Amendment of a Mechanic’s Lien

Generally, a lien claim may be amended as long as the amendment is filed prior to the expiration of the time limitations for original filing. No additional time is allowed to file an amendment. An Amended Notice of Lien must be filed within the same time frame as allowed by the statute for the original Notice of Lien. In contrast to other states, Utah’s mechanic’s lien statute does not specifically provide for amendment of a Notice of Lien.
However, in Robert’s Investment Co. v. Gibbons & Reed Concrete Products Co., 449 P.2d 116 (Utah 1979), the Utah Supreme Court indicated that the rule might leave some room for amendment after the time has run. The court said that “We are of the opinion that notices of liens may not be amended in any substantial manner after the time has expired for the filing of the same.” Id. at 118. The court leaves open the question of what “amended in any substantial manner” means. Presumably, though, “substantial manner” means an amendment which affects the validity of the lien claim. For example, a defective verification could not be corrected by an amendment after the running of the time limitation period. On the other hand, an updated claim amount would probably be correctable by amendment after the running of the time limitation period.

When amending a lien, it is a good idea to label the amended Notice of Lien as such and refer to the official records with the page number and the date of the original Notice of Lien which is being amended by the Amended Notice of Lien.