Washington State Mechanics Lien: Guide, Process & FAQs

Yes, since a mechanics lien involves real property, it is important to describe and identify the property in question carefully and accurately.

No, you cannot include fees in your lien amount. However, if ever you foreclose on the lien, you may be awarded by the court the amount paid for recording the lien, legal fees, and other necessary expenses incurred by your attorney as costs.

If your lien covers more than one property owned by the same person, the lien amount is allocated to each property.

Yes, a Washington mechanic’s lien needs to be notarized in order to be valid.

Absolutely! You can file a mechanics lien on a condo or Homeowners Association (HOA) property in Washington if you provided labor, materials, or equipment and weren’t paid. Liens can be filed against individual units for work on common elements or against the HOA as a whole.

A Washington mechanic’s lien is effective for 8 months after the date of recording/filing.

You can enforce action on the lien within this time period. The lien expires when you fail to take action in enforcing the lien after the eight months have passed. The eight-month period starts after you file the lien and cannot be extended.

Filing a mechanics lien in Washington state costs between $3 and $345, depending on the county and filing method. You can also use a professional and trusted lien filing service like Northwest Lien for a flat fee.

No. In Washington State, a mechanics lien usually does not take priority over a mortgage or deed of trust recorded before work began. If work started before the mortgage was recorded, the lien may have priority.

Yes. Under RCW 60.04, any contractor, subcontractor, or supplier who provided labor or materials to improve your property can file a mechanics lien, even if you already paid your general contractor and the general contractor failed to pay them.

In most cases, no. Washington law requires the claimant to have a contractual relationship (direct or indirect) with the property owner or a party in the construction chain. However, a subcontractor can file a lien even without a direct contract with the homeowner if they were hired by the general contractor.

You can remove a Washington mechanics lien by paying the debt and requesting a release of lien, filing a lien release bond under RCW 60.04.161, or petitioning the court for a summary removal if the lien is frivolous under RCW 60.04.081.​

To foreclose a Washington mechanics lien, you must file a lawsuit in the superior court of the county where the property is located within 8 months of recording the lien. The court can order the property sold to satisfy the debt, and the prevailing claimant may recover attorney fees and costs.

Yes. Washington is a lien state, meaning contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers have a statutory right to file a mechanics lien on real property for unpaid work under the Washington state mechanics lien statute (RCW 60.04).

Simply put, filing a lien is the single most effective method to secure payment for the labor and/or materials you put on a person’s property. In almost all cases, it is less expensive and time-consuming than suing for breach of contract.

When you file a lien, you have the right to require the County Sheriff to sell the property you put work into and collect the amount owing from the sale proceeds. Because of this right to sell and collect, most lending institutions or other prospective purchasers will avoid any property that has a lien filed against it. Who would want to invest in a piece of property if someone else has the right to sell and take some of the money first? Thus, when you file a lien, you are in a much better position to secure payment from the unwilling owner because he or she will have a difficult time selling the property with a lien clouding the title.

The filing of a lien does not guarantee payment, but it does prevent the owner from conveying the property without paying the lien or posting a bond. If you have not filed a lien (or do not meet the requirements to file a lien) but you do have a contract with the owner for the work you performed, then you can always proceed to court, which can be a lengthy and very costly process.

At Northwest Lien, we help you avoid all the guesswork, high legal fees, and uncertainty around filing this very important document. Being experts in Northwest lien laws, we find the legal description, legal owner, mail out to all parties involved and keep accurate records. Northwest Lien also keeps you informed of all important deadlines.

In most states, only certain professionals can file for a mechanic’s lien, including:

• Direct contractors
• Subcontractors
• Material suppliers
• Equipment lessors
• Design professionals
• Landscape gardeners

They are entitled to mechanic’s lien rights for the improvement of their client’s real property.

It is important to note that in filing a lien, most states require you to obtain a registration certificate; here’s more information on becoming a licensed general contractor in Washington state, for example; a contractor who does not have a registration certificate also does not have the right to a lien. On the other hand, if you are a supplier and you do not work on incorporating the materials into the property, then you are exempt from registering.

Filing pre-lien documents are the best way to ensure your lien rights are protected. A pre-lien document — also known as a Notice of Intent, Preliminary Notice, Pre-lien Notice, Notice to Owner, Notice of Furnishing, or Notice on Bond — is required in Northwest states prior to filing a lien for payment. Preliminary notices also inform your customer that you are working on the project and that you are serious about receiving your payment promptly and in full. Our clients who send these documents at the start of every project are the most successful with getting paid without needing to file a lien.

