- A lien is a claim registered against the title to the property where the work was done.
- Separately from lien rights, the Construction Act creates statutory trusts over certain funds connected to a construction project.
When you're owed money on a construction project in Ontario, the Construction Act actually gives you more than one tool. The most familiar is the construction lien — registering a claim against the property itself. Less well known, but sometimes just as powerful, is a trust claim: suing someone in the payment chain for breaching their statutory duty to hold certain project funds in trust for you.
These remedies overlap but aren't identical, and choosing the right one, or pursuing both, can make a real difference to what you actually recover. This article walks through how each works and when one fits better than the other.
How a Construction Lien Works
A lien is a claim registered against the title to the property where the work was done. It doesn't create new money — it gives you a secured position against the property itself, so that if the property is sold or refinanced, your claim has to be dealt with.
Lien rights come with strict, short deadlines: you generally have 60 days to preserve a lien, and a further 90 days after that to perfect it by starting, and registering, the court action. Miss either deadline and the lien remedy is generally gone for good, though the underlying debt may still be pursued through an ordinary civil claim, subject to Ontario's general limitation period. These deadlines are current as of mid-2026 — confirm them before relying on a specific date.
How a Trust Claim Works
Separately from lien rights, the Construction Act creates statutory trusts over certain funds connected to a construction project. In general terms, money received by an owner, contractor, or subcontractor that's meant to pay for the improvement is impressed with a trust in favour of the people below them in the contract chain, meaning it generally can't simply be used for other purposes, like unrelated debts or general business expenses, ahead of the people the trust is meant to protect.
If those trust funds are misused, the people who should have been paid from them may be able to sue for breach of trust. Depending on how the funds were handled, this type of claim can potentially reach individuals, such as directors or officers who controlled the funds, not just the corporate entity that received them.
Key Differences at a Glance
| Construction lien | Trust claim | |
|---|---|---|
| What it targets | The property itself | Specific funds, and potentially the people who controlled them |
| Deadline pressure | Strict 60/90-day preservation and perfection windows | Generally follows Ontario's ordinary limitation period rules |
| What you need to prove | You supplied services or materials and weren't paid | Trust funds existed and were misused, breaching a statutory duty |
| Best suited for | Recovering from the value of the property itself | Reaching money, or people, beyond the property, including individuals who diverted funds |
Can You Pursue Both?
Often, yes. A lien claim and a trust claim aren't mutually exclusive, and many construction disputes involve raising both together: the lien to secure a claim against the property, and the trust claim to reach funds or individuals the lien alone might not capture. Which combination makes sense depends on the specific facts, including whether the deadlines for a lien have already passed, where the money actually went, and who controlled it.
When to Lean on Which Remedy
- If you're inside the lien deadlines and the property still has value — registering a lien is usually the first, fastest step to protect your position.
- If the lien deadlines have already passed — a trust claim, subject to the ordinary limitation period, may still be available, especially if you can show project funds were diverted.
- If the person who owes you money isn't the property owner — for example, a general contractor who received funds but didn't pass them down the chain — a trust claim aimed at that party, and potentially its principals, may reach money a lien against the owner's property never would.
Frequently asked questions
If I missed the lien deadline, have I lost everything?
Not necessarily. Missing the lien deadline generally ends the lien remedy specifically, but you may still be able to pursue the underlying debt through an ordinary civil claim, and potentially a trust claim if project funds were misused, subject to Ontario's general limitation period. A lawyer can assess what's still available on your facts.
Do I need to register anything to make a trust claim?
No. A trust claim is a type of lawsuit based on how funds were handled — it doesn't involve registering anything against title the way a lien does. It's typically pursued as part of, or alongside, a lien action, or as its own separate claim.
Can a trust claim reach money that's already been spent?
Potentially, depending on how the funds were used and by whom. Because a trust claim can target individuals who controlled and misapplied the money, it can sometimes recover from parties or assets a lien against the property alone wouldn't reach, but this depends heavily on the specific facts.
Is a trust claim faster than a lien claim?
Not inherently. Both typically proceed through the court system, and speed depends on the complexity of the case rather than which remedy you're using. The main practical difference is what each one is aimed at, not how quickly it moves.
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