Alert: Notice of Potential Delays in Filing Mechanic’s Liens in South Carolina

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in closures to many businesses and the reduction in government services as well. This ALERT is meant to provide you with information regarding some of our recent experiences with the filing of mechanic’s lien notices in some South Carolina counties. This ALERT does not apply to all South Carolina counties but there are enough to cause concern.

The South Carolina Mechanic’s Lien Statute requires that any Notices of Mechanic’s Lien must be filed with either the Register of Deeds or the Clerk of Court (where the County does not have a Register of Deeds) and served upon the record owner of property within 90 days of the last date that work was performed or materials or equipment furnished. Failure to do so within that 90- day period will invalidate a mechanic’s lien.

Recently we have encountered problems with Clerks of Court/Register of Deeds in some counties where the filing date has been delayed by three weeks or more after the notice of mechanic’s lien has been sent or delivered to their offices. In many instances, we have not been able to get these offices to even respond to emails or phone calls. The primary purpose of this ALERT is to advise you of this possibility and to strongly suggest that you plan ahead and not wait until towards the end of the 90-day deadline to file. Our firm will continue to do our best to timely file mechanic’s liens, but we cannot be responsible for delays in filing caused by delays within the offices of Register of Deeds or Clerks of Court.