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Utah's Mechanics' Lien Statute is among the most complicated in the fifty US states.  It is dangerous for a contractor or property owner to try and understand it without legal representation.  For a mechanics' lien to be enforceable, a series of filings must take place with the county recorder and State Construction Registry (SCR), beginning before a contractor even starts work.  Filings like notices of commencement, preliminary notices, mechanics' liens, lis pendens, and certificates of occupancy must all be done timely and properly. 

The best rules a contractor who does not understand the process can try and live by are these:

(1) file a preliminary notice with the SCR when you start work on any job;

(2) file a mechanics' lien within 90 days of finishing any job if you haven't been paid; and

(3) have an attorney begin a foreclosure action on the mechanics' lien within 180 days of filing it.

We usually will charge clients a $1,000 retainer to begin work, and may work on contingency thereafter depending on the cirumstances (meaning we only get paid if/when you win).  Utah law requires that the loser pay the winner's attorney fees after the dispute is over, so the law does provide you and us with some means of representing you on a more cost-effective basis than it does in other types of lawsuits.  Please contact us at (888) 941-9933 with questions or email us on the Contact Us page in the top menu bar.