Maricopa County Lien Search: How to Find Liens on a Property in Arizona

A contractor, supplier or worker who is not paid can record a notice and claim of lien with the county recorder. Under A.R.S. 33-993, the claim must be recorded within 120 days after completion of the building, structure or improvement, or within 60 days after a notice of completion is recorded. The same section lists what the claim must contain, including a legal description, the owner's name and the amount demanded.

The statute defines completion in more than one way, including cessation of labor for 60 consecutive days. That means the clock is not always obvious from the outside, and a lien can appear in the record months after the work seemed finished. A search done at closing can miss a claim that is still inside its window.

The claim must also attach a copy of the preliminary 20-day notice and its proof of mailing, according to the same section. If you are reviewing a recorded mechanics' lien, check that those attachments are there.

In Arizona a court judgment is not a lien on real property by itself. Under A.R.S. 33-961, a certified copy must be recorded with the county recorder in each county where the creditor wants the lien, together with an information statement. The statute says that failure to substantially comply results in the judgment not becoming a lien.

Once recorded, A.R.S. 33-964 says the judgment is a lien for ten years after the date it is given on all real property of the judgment debtor in that county, whether owned now or acquired later. The statute makes a different rule for civil judgments obtained by the State and for support judgments: they remain in effect until satisfied or lifted.

Because the lien follows the debtor and reaches later purchases, a search by parcel alone is not enough. Search every owner name for the period you care about. For the general mechanics of how a judgment attaches, see judgment liens explained.

Arizona homeowners association liens work differently from the others. Under A.R.S. 33-1807 for planned communities, the association has a common expense lien on a property for any assessment from the time it becomes due. Subsection F says recording the declaration is record notice and perfection of the lien, and that further recording of a claim is not required. A.R.S. 33-1256 says the same for condominium units.

The practical result: an unpaid assessment may never appear as its own recorded document. To learn the amount, the statute lets a lienholder, escrow agent, member or person the member designates ask the association in writing for a statement of unpaid liens, and the association must furnish it within ten days after receipt of the request.

The statute also limits foreclosure. An association may foreclose its common expense lien only if the owner has been delinquent for eighteen months or owes $10,000 or more, whichever comes first. The lien is extinguished unless enforcement proceedings start within six years after the assessment is due. Priority matters too: the lien is prior to most other liens except those recorded before the declaration, a recorded first mortgage or first deed of trust, and liens for real estate taxes and other governmental charges.

Unpaid property taxes are tracked by the county treasurer, not the recorder. The Maricopa County Treasurer's site lets you search by parcel number, name or address, and its menu includes tax lien information and a map of delinquent taxes. Check it for any parcel you are buying.

Federal tax liens follow a federal rule. Under 26 U.S.C. 6323(f), for real property the notice is filed in one office within the State, or the county or other governmental subdivision, as designated by the laws of the State where the property sits. The notice is indexed against the taxpayer, so a name search is how you find it.

The Maricopa County Assessor's public parcel layer returned a count of 1,760,690 parcel records when queried on October 3, 2026. Source: Maricopa County Assessor GIS parcel service.

The count includes every parcel in the layer, not only residential lots, and says nothing about how many carry a lien.

HeritageDeed runs title searches for Maricopa County and other counties, at $49 for a Current Owner Search, $79 for a Two Owner Search and $129 for a 30-Year Search. Coverage and the Maricopa County page are at Maricopa County title search, and the state overview is at Arizona title search. For the full process, see how to do a title search.