Maryland notice of intention to claim a lien, 120 days
Maryland does not have a mechanics lien you record. It has a lawsuit. Section 9-105 makes you petition the circuit court, and subsection (a)(1)(v) of that section says a subcontractor's petition has to set out the facts showing that the notice under 9-104 was properly mailed or served on the owner. Miss the 120 days and there is nothing to plead, so there is no lien to establish.
A subcontractor doing work or furnishing materials or both for or about a building other than a single family dwelling being erected on the owner's land for his own residence is not entitled to a lien under this subtitle unless, within 120 days after doing the work or furnishing the materials, the subcontractor gives written notice of an intention to claim a lien substantially in the form specified in subsection (b) of this section.
Read the law: Md. Real Prop. 9-104, the 120 day notice and the form, Md. Real Prop. 9-101, who counts as a subcontractor, Md. Real Prop. 9-102, what a lien can attach to, Md. Real Prop. 9-105, the petition, 180 days, and the pleading element, Md. Real Prop. 9-106, the show cause order and the 15 days, Md. Real Prop. 9-110, credit and a note do not waive the right and Md. Real Prop. 9-114, the releases the contractor owes at settlementmgaleg.maryland.gov
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The form is the one Md. Real Prop. 9-104 prints in subsection (b). Nothing about it is recorded and nothing is filed: it is a letter to the owner, and 9-104(c) says it is effective if it goes by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or is personally delivered to the owner by you or your agent. The return receipt is the proof your later petition has to plead, so keep it with the copy you sent.
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There is no recorded lien in Maryland, so this notice is part of a pleading
In most states a mechanics lien is a document you record at a county office, and a preliminary notice is a thing you send beforehand to keep the right to record it. Maryland works the other way around. Section 9-105 says that in order to establish a lien, a person entitled to one shall file proceedings in the circuit court for the county where the land or any part of the land is located, within 180 days after the work has been finished or the materials furnished. There is no clerk to record anything with and no lien to record.
What you file is a petition to establish the mechanic's lien, and 9-105 lists what it has to set out: your name and address, the owner's name and address, the nature or kind of work done or the kind and amount of materials furnished, the time when the work was done or the materials furnished, the name of the person for whom the work was done, the amount claimed less any credit, and a description of the land adequate to identify the building. An affidavit goes with it, and so do the papers the claim is built on.
Then comes the sentence that this whole page exists for. Subsection (a)(1)(v) adds that if the petitioner is a subcontractor, the petition must set forth facts showing that the notice required under 9-104 of this subtitle was properly mailed or served upon the owner, or, if so authorized, posted on the building.
That makes the notice an element, not a courtesy. A subcontractor who never sent it has a petition with a hole in it, and no amount of unpaid invoices fills the hole. The 120 day clock in 9-104 and the 180 day clock in 9-105 both run from the end of your work, which means the notice window closes two months before the filing window does.
Who has to send it, in the statute's own words
Section 9-101 defines the two words that decide it. A contractor means a person who has a contract with an owner. A subcontractor means a person who has a contract with anyone except the owner or his agent. There is no third category, so the test is one question: is your contract with the owner or with somebody else?
If your contract is with the owner you are a contractor, and 9-104 is not addressed to you. Your lien rights do not depend on this notice, because the owner already knows you exist and knows what is owed.
If your contract is with the general contractor, with another subcontractor, or with anyone other than the owner or the owner's agent, you are a subcontractor for this subtitle no matter what your own paperwork calls you, and the 120 days are yours to watch. A supplier who sells material to the general contractor is in the same position.
One more definition changes who the notice goes to. Section 9-101(f) says owner means the owner of the land, except that when the contractor executes the contract with a tenant for life or for years, owner means the tenant. On a tenant fit out where the lease holder signed the construction contract, the tenant is the owner this notice is addressed to. Section 9-103(c)(2) then limits what such a lien is worth: where the building is improved to the extent of 25 percent of its value by a tenant for life or years, or by a person the tenant employed, the lien applies only to the extent of the tenant's interest.
The owner built house rule, and the cap that comes with it
Subsection (a)(2) carves out one kind of property and treats it differently: a single family dwelling being erected on the owner's land for the owner's own residence. Note how narrow that is. It is not every house and it is not every owner occupied house. It is a house being built, on land the owner already has, to be lived in by that owner.
On that property the notice alone is not enough. Subsection (a)(2) says the subcontractor is not entitled to a lien unless the notice is given in accordance with subsection (a)(1) and the owner has not made full payment to the contractor prior to receiving the notice. If the owner had already paid the general contractor in full on the day your notice arrived, there is no lien, however good your invoice is.
