Understanding the Timeframes of Texas Lien Law: Our Complete Guide

A Primer on the Lien Laws of Texas

Texas lien laws serve the important purpose of protecting the rights of those who provide work and materials to properties within the state of Texas. Such protections exist in order to ensure that those who faithfully perform work or furnish materials to a construction project don’t end up getting stiffed by a property owner or general contractor on a construction project. It is for this reason that Texas law allows you to file a lien on the real property against which the work or material was provided.
While this blog post cannot provide specific individualized assistance to any one property owner or construction professional in understanding a Texas lien law, it can help you understand general concepts about Texas lien laws. From enforcement of your right to file a lien to the setting deadlines to enforce that right, this Texas lien law deadline flowchart will help you understand some basic Texas lien law concepts . This blog post will give a general overview of Texas lien laws so that you can better understand some of the concepts discussed in the flow charts below. In general, Texas lien laws only provide the enforcement right if you strictly follow all timelines laid out in chapter 53 of the Property code.
Many Texas lien law deadlines require that you send notices prior to filing a lien. For example, under the general version of chapter 53, those that furnished materials or labor to a residential construction project are required to deliver a notice of non-payment (also known as a "30-day notice") to the owner within 30 days of when the work was performed or materials were delivered. Failure to deliver this notice would generally prohibit a later filed lien from being enforced. One some projects, other timeline have also been created that require extra steps to enforce the right to file a lien. However, many of these other timelines do not require delivery of notices.

Deadlines for Sending Pre-Lien Notices

A general contractor or sub-contractor can issue a pre-lien notice at any time. This means that a contractor could send out a pre-lien notice 45 days before filing a mechanics lien the same day the project commences, or at some point in the middle of a project. On most residential jobs, a supplier, sub-contractor or owner must send the pre-lien notice 15 days after the work first begins or the materials are first supplied. In a job that is not a residential project, the pre-lien notice must be sent within the earlier of the 15th day from the first delivery of materials or the 30th day from the last day of work. After the pre-lien notice has been sent, the deadline for a general contractor or sub-contractor to file a mechanics lien is the 15th day of the fourth month after the later of the last day of work or the last delivery of materials. If a post-lien notice of the mechanics lien claim is required and sent by the sub-contractor, then that deadline is extended to the 15th day of the fifth month after the later of the last day of work or the last delivery of materials.

Deadlines for Filing a Lien

The filing of a lien is an important step in securing payment on a project, but it is not the only step that must be taken in order to later enforce the lien. If you have sent the proper notice in the timelines described above, the deadlines for filing a lien are simple and should be a "no-brainer."
For residential projects, Subcontractors may file a lien any time after receiving the preliminary notice letter, but must file the lien no later than the 15th day of the 4th month after completion; or abandonment; or accrual of the right to file.
On commercial projects, the Subcontractor must file the lien not later than the 15th day of the 4th month after the contract is completed; or abandoned; or the day of last work or material furnished. And for Homestead projects, Subcontractors must file the lien not later than the 15th day of the 3rd month after the contract is completed; or abandoned; or the day of last work or material furnished.

