Ohio Affidavit for Mechanic Lien

In Ohio, a mechanics lien does not exist of record until a sworn affidavit is recorded. This form is the Ohio affidavit for mechanics' lien under Section 1311.06 of the Revised Code: the one-affiant instrument by which a contractor, subcontractor, material supplier, or laborer places a lien on improved real property for an unpaid balance, recorded with the county recorder of the county where the property sits.

A lien that lives or dies by a sworn statement and a calendar

Section 1311.06 makes the affidavit the perfecting act and sets the clock from the last day the claimant worked or delivered: sixty days where the improvement is a one- or two-family dwelling or a residential condominium unit, seventy-five days for other improvements, and one hundred twenty days for an oil and gas well lien. The statute lists what the affidavit shows: the amount due over and above all legal setoffs, the property, the parties, and the first and last dates of labor, work, or material. Once recorded, the lien continues in force for six years under Section 1311.13.

The affidavit also starts a second clock. Section 1311.07 requires the person who files it to serve a copy on the owner, part owner, or lessee within thirty days after filing by one of the means Section 1311.19 lists, and to post the copy on the premises when that service fails.

The affiant and the lien claimant are two blanks, not one

The statutory form printed in Section 1311.06(C) opens with the affiant's name and address and names the lien claimant separately in the body, because the statute allows the affidavit to be made by the claimant or the claimant's agent and verified before any person authorized to administer oaths. This form keeps that structure. Section 1 names the affiant, the natural person who swears to the facts and signs; Section 2 names the lien claimant, which may be an individual or a company. A company's managing member, as the completed example shows, and a sole proprietor swearing to a personal claim both fit the same two blanks.

What the form recites

Sections 3 and 4 name the person with whom the claimant contracted and the owner, part owner, or lessee, in the statute's own phrasing, as the case may be. Section 5 carries the first and last dates, Section 6 the amount claimed, and Section 7 the county, legal description, parcel number, and street address. Section 8 then states, in the words of the statutory form, that the claimant furnished material or performed labor or work in furtherance of improvements on the described land under a contract with the named person, that there is justly and truly due the claimant the stated sum over and above all legal setoffs, and that the claimant claims a lien on the land, building, or leasehold for that amount.

Because the instrument is sworn rather than acknowledged, the certificate below the signature is a jurat under Section 147.542, opening with the words sworn to and subscribed before me. The form carries exactly one affiant signature block and one jurat; it is not set up as a joint affidavit of several laborers under Section 1311.06(F), and it carries no second claim.

Built to Ohio recording standards

The affidavit is formatted to Section 317.114: letter-size pages, twelve-point body text above the ten-point minimum, a three-inch blank top margin on the first page for the recorder's indorsement, and the preparer statement Section 317.111 requires on an instrument that creates a lien. Recording fees under Sections 317.32 and 317.36 run thirty-four dollars for the first two pages and eight dollars for each additional page before any county surcharge. The guide also describes the notice of commencement and notice of furnishing under Sections 1311.04 and 1311.05, the home construction contract limits of Section 1311.011, and the thirty-day release duty of Section 1311.20; the release of lien is a separate instrument recorded later and is not included in this package.

The package includes the fillable affidavit for mechanics' lien, a completed example filled in for a Franklin County commercial roofing claim, and the guide that walks through every numbered section, the filing periods, service, and recording. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.