Subsection (f)(3) then caps what is left. A lien against such a dwelling shall not exceed the amount by which the owner is indebted under the contract at the time the notice is given. So on an owner built home the value of your claim is fixed on the day the notice lands, and every draw the owner releases before that day comes out of your side of the ledger.
That is the practical argument for sending it early rather than on day 119. The 120 days are the outer limit of the window, not a target. On the one property type where the statute measures your lien by a date, the date it measures is the date you chose to post the letter.
How it has to be delivered, and the one substitute the statute allows
Subsection (c) names the methods. The notice is effective if given by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or personally delivered to the owner by the claimant or his agent. That is a short list, and ordinary first class post is not on it. Email is not on it either.
Subsection (d) handles co-owners: if there is more than one owner, the subcontractor may comply by giving the notice to any of the owners. One notice to one of them is compliance, though there is no reason not to send one to each.
Subsection (e) is the escape hatch for an owner nobody can reach. If the notice cannot be given on account of absence or other causes, the claimant or the claimant's agent may post the notice on the door or other front part of the building, in the presence of a competent witness, within 120 days. The same subsection adds that posting is sufficient in all cases where the owner has died and his successors in title do not appear on the public records.
Read 9-105(a)(1)(v) back against that. The petition has to plead facts showing the notice was properly mailed or served on the owner, or, if so authorized, posted on the building. Posting is the third route and it only becomes authorized when you could not reach the owner. That is a fact you will later have to plead, so if you post, write down when you tried, how you tried, why it failed, and who stood next to you when the notice went on the door.
What the owner does after it arrives, and why that is the whole point
Subsection (f)(1) lets the owner withhold from the sums due the contractor the amount the owner ascertains to be due the subcontractor who gave the notice. Subsection (f)(2) then says the contractor receives only the difference. That is the mechanism: your notice turns money that was on its way to the general contractor into money the owner is allowed to hold back for you, before anyone goes near a courthouse.
Most of these are settled there. A general contractor who finds the next draw short by the amount of your invoice has a reason to pay it that no reminder letter produces, and the owner has a statutory answer to give when asked why the draw was short.
Section 9-114 sits at the other end of the same job. At settlement or payment in full between a contractor and an owner, the contractor shall give the owner a signed release of lien from each material supplier and subcontractor who provided work or materials under the contract, and an owner is not subject to a lien and is not otherwise liable for any work or materials included in that release. That is why a Maryland general contractor chases waivers so hard at the end of a job: without them the owner cannot close out the contract cleanly.
Section 9-110 protects the right in the meantime. No person having the right to establish a mechanics lien waives the right by granting a credit, or receiving a note or other security, unless it is received as payment or the lien right is expressly waived. Putting a customer on terms, or taking a promissory note for the balance, does not by itself cost you anything.
What happens after the petition, and the three things the form leaves out
Section 9-106 runs the court end. When the petition is filed the court reviews the pleadings and documents, may require you to supplement or explain any of them, and if it determines the lien should attach it passes an order directing the owner to show cause within 15 days from service why a lien should not attach. The order has to tell the owner that he may appear and give evidence or file a counteraffidavit, and that if he does neither the facts in your affidavit are deemed admitted.
If there is no genuine dispute of material fact the court enters a final order establishing the lien, or denying it if you failed to establish the right as a matter of law. If there is a dispute but probable cause to believe you are entitled, 9-106(b)(3) has the court enter an interlocutory order that establishes the lien, describes the boundaries, states the amount, sets the bond the owner may file to release the property, may require a bond from you, and assigns a trial date within six months. Section 9-107 adds that if part of the land is in another county, you file certified copies of the docket entries and the order with that county's clerk, and the lien attaches there when they are filed.
Now the sheet itself. The form in 9-104(b) is short and three things are missing from it that a careful sender adds around it. There is no blank for the owner's name, so the envelope and the delivery receipt are what tie the notice to a particular owner. There is no blank for a date, and 9-104(f)(3) measures an owner built home lien by what was owed at the time the notice is given, so date it. And there is no blank for your own address, which the owner needs in order to act on subsection (f)(1) at all.
The closing line is a declaration and not a notarization. The form says that the signer does solemnly declare and affirm under the penalties of perjury that the contents of the notice are true to the best of the affiant's knowledge, information and belief. It is signed by an individual, and where the subcontractor is not an individual the form prints a second line for the business the individual signs on behalf of.
Every date here can end a claim that was otherwise good, and Maryland is a state where the lien is a lawsuit from the first day. This page is a starting point, not a substitute for a Maryland construction attorney on a job of any size.
Where the words came from
The form below is sliced out of Md. Code, Real Property 9-104(b) as published by the Maryland General Assembly's own Laws service at mgaleg.maryland.gov. That is the state publishing its own statute, with no session, no agreement and no paywall in front of it. Nothing is retyped and nothing is paraphrased.