Deadlines to Enforce a Lien

While there are many deadlines throughout the Texas Lien Law, there is one critical deadline for asserting a lien and one critical deadline for enforcing a lien. The deadline for asserting a valid lien is by "early" to keep a lien. But, set forth herein are the statutory deadlines for filing a suit to enforce a lien. A lien claimant must initiate a lawsuit in the appropriate court for enforcement of the lien within two years after the day on which the claimant’s claim accrued. A lien claim accrues: (1) on the last day of the period allowed for filing a claim for the subject material, labor, or construction of an improvement; or (2) on acceptance of the contract, if the claimant is a subcontractor or supplier, unless the claimant has not given notice as provided by law, in which case compliance with the notice statute is also a prerequisite to the claimant filing suit. The statute of limitations for enforcing a lien, however, is tolled while a verified statement of lien is on file. Thus, an effective lien denies the owner the ability to show that it is time-barred from enforcement of the lien(s). In fact, the statutory remedy to remove a lien is only available when the lien is "illegally acquired, made, or enforced." For example, when a property owner has paid the general contractor and the lien claimant has not complied with the statutory requirements of the Lien Law, the lien is "illegally enforced." Such a lien, when encumbering the property, does so without any legally justified basis. If the lien has been wrongfully asserted, then the owner can have it removed from the property after the period for filing a suit under the statute of limitations or such time as the lien is void. As a result, a perfect lien is one that, if a suit were brought, would prevail. A faulty lien is one that is defective on its face. In other words, if a lien does not explain, on its face, why the owner has a defense to the perfection of the lien, then an owner could request that the lien be expunged from the record. Thus, the assertion of a viable lien that has not already expired and incurred a statute of limitations defense keeps your lien viable. The failure to timely enforce a lien, though, can result in a permanent loss of your lien on the property.

Exceptions and Extensions of the Texas Lien Deadlines

As with any rules, there are exceptions to the deadlines imposed by Texas lien laws. First, in the general case, the mechanics lien deadline is extended in cases involving a home equity loan of a residential property. In these instances, the 1 year deadline is extended to two years and 3 years in limited circumstances. Second, where an owner in bad faith fails to make final payment on the project, the subcontractor’s ability to file a mechanics lien may be extended beyond the usual deadline of 4 months from completion of the work or stabilization of the work if the subcontractor does not have notice of the owner’s bad faith non-payment. Similarly , if an owner wrongfully fails to comply with the additional 30 day notice provision and only provides the subcontractor the additional 30 days because it received the state statutory notice from the subcontractor, then the subcontractor may have additional time to file its mechanics lien beyond the 4 month deadline.
Exceptions to the 1 year deadline for property code 53.154 apply if the owner has the homeowner association that requested the enhancement to be an exception to the 1 year deadline in the homeowners association by laws. Because the extension is allowed, it is a good practice to also request an extension of time if a homeowner association requests a copy of a lien.

Tips on Managing the Lien Deadlines in Practice

Practical tips to successfully track and manage lien deadlines include: As far as tracking your lien deadlines, I am a big fan of the calendar program on Microsoft Outlook. A couple of quick things you should do as soon as you’ve filed a lien are: If you don’t use Outlook, again I have no affiliation with these companies, but I would highly recommend Connexis or LienTrend. Both are good products and relatively inexpensive. Connexis has a 30-day free trial. I strongly recommend that you get a LienTracker to keep track of your mechanics lien deadlines if you are in the lien business. LienTrackers include a complete Texas mechanics lien contract provision to help ensure your mechanic’s lien gets paid.

Conclusion: Dealing with Texas Lien Deadlines

Enforcement of your right to lien property in Texas is a short process requiring strict compliance with all statute of limitations to enforce and perfect the lien as well as statutory deadlines for filing a lawsuit. The failure to comply with the lien deadline will result in the loss of the right to lien and the loss of the lien itself. These deadlines are so important to lien law that even debtors know about these deadlines and use any miscalculation or error in the deadlines to take away your good lien regardless of whether or not the debtor owes you money for work done or materials supplied.
If all the other subcontractors and suppliers on the job are first-tier subcontractors (contracted directly with the Owner or Construction Manager), and you just happen to be the last to get paid out of all of them, then you likely have no rights at all under the Texas lien laws . Again, this is one reason why it is so important to understand what the Texas lien laws require in the first place, and which lien rights can be applied, so that you can send your notices, qualify to lien, and lien the property if necessary. These lien deadlines are only a few of many different Texas lien law requirements that set you apart from other contractors and workers at the jobsite. The remaining article describes other critical deadlines for filing the petition and lien foreclosure case, as well as methods for filing suit. Until you have collected and been paid in full, all the mechanics, general, and prime contractors must be mindful of such statutes of limitations and lien law deadlines.