Colorado Mechanic's Liens

The written Notice of Intent to File a Lien Statement must be served on the property owner and principal contractor. Service must be personal or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested. Mailed notices must be addressed to their last known addresses.

The formal lien statement must be recorded in the county clerk and recorder’s office. It must be signed and sworn to by the claimant, notarized, and contain the specific information required by statute.

A properly completed Notice of Time Extension, recorded within the applicable filing period, can extend the lien-statement deadline to whichever occurs first:

A mechanic’s lien is valid for six months after completion of the entire building, structure, or improvement, or six months after the last labor or materials were provided, whichever is later. The claimant must initiate a foreclosure lawsuit within that window.

At the same time the lawsuit is filed, the claimant must record a lis pendens—a notice of pending litigation—with the county clerk and recorder to notify third parties.

Residential bona fide purchasers. For single- or double-family residential properties, a lien cannot be enforced if a bona fide purchaser acquires the property and pays in full before the lien is recorded, unless the claimant recorded either a formal lien statement within two months or a Notice of Time Extension within one month.

Tenant-ordered work. A landlord’s or owner’s interest can still be subject to a mechanic’s lien when a tenant orders improvements, unless the landlord or owner posts a written notice of non-liability on the property within five days of learning about the construction, improvement, or project.

Contractors, subcontractors, and materialmen who provide labor or furnish materials to alter, improve, or construct a building, structure, or improvement upon land are eligible lien claimants. Suppliers to materialmen do not have lien rights.

Architects, engineers, land surveyors, and artisans providing professional services are expressly granted lien rights, even if actual construction never begins.

Mechanic’s liens cannot attach to public property owned by a city, county, or state entity. Performance and payment bonds instead provide protections for state-funded projects and other public works.

A claimant risks losing the entire mechanics’ lien by knowingly claiming more than is due when there is no reasonable possibility that the claimed amount is owed. If those conditions are established in a proceeding under Colorado’s mechanics’ lien statute, the claimant forfeits the lien and becomes liable to the person against whom it was filed for costs and attorney fees.

A disputed claim is not necessarily an excessive claim. Effective August 12, 2026, SB26-074 clarifies that a court’s award of less than the recorded lien amount does not make the claim excessive if the claimant had a good-faith basis to believe that amount was due when filed. The statute also recognizes reasonable, good-faith claims for disputed or unliquidated amounts and permits contract-authorized costs for delay, lost productivity, or other disruption.

These excessive-lien rules are distinct from Colorado’s Spurious Liens and Documents statute. In Tuscany LLC v. Western States Excavating Pipe & Boring LLC, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that mechanics’ liens fall outside that statute and cannot be brought within it simply by characterizing them as “spurious documents.” An allegedly excessive mechanics’ lien should therefore be evaluated under the mechanics’ lien statutes, rather than described automatically as a “spurious lien.”