelevant -- a first-tier subcontractor owes the preliminary notice exactly as a remote supplier does.
Who it goes to
The 'designated agent' -- i.e. the State Construction Registry operated under Utah Code Title 38, Chapter 1b. Not the prime contractor, not the surety, not the public body. This is a filing, not a mailing.
By when
Sec. 63G-6a-1104(3) states only the outer limit: 'The preliminary notice required by Subsection (1) must be provided before commencement of any action on the payment bond.' The actual day-count is imported wholesale from Sec. 38-1b-202, which should be read before relying on any deadline. The Part 11 text itself specifies no number of days and does not say what the period runs from. No deadline should be relied on from this section alone.
How it must be served
Not stated in Part 11; 'as prescribed by Section 38-1b-202.'
What it has to say
Not stated in Part 11; 'as prescribed by Section 38-1b-202.'
If the notice is late, or never given
Total forfeiture of the bond claim. Sec. 63G-6a-1104(2): 'Any person who fails to provide the preliminary notice required by Subsection (1) may not make a payment bond claim under this chapter.' But note the conditional in Sec. 63G-6a-1104(1)(b): the duty does not arise at all if no notice of commencement was filed on the registry for the project, so the claimant's exposure depends on someone else's filing.
When the suit clock starts
The claimant's own last day of work. Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(c): '... within one year after the last day on which the claimant performed the labor or service or supplied the equipment or material on which the claim is based.' The right of action does not ripen until the 90-day non-payment condition in Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(a)(ii) is met, measured from that same last day.
How long you have to sue
One year. Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(c): 'The action is barred if not commenced within one year after the last day on which the claimant performed the labor or service or supplied the equipment or material on which the claim is based.' Because the claim cannot ripen until 90 days after that same date, the usable window is roughly day 91 through day 365.
Where suit is brought
Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(b): 'An action upon a payment bond may only be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in a county where the construction contract was to be performed.' Sec. 63G-6a-1103(4)(e): 'In any suit upon a payment bond, the court shall award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party, which fees shall be taxed as costs in the action' -- mandatory and two-way, so a losing claimant pays the surety's fees.
The trap
The registry preliminary notice under Sec. 63G-6a-1104 is a hard precondition to the bond claim and it is owed by first-tier subcontractors too, but it is only owed if a notice of commencement was actually filed for the project -- so the claimant must search the State Construction Registry at the start of the job rather than assume the duty either exists or does not.
The act itself
No popular name. The payment bond lives in the Utah Procurement Code, Title 63G, Chapter 6a, Part 11 ('Bonds'), and is extended to every local public body by a separate section in the contractors' title, Utah Code Sec. 14-1-18.
Where this comes from
Utah Code Secs. 63G-6a-1101 (title), 63G-6a-1102 (bid security), 63G-6a-1103 (performance and payment bonds; action; attorney fees), 63G-6a-1104 (preliminary notice requirement), 63G-6a-1105 (form of bonds; certified copy). Applied to political subdivisions by Utah Code Sec. 14-1-18. The preliminary-notice mechanics are imported from Utah Code Secs. 38-1b-201 and 38-1b-202 (State Construction Registry).
Utah Code Title 38, Ch. 1a — Preconstruction and Construction Liens — published by the Utah State Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Utah.