Builders Liens in BC: Deadlines, Holdbacks and Getting Paid

If you did work or supplied materials on a BC construction project and have not been paid, the Builders Lien Act lets you register a claim of lien against the owner’s title. It also gives you very little time to do it.

This guide explains who can file, how the 10% holdback works, what starts the 45-day clock and what must happen within a year of filing. It also covers the options an owner has when a lien appears on title.

Who can file a builders lien in BC

Under section 2 of the Builders Lien Act, a contractor, subcontractor or worker who does work or supplies material for an improvement to land has a lien for the unpaid price. “Improvement” is broad: building, renovation, repair and site work such as excavating and grading all count. Material suppliers count as contractors or subcontractors, depending on who hired them. The lien attaches to the owner’s interest in the land and the improvement.

Three limits matter before you file:

• No lien for supplying a supplier. Work or material provided to an architect, engineer or material supplier does not give rise to a lien.
• Some public works are excluded. The Act does not extend to highways and the improvements public bodies make to them, or to forest service roads.
• Claims are capped. All lien holders claiming under the same contractor or subcontractor can recover, in total, no more than the greater of what is owed to that contractor and the holdback required on its contract (s 34).

How the 10% holdback works

Each party primarily liable on a contract or subcontract must retain a holdback equal to 10% of the greater of the value of the work or material provided and the amount of any payment made (s 4). It is retained as the job progresses and secures payment to everyone working under the party it was held back from. No holdback is taken from workers, material suppliers, architects or engineers.

On most private projects the owner must also deposit the holdback in a holdback account at a savings institution, administered jointly with the contractor (s 5). That rule does not apply to government owners or to contracts where the total value of work and material is under $100,000. If an owner does not fund the account, the contractor may suspend work on 10 days’ notice.

The holdback period is 55 days from the issue of a certificate of completion or, without one, from completion, abandonment or termination of the head contract or completion or abandonment of the improvement (s 8). After it expires the holdback may be paid, which discharges the liens of the person paid and everyone engaged under them, unless a lien has been filed or enforcement started in the meantime.

The 45-day filing deadline, and what starts the clock

A claim of lien must be filed within 45 days (s 20). Which event starts the 45 days depends on the paperwork:

• With a certificate of completion. If one has been issued for your contract or subcontract, you and anyone working under you have 45 days from the date it was issued. A certificate issued later cannot extend or restart a filing period that has already started to run, whether from an earlier certificate or from completion, abandonment or termination (s 20(3)). A contractor or subcontractor can ask the payment certifier to decide whether its work is complete, and the certifier has 10 days to decide (s 7).
• Without one. The 45 days run from completion, abandonment or termination of the head contract or, if there is no head contractor, from completion or abandonment of the improvement.

Two definitions move these dates. A contract is “completed” when substantially performed: the rest could be finished or corrected for no more than 3% of the first $500,000 of the price, 2% of the next $500,000 and 1% of the balance. A contract or improvement is deemed abandoned after 30 days with no work, unless the stoppage was caused by something such as a strike, weather or a shortage of material. A strata lot is treated as completed no later than the date it is first occupied.

The land title office does not check whether a lien was filed in time (s 20(4)), but a lien not filed within the time allowed is extinguished (s 22) and can be cancelled. Missing the lien deadline usually leaves your contract claim for the money intact, subject to the limitation period; see our guides to collecting unpaid debts in BC and the two-year limitation period.

Filing the claim of lien

A claim of lien is filed in the land title office in the prescribed form, and the land must be adequately described (s 15). The Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) accepts claims of builders lien through its online filing service. Before filing, confirm the owner and legal description from a current title search, and claim only what is actually unpaid for work and material on that land.

Getting this wrong is costly. A person who files against an interest in land that the lien does not attach to is liable for the resulting costs and damages (s 19). The court can cancel a claim that is vexatious, frivolous or an abuse of process (s 25). Knowingly filing a claim that contains a false statement is an offence, with a fine of up to the greater of $2,000 and the amount by which the claim exceeds the actual claim (s 45).

After filing: one year to sue, and to register a CPL unless the lien was removed

Within one year of filing, the claimant must start a court action to enforce the lien (s 33). That deadline applies in every case. Within the same year the claimant must also register a certificate of pending litigation (CPL) against the title, unless the lien has already been removed from title by a payment into court or by security under section 23 or 24; removal excuses only the CPL, not the action. If the action is not started in time, or a required CPL is not registered, the lien is extinguished; the LTSA notes that it can then be cancelled from title using Form 17.

An owner, or a lien claimant who has already sued, can shorten that year by serving a notice requiring the claimant to start an action and register a CPL within 21 days. Lien claimants should diarize the one-year date the day they file. A lien action is also a contract dispute, so the strength of the underlying breach of contract claim matters as much as the lien itself.

Owners: when a lien appears on your title

A lien on title can hold up a sale, a refinancing or a construction draw. Besides the 21-day notice, owners can respond in three ways:

• Pay money into court. Where the liens are claimed by people working under the party the owner hired, such as subcontractors and their suppliers, the owner can apply to pay into court the lesser of the total of those liens and the amount it still owes that party. That second figure can never be less than the required holdback on the contract, so an owner who has already paid its contractor in full cannot clear subcontractor liens for nothing: it must pay in the holdback, or the total of the liens if that is smaller. The order discharges the owner’s liability for those liens and removes them from title (s 23). This route is not available for a lien filed by someone the owner engaged directly, such as its own contractor; for that lien the owner can apply to give security instead.
• Give security. The court can cancel a lien when the owner gives sufficient security for payment of the claim (s 24).
• Challenge the lien. A lien filed late, one that does not relate to the land, or one that is vexatious, frivolous or an abuse of process can be cancelled (ss 22 and 25).

Owners who retained the 10% holdback are in a stronger position, because liens claimed under a contractor are capped at the greater of what is still owed to that contractor and the required holdback (s 34). An owner who paid in full without retaining a holdback can be exposed for that holdback amount again.

Prompt payment rules are coming, but not yet

BC’s Construction Prompt Payment Act received royal assent on November 27, 2025, but the Province says it is not yet in force, with regulations still being prepared, and that it will apply to contracts made on or after the date it takes effect. Until then, the Builders Lien Act rules above govern.

Unpaid on a project, or facing a lien on title? Check the deadlines first

Our litigation lawyers can review your contract and timeline, prepare and file a claim of lien, start a lien enforcement action, or apply to have a lien removed from your title.

Call 604-259-2844 or send us a message to arrange a consultation at our Vancouver office.