North Dakota · N.D.C.C. ch. 35-27North Dakota construction lien deadlines: the 10-day warning, the 90-day recording and the good-faith buyer

In North Dakota, a person who improved real estate must give the owner written notice by certified mail at least ten days before recording that a lien will be claimed (N.D. Cent. Code §35-27-02), and records the lien with the county recorder within 90 days after its contribution is done, stating the amount due, the first and last dates and who it contracted with (§35-27-13). Missing the 90 days doesn't defeat the lien entirely – but it does as against good-faith purchasers or encumbrancers for value whose rights accrue before the lien is filed, and as against the owner for amounts paid to the contractor before recording; no lien may be filed more than three years after the first item was furnished (§35-27-14). The lien amount is limited to what the owner still owes, and a valid lien waiver bars it (§35-27-02(2)–(3)). On the owner's written demand, delivered and filed with the recorder, the lienor must sue and record a lis pendens within 30 days or forfeit the lien; in any case the lien is deemed satisfied unless an action is started and a lis pendens recorded within three years after the lien was recorded (§35-27-25).