Question 1

Who has to receive a New Hampshire subcontractor lien notice?

Accepted Answer

RSA 447:5 gives you a choice: the owner, or the person having charge of the property. The statute phrases those as alternatives, so service on the site manager or the party in control of the property satisfies it just as service on the record owner does. That is genuinely useful on a job where title sits in a holding entity you cannot identify from the street. RSA 447:7 builds the same structure for railroad work, allowing notice to the proprietors or to the person having charge of the railroad. Where there is a construction mortgage, a second and separate notice goes to the institution providing the construction funds under RSA 447:12-b, II, and that one is not interchangeable with the first.

Question 2

When must a New Hampshire lien notice be given?

Accepted Answer

RSA 447:5 sets the moment as before performing the labor or furnishing the material for which the lien is claimed, which is earlier than most states ask for. RSA 447:6 then softens it: such notice may be given after the labor is performed, the professional design services are provided, or the material is furnished. The catch is in the same sentence. A notice given afterward leaves the lien valid only to the extent of the amount then due or that may thereafter become due to the contractor, agent or subcontractor of the owner. So on a job where the owner has already paid its contractor in full, a late notice reaches nothing, while the same notice sent before you mobilized would have covered the whole contract. Vendor guides contradict each other on this point; the two sections read together are the answer.

Question 3

Which New Hampshire claimants owe this notice, and is there a minimum amount?

Accepted Answer

The duty in RSA 447:5 falls on a person who performs labor, provides professional design services as defined in RSA 447:2, or furnishes materials by virtue of a contract with an agent, contractor or subcontractor of the owner. If your contract is with the owner, you are outside it and take your lien under RSA 447:2 to 447:4 without this step. There is a dollar floor, and it is the kind of figure that tells you how old the section is: the claimant must have performed labor, provided the design services, or furnished materials to the amount of 15 dollars or more. The railroad provision in RSA 447:7 uses the same 15 dollar figure for grading, masonry, bridging or track-laying work.

Question 4

How does New Hampshire want the notice delivered?

Accepted Answer

In writing, and the statute stops there. RSA 447:5 requires notice in writing, RSA 447:8 requires an account in writing and RSA 447:12-b, II requires written notice, and none of them names a delivery method. There is no certified mail rule, no personal service requirement and no electronic delivery provision in RSA 447:5 through 447:14. That sounds easy and is actually a trap, because with no prescribed method there is also no prescribed proof and no presumption of receipt to fall back on. Use a method that produces a dated record of what you sent and who received it, and keep that record with a copy of the notice exactly as sent, from the day it goes out.

Question 5

Which items must a New Hampshire notice contain?

Accepted Answer

New Hampshire prescribes no form and no warning paragraph, which puts it in a small minority of states. What RSA 447:5 requires the notice to communicate is a single thing: that the claimant shall claim such lien. In practice that means identifying yourself, the property, the party who hired you and the work or materials you are providing, so that the statement is meaningful to the recipient. The lender notice under RSA 447:12-b, II is more specific: it must state that the person is furnishing services, materials, supplies or other things, and the statute requires one item by name, the name and address of the jobsite. RSA 447:8 then prescribes the content of the follow-up account: the labor performed, professional design services provided, or materials furnished during the 30 days.

Question 6

Why does New Hampshire make me send an account every 30 days?

Accepted Answer

Because the account is what makes the owner hold money back for you. RSA 447:8 requires any person giving notice under RSA 447:5 to 447:7 to furnish the owner, or the person having charge of the property, an account in writing of the labor performed, professional design services provided, or materials furnished during the 30 days, as often as once in 30 days. The second half of that section is the payoff: the owner or person in charge must retain a sufficient sum of money to pay the claim, and is not liable to the agent, contractor or subcontractor for that money unless that party first pays you. RSA 447:6 also lets the first account go out at the same time as the notice, so the two can travel in one envelope.

Question 7

Does a New Hampshire claimant also have to notify the construction lender?

Accepted Answer

On a mortgaged job, yes. RSA 447:12-b, II requires any person entitled to a lien pursuant to RSA 447:2-7 to provide written notice to the institution providing the construction funds, stating that the person is furnishing services, materials, supplies or other things, within 15 business days of the posting required by paragraph I or of commencing to furnish, whichever is later. The notice must include the name and address of the jobsite. Paragraph I is also how you find the lender in the first place: within 10 business days of executing a construction mortgage, including any refinancing, the mortgagor or its agent must post the institution's name, address and telephone number in a conspicuous place on the jobsite. The statute then adds a clause worth knowing: failure to provide the paragraph II notice shall not alone invalidate the lien created by RSA 447:2-7.

Question 8

What happens if a New Hampshire notice is never given at all?

Accepted Answer

For the owner notice, the lien does not exist. RSA 447:5 grants the subcontractor the same lien as a direct claimant only provided that the written notice is given, so this is a condition on the right rather than a procedural step you can cure later. Giving it late is a different and recoverable position, because RSA 447:6 permits it and limits the lien to amounts then due or thereafter becoming due. For the lender notice the consequence is mild by comparison, since RSA 447:12-b, II says failure to provide it shall not alone invalidate the lien. One related protection is worth noting: RSA 447:14 provides that no lien shall be defeated by taking a note, unless the note was taken in discharge of the amount due and of the lien, so accepting a promissory note from the party that hired you does not by itself give up what the notice protected.

New Hampshire Subcontractor Lien Notice

Find out where you stand in New Hampshire

Introduction

Key Things to Know

Key decisions before you file

Customize your Preliminary Notice Template with DocDraft

New Hampshire Requirements for Preliminary Notice

The Owner or Whoever Has Charge of the Property

Before the Work, or Later With a Smaller Claim

Only Claimants Hired Below the Owner, Above 15 Dollars

Writing Is the Only Prescribed Formality

No Prescribed Form, One Required Statement

The 30 Day Account and the Owner's Retention Duty

Fifteen Business Days to Notify the Construction Lender

Two Notices, Two Very Different Penalties

Frequently Asked Questions