More about the Notice:
The notice serves as a “heads-up” to your customer about your right to file a lien and what a lien entails. With limited exceptions, this notice is required even if you don’t expect to file a lien. Because filing a lien is such a powerful tool, the law says the owner must be aware that if he or she doesn’t pay bills, or if his or her contractor doesn’t pay the subs or suppliers, a lien can be filed against the property. The notice is most important in the latter situation — the homeowner usually pays the general and assumes those payments are making their way down the chain to the subs and suppliers. Notice language generally advises the homeowner on how to avoid liens by writing checks to more than one party, obtaining lien waivers upon payment, or using an escrow agent. There are three types of notice documents, two of which are used by general contractors and the other by subcontractors and suppliers. Northwest Lien has a chart, available on this website, detailing the notice process and which forms you need. General contractors should focus on the first row, subs, and suppliers on the second. The most notable exception to notice requirements is if you are contracting directly with the property owner. However, the safest approach is to provide notice for all construction projects before you start work and include lien provisions in your underlying contracts.

No other document in the construction industry is as powerful at securing payment than liens. They create the best chance for you to get paid. At Northwest Lien, we have an excellent track record of securing payment for our customers who file a lien. Last year alone, we helped our clients secure over $5 million in collections.

That said, in the rare event that your lien is not immediately satisfied, there are other strategies for prompting payment available (that do not involve going to court). Learn more about enforcing a mechanic’s lien in Washington.

In Washington, you are required to provide the owner with preliminary notice, sometimes called “Notice of Intent”, if you did not contract directly with the owner. Learn more about sending preliminary notice in Washington state.

If you contracted directly with the owner, you are required to provide the owner a “Model Disclosure Statement” when your work involves the repairing, altering, or building of 4 or fewer residential units on residential property and the bid price is $1,000 or more, or when the work to be done is on a commercial building and the bid price is between $1,000 – 60,000. Learn how to submit a Model Disclosure Statement in Washington.

Note that if you are only furnishing labor, you need not send a Washington notice (though a Model Disclosure statement will still be required if you contracted directly with the owner). However, if there is any material component to the contract or furnishing, preliminary notice is required to protect your full mechanic’s lien rights. In the circumstance when you are providing labor and materials, it may be possible to file a lien for the labor portion of the work (and exclude the materials cost) without a preliminary notice … however, it is a best practice to avoid this need. As you can see, there are a few nuances associated with notice requirements in Washington.

As a best practice, Northwest Lien recommends to all our clients to send notices prior to entering into any new project. It is an inexpensive way to protect your lien rights should you have problems getting paid down the road.

If you did not contract directly with the owner, the preliminary notice can be sent at any time, but it only protects your rights to claim a lien for a limited period of time prior to delivery of the notice.

To fully preserve your lien rights, the Notice to Owner must be delivered within 60 days of the date labor or materials were first furnished to the property for all commercial cases, and on a remodel, alteration, or repair of an owner-occupied single-family residence.

If your work was the new construction of a single-family home, the Notice to Owner should be delivered within 10 days of first providing labor or materials to the project.

If you contracted directly with the Owner, the “Model Disclosure Statement” must be delivered prior to the initiation of work. The statement must be signed by the Owner, and you must retain a copy of the signed document for at least three years.

If you miss the required date and deliver notice late, all is not necessarily lost. A late notice in all commercial cases, and on a remodel, alteration, or repair of an owner-occupied single-family residence will protect your lien rights for 60 days prior to the date notice was delivered. In the case of a new construction of a single-family home, a late notice will protect your lien rights for the 10 days preceding the delivery of the notice.

If you contracted directly with the owner, a Model Disclosure Statement must be delivered to, and signed by, the owner.

If you are delivering preliminary notice, it may either be sent to the owner via certified or registered mail, or personally delivered to, or served on, the owner. If the notice is personally delivered or served to the owner, a signed receipt from the owner or an affidavit of service is required.

Northwest Lien handles this process from start to finish for our clients. Simply order the notice right here on our site and we notify you when the document has been filed and recorded.

If sent by registered or certified mail, the notice is considered delivered 3 days after mailing, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

A bond claim in the construction context is a notice against a prime contractor’s surety company that a claimant is owed money on a project. If a general contractor is the “first guarantor” of payment to its subcontractors and suppliers on a construction project, then the bonding company acts as a “second guarantor.”