How long does a contractor have to preserve a lien in Ontario?

Under the Construction Act, a contractor's lien expires 60 days after the earlier of the date a certificate of substantial performance is published or the date the contract is completed, abandoned or terminated, unless the lien is preserved before that deadline.

How a lien is preserved (s.34) and what further steps follow are procedural questions we did not research in detail: a construction lawyer should handle them, and the 60-day expiry does not wait while parties talk.

The Construction Act also requires each payer in the chain to retain a holdback of 10 per cent of the price of services or materials as supplied. The holdback is governed by its own rules under the Act. If you are the owner, or a tenant who may be one, get legal advice on when and how the holdback may be released.

On the dispute side, adjudication under the Act cannot be started more than 90 days after the contract is completed, abandoned or terminated, unless the parties agree otherwise.

Whether a floor coating contract creates an "improvement" that attracts lien rights, and whether a commercial tenant is an "owner" under the Act, depends on the facts of the contract and the lease. Both questions call for legal advice before a dispute reaches the deadline stage.

If you are a facility manager or property owner dealing with a floor coating invoice that has gone sideways, speak with a construction lawyer promptly: the timelines above do not pause while parties negotiate.

If you are at the hiring stage rather than the dispute stage, the request form on this site sends your project details to local Ottawa floor coating contractors listed in the Ottawa Construction Network directory.