New York Mechanics Lien Law: Deadlines, Filing and How Long a Lien Lasts
New York mechanics lien deadlines under the Lien Law: 8 months to file (4 for a single family home), service on the owner, a 1 year life, extensions and discharge.
Quick answer
Under New York Lien Law section 10, a contractor, subcontractor, laborer or supplier files a notice of mechanic's lien with the county clerk within eight months after the last work or materials, or within four months for a single family dwelling. The lien lasts one year from filing unless the lienor sues to foreclose or files an extension.
What is a mechanic's lien in New York?
Section 3 of the Lien Law gives the right to contractors, subcontractors, laborers and material suppliers who improve real property with the consent or at the request of the owner, the owner's agent, or a contractor or subcontractor. Trust funds owed wage supplements for those laborers are covered too. The lien attaches to the property and the improvement only from the time a notice of lien is filed, so nothing exists on the record until then (Lien Law section 3).
For a buyer or lender, that means finished, unpaid work can sit off the record for months before a lien appears. For how other states handle these liens, see our mechanics lien guide.
Definition
Mechanic's lien (New York) — A claim against real property for the value or agreed price of labor or materials used to improve it, created by filing a notice of lien with the county clerk under Article 2 of the New York Lien Law.
New York mechanics lien deadlines at a glance
The filing clock runs from the last item of work performed or materials furnished, not from the invoice date.
| Step | Deadline | Lien Law section |
|---|---|---|
| File the notice of lien (most property) | During the work, or within 8 months after completion or the last item of work or materials | Section 10 |
| File the notice of lien (single family dwelling) | During the work, or within 4 months after completion or the last item of work or materials | Section 10 |
| File a lien for retainage | Within 90 days after the retainage was due to be released | Section 10 |
| Serve a copy on the owner | Within 5 days before or 30 days after filing | Section 11 |
| File proof of service with the county clerk | Within 35 days after filing, or the notice terminates as a lien | Section 11 |
| Foreclose, or extend the lien | Within 1 year after filing the notice of lien | Section 17 |
| Extension by filing (not for single family dwellings) | Continues the lien for no more than 1 year from the extension | Section 17 |
| Continuation by court order | No more than 1 year per order; a new order may be made in each of two successive years | Section 17 |
When does the four month single family rule apply?
The shorter window applies where the improvement relates to real property that is improved, or is to be improved, with a single family dwelling (Lien Law section 10).
Developers are carved out. A unit in a filed subdivision is not a single family dwelling if, when the lien is filed, a developer (anyone improving two or more parcels with single family homes under a common plan) owns it for a purpose other than a personal residence. The notice itself must say whether the property is a single family dwelling, which tells a reader which deadline the lienor claimed.
What must a New York notice of lien state?
Section 9 lists the contents rather than prescribing a printed form. The notice must be verified by the lienor or an agent (Lien Law section 9). It must state:
- The name and residence or business address of the lienor.
- The name and address of the lienor's attorney, if there is one.
- The owner's name and interest, as far as the lienor knows.
- The person who hired the lienor or made the contract.
- The labor performed or materials furnished, and the agreed price or value.
- The amount still unpaid for that labor or those materials.
- The dates when the first and last items of work were performed and materials furnished.
- A description that identifies the property, and whether it is a single family dwelling.
Where is a mechanic's lien filed in New York?
Section 10 requires the notice to be filed in the county clerk's office of the county where the property is located, and in each county if the property crosses a county line. The county clerk keeps a book called the lien docket, with columns for owners, lienors, the lienor's attorney, property, amount, time of filing and proceedings had, and records the date, hour and minute of each filing (Lien Law section 10).
Where a clerk indexes liens by block, the notice must designate every affected block on the county land map, so the block number, not the street address, is the search key.
In New York City this creates a trap. Deeds and mortgages in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are recorded by the City Register in ACRIS, but the city's published list of ACRIS document types contains no mechanic's lien. A search that stops at ACRIS will not show one. The lien sits with the County Clerk for the borough's county, the same office that holds a notice of pendency.
Outside the city, one office holds both. The Erie County Clerk lists mechanic liens in its own records, with an online index from July 15, 1991 and document images from February 1, 1994, and keeps them for the current six years (Erie County Clerk, Records Kept by the County Clerk). Its fee schedule charges $15 to file a notice of lien, $5 for an affidavit of service, and nothing for a notice or order continuing, amending or canceling one (Erie County Clerk, Schedule of Fees).
How long does a mechanics lien last in New York?
