No date helper for Louisiana yet. The filing clock starts from substantial completion or from documents the owner or GC records in the parish mortgage records, which you may not see. A calculator would need answers most contractors don't have.
Typical home job (no notice of contract recorded)
- General contractor: when you sign a home improvement contract, give the owner the statutory “Notice of Lien Rights” to sign, and give a copy to any sub or supplier who asks. (R.S. 9:4852–4853)
- Everyone: file a statement of claim or privilege with the recorder of mortgages in the parish within 60 days after the owner records a notice of termination, or, if they never do, within 60 days after the work is substantially completed or abandoned. (R.S. 9:4822(A))
- Subs and suppliers on residential work: if you send the owner a notice of nonpayment inside the 60 days and at least 10 days before you file, your window stretches to 70 days. (R.S. 9:4822(D))
- Sue to enforce within 1 year after you file, and record a notice of pendency of action in that same year, or the privilege is extinguished. (R.S. 9:4823, 9:4833(E))
When a notice of contract was recorded
- Over $100,000: the general contractor must record a notice of contract before work starts, or it has no privilege at all. (R.S. 9:4811)
- Subs and suppliers: file, and send the owner a copy, within 30 days after a notice of termination is recorded, or within 6 months after substantial completion if none is. (R.S. 9:4822(B))
- General contractor: 60 days after a notice of termination, or 7 months after substantial completion if none. (R.S. 9:4822(C))
- With a payment bond attached to the recorded notice, the owner is off the hook; your claim is against the GC and its surety. (R.S. 9:4802(C))
Watch out for
- Ask the owner to tell you when the work is done. Send a written request for notice of substantial completion or of a notice of termination. If you asked and they don't tell you, you keep your claim against the owner personally even if you miss the filing window (but not the privilege on the property). (R.S. 9:4822(I)–(J))
- Check the parish records near the end of every job. A recorded notice of termination can shrink a sub's window to 30 days.
The law
Louisiana's Private Works Act is at La. R.S. 9:4801 and following. It was last overhauled by Act 325 of 2019; we found no later amendments to the sections above.