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Arizona Mechanics Lien

File an Arizona mechanics lien to secure payment for construction work. Serve the 20-day preliminary notice, record within 120 days of completion, and enforce.

Introduction

An Arizona mechanics lien is a legal claim recorded against real property by a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier who improved the property and was not paid. Once recorded, the lien attaches to the property, clouds the title, and can be enforced by a court-ordered sale. That security is what gives the lien its leverage, and Arizona provides it under Revised Statutes Title 33, Chapter 7. Arizona is strict about the preliminary notice: nearly every claimant, including the general contractor, must serve a 20-day preliminary notice within 20 days after first furnishing labor or materials to the jobsite. You then record the lien within 120 days after the project is completed, or within 60 days after a notice of completion is recorded, and you must sue to foreclose within six months after recording. DocDraft prepares an Arizona mechanics lien and its notices from your project details, and attorney review is available before you record.

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Key Things to Know

  1. 1

    An Arizona mechanics lien secures payment against the improved property. Contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, equipment lessors, and design professionals who furnished work to the jobsite and were not paid can claim one under Revised Statutes sections 33-981 to 33-1008.

  2. 2

    Arizona requires a 20-day preliminary notice from nearly every claimant, including the general contractor. Under section 33-992.01 it must be served within 20 days after you first furnish labor or materials to the jobsite; only a worker paid wages for labor is excepted.

  3. 3

    Record the lien within 120 days after the building, structure, or improvement is completed. If the owner records a notice of completion, that window shortens to 60 days after recordation, under section 33-993.

  4. 4

    Recording is not the last step. Section 33-998 says the lien does not continue for more than six months after it is recorded unless you bring an action to foreclose it within that period.

  5. 5

    Arizona reads these rules strictly. Missing the 20-day preliminary notice, the 120-day recording window, or the six-month deadline to sue generally forfeits the lien, though a separate contract claim for the debt may survive.

  6. 6

    The preliminary notice follows prescribed language. Section 33-992.01 sets the form and content of the 20-day notice, and the recorded lien must state the amount claimed, the owner, the hiring party, and a description of the property and work.

  7. 7

    Owner-occupied homes get special protection. Under section 33-1002 no lien attaches to the dwelling of someone who became an owner-occupant before the work, except for a claimant who signed a written contract directly with that owner-occupant.

Key decisions before you file

Before you file a Mechanics Lien in Arizona, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Mechanics Lien guide walks through them.

Open the Mechanics Lien guide

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CLAIM OF MECHANICS LIEN (ARIZONA)

Recorded under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 33, Chapter 7, Article 6 (sections 33-981 to 33-1008), with the county recorder where the property is located. The undersigned claimant records this Claim of Mechanics Lien against the real property described below to secure payment for labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures, or tools furnished to improve that property.

  1. CLAIMANT Name: [CLAIMANT NAME] Role: [GENERAL CONTRACTOR / SUBCONTRACTOR / MATERIAL SUPPLIER / EQUIPMENT LESSOR / DESIGN PROFESSIONAL] Address: [CLAIMANT ADDRESS]

  2. AMOUNT OF THE CLAIM The amount due to the claimant, after deducting all just credits and offsets, is: $[AMOUNT].

  3. OWNER OR REPUTED OWNER Name: [OWNER NAME] Address: [OWNER ADDRESS]

  4. HIRING PARTY The claimant furnished the work at the request of, or under contract with: [PERSON OR COMPANY THAT ORDERED THE WORK].

  5. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK OR MATERIALS General description of the labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures, or tools furnished: [DESCRIPTION]. Date first furnished: [FIRST DATE]. Date the improvement was completed or work last furnished: [LAST DATE].

  6. PROPERTY Street address: [PROPERTY ADDRESS]. Legal description: [LEGAL DESCRIPTION]. County: [COUNTY].

  7. VERIFICATION I, the claimant or the claimant's authorized agent, being duly sworn, state that I have read this claim of mechanics lien and that the facts stated in it are true.

Signature: [SIGNATURE] Printed name and title: [NAME AND TITLE] Date: [DATE]

Subscribed and sworn to before me this [DATE]. [NOTARY]

PRELIMINARY TWENTY DAY NOTICE (served within 20 days of first furnishing, under Arizona Revised Statutes section 33-992.01; required of nearly every claimant, including the general contractor)

To: [OWNER NAME AND ADDRESS], [CONSTRUCTION LENDER, IF ANY], [GENERAL CONTRACTOR] The undersigned has furnished or will furnish labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures, or tools of the following general description: [DESCRIPTION], for the improvement of the property at [PROPERTY ADDRESS]. An estimate of the total price is $[ESTIMATED AMOUNT]. This is not a lien and not a reflection on the integrity of any contractor or subcontractor. From (claimant): [CLAIMANT NAME AND ADDRESS] Date served: [DATE]

Note: Section 33-992.01 prescribes the exact wording and statutory warning for the 20-day notice. Confirm the current statutory language, notice form, and the recording and enforcement deadlines, or have this reviewed by an attorney, before recording.

Arizona Requirements for Mechanics Lien

Arizona Filing Deadline and Office

File the Arizona mechanics lien in the correct office, a county recorder or court as Arizona requires, within the state's deadline after you last furnish labor or materials. Arizona applies the deadline strictly, so filing late or in the wrong office can void the lien.

Frequently Asked Questions

A mechanics lien in Arizona is a claim an unpaid contractor, subcontractor, or supplier records against the property they improved. It attaches to the real estate and clouds the title, so the owner cannot easily sell or refinance, and it can be foreclosed through a court-ordered sale. Arizona's lien law sits in Revised Statutes Title 33, Chapter 7, sections 33-981 to 33-1008.

Contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, equipment lessors, and design professionals such as architects and engineers who furnished labor or materials to improve the property and were not paid can file. Almost all of them, including the general contractor, must first serve the 20-day preliminary notice; only a person performing actual labor for wages is excused from it.

You must record the lien within 120 days after the building, structure, or improvement is completed, under section 33-993. If the owner records a notice of completion, the deadline moves up to 60 days after that notice is recorded. The lien is recorded with the county recorder where the property is located.

Yes, and Arizona is unusually demanding here. Under section 33-992.01 nearly every claimant, the general contractor included, must serve a 20-day preliminary notice within 20 days of first furnishing labor or materials to the jobsite. Only a worker paid wages for labor is exempt. Serving late can limit the lien to work furnished within 20 days before the notice.

You have six months from the recording date to file a foreclosure action, under section 33-998. If you do not sue within that window, the lien no longer continues and cannot be enforced against the property. Recording the lien does not extend this deadline, so treat the six-month clock as running from the day you record.

Missing the 20-day notice, the 120-day recording deadline, or the six-month deadline to sue usually means losing the lien, because Arizona applies these steps strictly. You may still sue the party who hired you for breach of contract to recover the money, but you give up the security a lien places on the property.

Arizona shields owner-occupied homes. Under section 33-1002 a person who became the owner-occupant of a dwelling before the work began is protected: no lien attaches to that home unless the claimant had a written contract directly with the owner-occupant. Subcontractors and suppliers on such a home usually cannot lien it and must look to the contractor for payment.

When the debt is paid, the claimant should record a lien release so the title is clear. A lien also expires on its own if no foreclosure action is filed within six months of recording. An owner who believes a lien is invalid can challenge it in court to have it removed and the title cleared.