One year from filing. Under section 17, no lien lasts longer than one year after the notice was filed unless, within that year, the lienor starts an action to foreclose it and files a notice of pendency with the county clerk, or files an extension (Lien Law section 17).
An extension, filed with the same clerk within the first year, continues the lien for no more than one more year. After that only a court order keeps it alive, one year per order, with a new order possible in each of two successive years. A lien on a single family dwelling can only be extended by court order.
A lien kept alive by a notice of pendency still ends when that notice is canceled or stops being effective, so the age of a lien never settles whether it is live: the docket entries after it do.
How is a New York mechanic's lien discharged?
Section 19 lists the ways a lien on a private improvement can be discharged (Lien Law section 19). Each leaves a trace in the clerk's records:
- A certificate of the lienor, acknowledged and filed where the lien was filed, stating the lien is satisfied or released. The clerk notes it in the proceedings column of the lien docket.
- Lapse: no foreclosure action and no continuing order within one year, unless a foreclosure of a mortgage or another mechanic's lien on the same property, with a notice of pendency, was started in time.
- A court order vacating the lien because the lienor neglected to prosecute it, granted under section 59.
- A bond or undertaking by the owner or contractor equal to 110 percent of the lien, filed with the county clerk.
- A final judgment for the owner in the lien action, filed with the clerk with proof of notice of entry.
- A summary court order where the notice is invalid on its face, fails the content rules of section 9, or was not filed as section 10 requires.
Two tools owners use against a lien
How do you search for a mechanic's lien on a New York property?
Identify the county clerk
For the four ACRIS boroughs that is the County Clerk of New York, Kings, Queens or Bronx County, not the City Register. Staten Island uses the Richmond County Clerk; Buffalo and its suburbs the Erie County Clerk.
Search by owner name and by block
Run every owner name, including anyone who owned the property during recent work, and the block number. A misdescribed owner does not invalidate a lien under section 9, so name variants matter.
Read the docket entries after the lien
Look for an extension, notice of pendency, continuing order, bond, deposit or certificate of discharge. Each changes whether the lien still binds the property.
Do the date arithmetic
Count one year from filing, then add any extension or court order. A lien past that date with no action pending has lapsed under section 19, though a title insurer may still want a discharge on the record.
Ask about recent work
Work finished in the last eight months, or four for a single family home, can still produce a valid lien after closing.
What a title search shows, and what it cannot
Key takeaways
Key takeaways
- The filing deadline is eight months after the last work or materials, or four months for a single family dwelling (section 10).
- The lienor must serve the owner and file proof of service within 35 days of filing, or the notice terminates as a lien (section 11).
- A lien lasts one year unless foreclosed with a notice of pendency, extended by filing, or continued by court order (section 17).
- In New York City mechanic's liens are with the County Clerk, not in ACRIS, so a deed and mortgage search alone will miss them.
Frequently asked questions
- How long do you have to file a mechanics lien in New York?
- Eight months after the contract is completed or the last work or materials were furnished (Lien Law section 10). For a single family dwelling it is four months, and a retainage lien has 90 days after the retainage was due.
- How long does a mechanics lien last in New York?
- One year from filing (section 17), unless the lienor sues to foreclose and files a notice of pendency, files an extension, or gets a court order continuing it. Single family dwelling liens can only be extended by court order.
- Where do I file a mechanics lien in NYC?
- With the County Clerk of the county where the property is: New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx or Richmond. ACRIS, the City Register system, has no mechanic's lien document type.
- Does a New York mechanics lien have to be served on the owner?
- Yes. Section 11 requires service within five days before or 30 days after filing, and proof of service must be filed with the clerk within 35 days or the notice terminates as a lien.
- How can a homeowner remove a mechanics lien in New York?
- Under section 19: the lienor's filed certificate of discharge, lapse after one year, a 110 percent bond, a court order, or a judgment for the owner. Section 59 lets the owner force the lienor to sue within at least 30 days.
Sources
Primary records and official documentation cited in this article.
- 1New York Lien Law section 3, official text (NY State Senate)
- 2New York Lien Law section 9, official text (NY State Senate)
- 3New York Lien Law section 10, official text (NY State Senate)
- 4New York Lien Law section 11, official text (NY State Senate)
- 5New York Lien Law section 17, official text (NY State Senate)
- 6New York Lien Law section 19, official text (NY State Senate)
- 7New York Lien Law section 39, official text (NY State Senate)
- 8New York Lien Law section 59, official text (NY State Senate)
- 9NYC Department of Finance, ACRIS Document Control Codes (open data)
- 10Erie County Clerk, Records Kept by the County Clerk
- 11Erie County Clerk, Schedule of Fees
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