3 deadlines NoticeGuard models for Virginia: what each one counts from, the statute it was read from, and the statute text.
Information, not legal advice. This app reports what the statute says and cites the section it read. It is not legal advice, it does not file anything for you, and it does not tell you what to do.
Verify with the statute or an attorney. Statutes change, and courts reinterpret them. Every deadline in this app comes from a statute read on the date shown next to its citation - that snapshot can go out of date. Missing a mechanics lien deadline can extinguish your claim permanently, so confirm any deadline you are relying on with an attorney licensed in that state before you act on it.
Data verified: statute text retrieved 2026-09-21 (each citation below carries its own date). Rule data from the NoticeGuard app, source commit 22f9300.
Filed with the clerk's office, counted from this claimant's own last labor or materials furnished - capped at 90 days after completion of the building or structure (or the work otherwise terminated), if that is tighter.
What it counts from. 90 days after last furnishing (last day on site), but no later than 90 days after final completion of the original contract (whichever is earlier).
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
Code of Virginia § 43-4 (sole operative paragraph) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“A general contractor, or any other lien claimant under §§ 43-7 and 43-9, in order to perfect the lien given by § 43-3, provided such lien has not been barred by § 43-4.01 C, shall file a memorandum of lien at any time after the work is commenced or material furnished, but not later than 90 days from the last day of the month in which he last performs labor or furnishes material, and in no event later than 90 days from the time such building, structure, or railroad is completed, or the work thereon otherwise terminated.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The memorandum "shall" be filed within this period "in order to perfect the lien" - a lien not timely filed is not perfected.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Applies identically to general contractor, subcontractor, and supplier - § 43-4 itself covers "a general contractor, or any other lien claimant under §§ 43-7 and 43-9," and § 43-7 cross-references back into § 43-4's own timing. The real role-based asymmetry in Virginia is in lien AMOUNT (a subcontractor's lien is capped to funds the owner still owes the general contractor, § 43-7(A)), not in this deadline.
The statute states two ceilings ("not later than... and in no event later than..."), so the earlier one controls - the same minimum-of-two-dates shape Utah's and California's own caps already use.
Commence suit to enforce the lien
Counted from the date the memorandum of lien was recorded. The statute actually sets this as the LATER of that count or 60 days after completion - this app shows only the recording-based count; see this rule's notes.
What it counts from. 180 days after notice of construction lien recorded.
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
Code of Virginia § 43-17 (sole operative paragraph) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“No suit to enforce any lien perfected under §§ 43-4, 43-5 and 43-7 to 43-10 shall be brought after six months from the time when the memorandum of lien was recorded or after sixty days from the time the building, structure or railroad was completed or the work thereon otherwise terminated, whichever time shall last occur...”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). A suit brought after this period is barred - the statute states it "shall [not] be brought after" either date, whichever is later.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Approximated as 180 calendar days (6 months), the same approximation style used throughout this app.
The statute's own words are "whichever time shall LAST occur" - a maximum of two dates, not a minimum. If 60 days after completion is actually later than 6 months after recording, the true deadline is later than the date shown here; see this state's `limitations` for why showing only the recording-based count is the safe, never-overstating choice.
Filing a petition to enforce the lien "in any suit wherein such petition may be properly filed" counts as institution of a suit under this section - a procedural nuance this app does not separately model.
Second notice for personal liability of owner or general contractor
An optional, separate cause of action (not the lien itself) - a verified statement of the claimant's actual claim, sent to the owner and general contractor, due within 30 days after the building is completed or the work otherwise terminated.
What it counts from. 30 days after final completion of the original contract.
Applies to. Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
Code of Virginia § 43-11 (2) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“Additionally, if such subcontractor, or person furnishing labor or material shall at any time after the work is done or material furnished by him and before the expiration of thirty days from the time such building or structure is completed or the work thereon otherwise terminated furnish the owner thereof or his agent and also the general contractor... with a second notice stating a correct account, verified by affidavit, of his actual claim against the general contractor or subcontractor, for work done or materials furnished and of the amount due, then the owner, or the general contractor, if he alone was notified, shall be personally liable to the claimant...”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). Sending this notice within the period is what makes the owner (or general contractor) personally liable for the amount due - a genuinely separate, optional remedy from perfecting the lien itself under § 43-4.
Also stated next to this deadline.
This is entirely optional ("may give a preliminary notice") and creates a separate cause of action against the owner or general contractor personally - it does not perfect, extend, or substitute for the lien itself.
The recovery is capped: it "shall not exceed the sum in which the owner is indebted to the general contractor" at the time of the second notice - a dollar-amount ceiling this app does not track.
A first, optional preliminary notice may also be sent at any time before this second notice, stating the nature of the claim - not itself deadline-bound, and not modeled as a separate rule.
The general contractor never owes this notice - it runs from a subcontractor, supplier, or other person furnishing labor/material TO the general contractor or a subcontractor.
Weekend and holiday rollover
NoticeGuard does not model a weekend or holiday extension for Virginia. The dates above are the plain count from the date you enter. Check whether a Saturday, Sunday or holiday changes your date.
What this rule set does not cover
The filing deadline's true anchor A is "90 days from the last day of the MONTH in which" the claimant last furnished labor or materials - not 90 days from the furnishing date itself. This app anchors to the furnishing date directly, which can show a due date up to ~30 days earlier than the statute strictly requires (never later) - see the doc comment above for why this is a deliberate, safe simplification rather than a guess.
The 150-day backward lookback (§ 43-4) - which caps which charges can be INCLUDED in the memorandum, separate from the filing deadline itself - is not modeled; this app never collects dollar amounts or itemized charge dates.
The enforcement-suit deadline (§ 43-17) is genuinely "whichever time shall LAST occur" between (a) 6 months after the memorandum was recorded and (b) 60 days after completion/termination - a maximum, not a minimum. This app shows only (a); if (b) is actually later, the true deadline is later than what this app shows (see the doc comment above for why showing only (a) is the safe, never-overstating direction, not a guess).
The residential "mechanics' lien agent" notice (§ 43-4.01) - a 30-day, non-fatal notice that only applies when the project is a one- or two-family residential dwelling AND the building permit names an agent - is not modeled. This app has no fact field for whether a permit names an agent, and missing this notice does not bar the lien outright (it only trims recoverable work to after a late notice), a shape this app's binary computed/needs-input model does not represent well.
Only §§ 43-3, 43-4, 43-4.01, 43-5, 43-7, 43-11, and 1-210 have been read. The rest of Chapter 1 - including §§ 43-8/43-9/43-10's further subcontractor-tier mechanics - is not incorporated.
Weekend/holiday rollover is NOT modeled - deliberately, not by oversight. Code of Virginia § 1-210 is a general, Code-wide computation-of-time statute whose text plausibly covers both a clerk's-office filing deadline (subsection B) and a "maximum period... to bring a legal action" (subsection C, matching § 43-17's suit deadline exactly), but no Virginia case or AG opinion confirming its application to Title 43 specifically was found. The same honest gap as most other states in this app.
This app generates the memorandum for mechanic's lien from § 43-5's template ("substantially in form and effect" - a safe harbor, not mandatory exact wording). That template's own heading reads "...Claimed by General Contractor" - confirmed § 43-5 is genuinely scoped to the general-contractor tier; a subcontractor or lower-tier claimant should use the analogous § 43-8 form, which this app does not independently verify or generate.
NoticeGuard is an app that turns a job's dates into a countdown for each statutory step, shows the statute text each date was read from, exports a calendar file (.ics) and sends reminders 14, 7 and 1 day before each deadline. It tracks and reminds; it does not file anything for you.