State Construction Registry
Filing Requirements
During the 2004, 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions, new legislation was passed that significantly altered Utah's Mechanics' Lien Code. The changes that have been passed significantly impact everyone involved with residential, commercial and public construction projects. Some of the major elements of the legislation are outlined below.
- Privately owned as well as all state and local government owned construction projects require the filing of preliminary notices and allow for the filing of notices of commencement and notices of completion. As of November 1, 2005, all notices must be filed through the SCR.
- Notices of Commencement will be automatically filed by the SCR upon permit data submission from each city or county permitting office for projects requiring a building permit. Permitting agencies are required to submit building permit information to the SCR within 15 days of issuing a permit. For projects in which a Notice of Commencement is not automatically filed, owners and original contractors may file a Commencement in order to enforce the preliminary notice requirement. Examples: state projects in which permits are not issued, exempt projects, projects in which a municipality fails to transmit permit data.
- Preliminary notices must be filed through the SCR system in order to preserve lien rights. Parties required to file preliminary notices may not maintain a valid lien if a preliminary notice was not filed through the SCR within the proper timeframe.
- 1st tier subcontractors (as well as lower tier subcontractors) must file preliminary notices in order to protect lien rights.
- Upon completion of a construction project, a notice of completion may be filed through the Construction Registry. Once a notice of completion is filed, participating parties have only 10 days to file preliminary notices. As of May 1, 2006, if a valid Notice of Completion is filed through the SCR the window for filing a lien is 90 days. If a valid Notice of Completion is not filed the window for filing a lien is extended to 180 days. This applies to both residential and commercial construction projects.
Please see the Filing Timeline page for filing details and deadlines.