Lien Deadlines by Province

The deadline to register (preserve) a builders lien is different in every province and territory in Canada, ranging from 30 days to 90 days from your last day of work, and missing it by a single day extinguishes the lien forever. The holdback percentage varies too. In a few provinces the deadline even depends on the date your contract was signed, so a tradesperson running several jobs across a transition date can have two different clocks at once. Always confirm the exact deadline for your specific contract before you mobilise. Below is the per-province table, followed by the traps.‍‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‍

Preservation deadline and holdback by province

The deadline runs from your last day of supply, or from substantial performance, completion, abandonment or termination, whichever the statute names. Confirm the precise trigger for your situation.

• Ontario: preserve within 60 days, perfect within a further 90 days (150 days total). Holdback 10%.
• British Columbia: preserve within 45 days. No short perfection window: the lien lasts 1 year from filing, but you must start an action and file a certificate of pending litigation within that year. Holdback 10%.
• Alberta: preserve within 60 days, or 90 days for concrete work or oil-and-gas well sites. Holdback 10%. (Projects contracted before 29 August 2022 may still run on the old 45-day rule, so check the contract date.)
• Saskatchewan: preserve within 40 clear days. Holdback 10%. Note: Saskatchewan is 40 clear days. The 40-to-60-day change that some sources mention is Manitoba's, not Saskatchewan's, so do not apply it here.
• Manitoba: preserve within 60 days for all contracts, regardless of when the contract was signed. Holdback 7.5%, the lowest in the country. (Only the separate prompt-payment regime is limited to new contracts.)
• Nova Scotia: preserve within 60 days. Perfection runs concurrently: you must start an action and register a certificate of lis pendens within 105 days of your last day of work. Holdback 10%, dropping to a 2.5% finishing holdback after substantial performance.
• New Brunswick: preserve within 60 days. Holdback 10% on private projects, 5% on Crown projects.
• Prince Edward Island: preserve within 60 days. Holdback 15% where the work exceeds $15,000, or 20% for contracts of $15,000 or less.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: preserve within 30 days. Perfection runs concurrently within 90 days of last work. Holdback 10%.
• Northwest Territories: preserve within 60 days under the new Builders Lien Act, in force 1 September 2025. Holdback 10%. (Contracts signed before that date run under the old, now-repealed Act.)
• Nunavut: preserve within 45 days. Holdback 10%.
• Yukon: preserve within 30 days. Holdback 10%.
• Quebec: not a lien. The legal hypothec is registered and served within 30 days of the end of the entire project, with 6 months to bring an action. No mandated holdback. See Builders Lien Basics for the prior-notice rule.

The deadline can depend on your contract date

In transition provinces the trigger date of your contract changes the answer. Alberta moved from a 45-day to a 60-day standard deadline on 29 August 2022, so a contract signed before that date may still run at 45 days. The Northwest Territories brought a new Act into force on 1 September 2025; older contracts run on the repealed Act. A tradesperson holding contracts on both sides of a transition date has to track each one separately. When in doubt, treat the shorter deadline as the real one and file early.

The concurrent-clock trap

In Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Yukon, the perfection clock does not restart when you register your lien. It runs from your last day of work alongside the preservation window. In Newfoundland, for example, you have 30 days to preserve but only 90 days total from last work to perfect, so if you register on day 29 you have just 61 days left. Contractors used to Ontario's clean 90-days-after-preservation rule routinely miscalculate this.

Common mistakes

• Using Ontario's 60 days everywhere. A contractor used to 60 days who starts in Newfoundland or Yukon (30 days) can lose the lien before even thinking about filing.
• Mixing up Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Saskatchewan is 40 clear days. Manitoba is 60 days for all contracts at a 7.5% holdback. They are not the same.
• Ignoring the contract date in Alberta and the NWT. A pre-transition contract can run on the old, shorter deadline.
• Counting from a deficiency visit. Minor remedial work does not extend the clock anywhere.

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