It is keyed against codes.findlaw.com, a separate edition current as of 1 January 2025. The words are identical, 737 characters against 737 with blanks and whitespace removed. The blanks are not identical, and that is why the build source is the state's copy: findlaw prints five of the seven blank runs and renders the two building description rules as empty paragraphs. A form built from that edition would be missing places the statute leaves for you to write in.
The capture script, the character key check and the slice are in tools/mdcap.py and tools/mklien.py. The build stops rather than shipping a changed form if the published text moves a word or a blank.
Questions people ask
When does the 120 days start?
From doing the work or furnishing the materials. Section 9-104(a)(1) counts 120 days after doing the work or furnishing the materials, so on a job where you were on site over several months the safe reading is the last day you worked or the last delivery, and the safer practice is to send it long before that.
I am the general contractor. Do I send this?
No. Section 9-101 says a contractor is a person who has a contract with an owner, and 9-104 is addressed to subcontractors. If your contract is with the owner, this notice is not part of your route to a lien.
I sell material to the general contractor. Am I a subcontractor?
For this subtitle, yes. Section 9-101(g) defines a subcontractor as a person who has a contract with anyone except the owner or his agent, and that catches a supplier whose contract is with the general contractor. The 120 days are yours to watch.
Does this get recorded anywhere?
No. Nothing in Maryland's mechanics lien subtitle is recorded. This is a letter to the owner, and the lien itself is established by a petition filed in the circuit court under 9-105 within 180 days after the work was finished or the materials furnished.
How do I have to send it?
Registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or personal delivery to the owner by you or your agent. Those are the two methods 9-104(c) names. Keep the receipt, because 9-105(a)(1)(v) makes the petition plead facts showing the notice was properly mailed or served.
The owner is not around and I cannot deliver it.
Subsection (e) lets you post the notice on the door or other front part of the building, in the presence of a competent witness, within the same 120 days, where the notice cannot be given on account of absence or other causes. The same subsection says posting is sufficient in all cases where the owner has died and his successors in title do not appear on the public records. Record what you tried first, because the petition has to show posting was authorized.
There are two owners on the deed.
Subsection (d) says that if there is more than one owner, you may comply by giving the notice to any of the owners. One is enough under the statute. Sending one to each costs a second stamp and removes the argument.
Does it have to be notarized?
The form does not call for a notary. It carries a declaration that the signer solemnly declares and affirms under the penalties of perjury that the contents are true to the best of the affiant's knowledge, information and belief. It is signed by an individual, and if the subcontractor is not an individual the form has a line for the business that individual signs on behalf of.
The house is being built for the owner to live in. Is anything different?
Yes, twice over. Under 9-104(a)(2), on a single family dwelling being erected on the owner's land for the owner's own residence, you get no lien unless the notice is given and the owner has not already paid the contractor in full before receiving it. Under 9-104(f)(3), the lien against such a dwelling cannot exceed the amount by which the owner is indebted under the contract at the time the notice is given.
What does the owner actually do when it arrives?
Subsection (f)(1) lets the owner withhold from the sums due the contractor the amount ascertained to be due to you, and (f)(2) says the contractor then receives only the difference. That is how most of these get paid, without anybody filing anything.
How long do I have to file the petition?
180 days after the work has been finished or the materials furnished, under 9-105(a), in the circuit court for the county where the land or any part of it is located. That is a separate clock from the 120 days, and it does not rescue a notice that was never sent.
What happens after I file?
Under 9-106 the court reviews the papers and, if it determines the lien should attach, orders the owner to show cause within 15 days from service. If the owner files no counteraffidavit, the facts in your affidavit are deemed admitted. Where there is a real dispute but probable cause, the court can enter an interlocutory order establishing the lien and set trial within six months.
The property was sold while I was working on it.
Section 9-102(d) says a building or the land it is on may not be subjected to a lien if legal title was granted to a bona fide purchaser for value before the lien was established. Section 9-102(e) adds that filing the petition under 9-105 is itself notice to a purchaser that a lien may be perfected, which is the only warning the public record ever carries in Maryland. It is a reason to move rather than to wait out the 180 days.
I let the customer run on credit and took a note for the balance.
Section 9-110 says no person having the right to establish a mechanics lien waives it by granting a credit, or receiving a note or other security, unless it is received as payment or the lien right is expressly waived. Terms and a note do not by themselves cost you the right.
Once the job is running and you are getting paid on it, the paperwork that comes next is the waiver: see the Maryland statutory lien waiver forms, and conditional vs unconditional lien waiver for which of the two to sign.