The Construction Prompt Payment and Adjudication Act received Royal Assent on 16 June 2023 and commences by proclamation under section 46. The official commencement schedule checked for this edition lists it as not yet proclaimed. Its future payment, notice and adjudication obligations must be distinguished from the Construction Remedies Act, which already governs lien and holdback rights.
Existing lien and holdback obligations have their own scope and status. Read the relevant topic before using a figure.
Deadlines and reference points
Read the trigger and conditions with the figure. These are statutory reference points, not calculated dates for your project.
- Lien filing window60 days
The Construction Remedies Act generally uses a 60-day preservation period, with different triggers for contractors and other claimants, certification, last supply, completion or abandonment. Choose the correct statutory branch and earliest applicable event; do not calculate from the invoice's due date.
NB Construction Remedies Act ss. 59-61
What a lien can secure
A lien is statutory security for qualifying work, services or materials. It may attach to an owner's interest or a statutory fund, subject to scope and exclusions. It does not prove the full debt, and public or federal property can require a different procedure. Identify the claimant, work, contract, land interest and amount before filing.
Preserve within the right window
The Construction Remedies Act generally uses a 60-day preservation period, with different triggers for contractors and other claimants, certification, last supply, completion or abandonment. Choose the correct statutory branch and earliest applicable event; do not calculate from the invoice's due date.
The Act's lien, trust, holdback and payment-bond remedies are distinct. Confirm the land interest, claimant, work and prescribed claim procedure. Provincial Crown work and federal real property require scope checks rather than an assumption that every claim is registered against land.
Registration is not the end of enforcement
Section 64 generally extinguishes a preserved land lien 90 days after registration unless the required enforcement action and certificate of pending litigation are completed. Section 65 uses 90 days after giving the claim for a public-owner holdback lien, subject to the Act's special Crown procedure. Section 66 generally requires the action to be set down for trial, or the prescribed extension motion, within one year after commencement. Track those steps during any negotiation.
Lien, holdback and prompt payment are distinct
The Construction Remedies Act generally requires 10% holdback. Its holdback provisions distinguish substantial performance, completion or abandonment and relevant contract or subcontract certificates. The applicable 60-day period does not run from the invoice merely because that invoice records a holdback deduction.
The pending prompt-payment framework does not suspend the lien rights or holdback duties already in force. Do not wait for proclamation or a future adjudication process before protecting a current claim.
Build the filing record early
Preserve the legal property description, parties and contract chain, work and supply records, last relevant work, certificates and evidence of their issue or publication, amounts and payments, and all notices. Confirm the prescribed form, registry or recipient and any subsequent action deadline with qualified local assistance.
Use the current Construction Remedies Act's actual triggering event and the applicable interpretation and service rules. Learn's tools do not calculate New Brunswick deadlines, and anticipated prompt-payment periods are not displayed as operative clocks.
Questions about this guide
What is the lien deadline in New Brunswick?
The Construction Remedies Act generally uses a 60-day preservation period, with different triggers for contractors and other claimants, certification, last supply, completion or abandonment. Choose the correct statutory branch and earliest applicable event; do not calculate from the invoice's due date.
What event starts the period?
The Act's lien, trust, holdback and payment-bond remedies are distinct. Confirm the land interest, claimant, work and prescribed claim procedure. Provincial Crown work and federal real property require scope checks rather than an assumption that every claim is registered against land.
What happens after registration?
Section 64 generally extinguishes a preserved land lien 90 days after registration unless the required enforcement action and certificate of pending litigation are completed. Section 65 uses 90 days after giving the claim for a public-owner holdback lien, subject to the Act's special Crown procedure. Section 66 generally requires the action to be set down for trial, or the prescribed extension motion, within one year after commencement. Track those steps during any negotiation.
Does negotiation extend the deadline?
Do not assume so. Statutory preservation and enforcement steps continue unless a legally effective provision or order changes them. A promised payment, demand letter or another dispute process is not automatically an extension.
Read the shared explanation
Compare the general concepts, then return to the local rules before acting. Each tool states its supported scope.
Open the general guideSources & scope
Edition: 9 October 2026. General education, not advice on a specific contract. Confirm the current law, project scope and transition before relying on a deadline. This edition has not been represented as independently reviewed by a lawyer.
Construction Remedies Act — current lien and holdback lawConstruction Prompt Payment and Adjudication Act — enacted textNew Brunswick — Acts not yet proclaimed and proclamation schedulesSource register & editorial method