NC Lien Law & the Lien Agent System — 2-Hour CE Elective

1. Course objectives

On completing the course you will be able to:

1. Recognize when Chapter 44A lien rights attach on a North Carolina project, and identify who holds them.
2. Determine when a lien agent must be designated, apply the $40,000 threshold correctly, and designate within the statutory window.
3. Route the notices Chapter 44A requires among owner, contractor, subcontractor and lien agent, each within its own deadline.
4. Perfect a claim of lien on real property within the 120-day filing limit, in the correct county, and enforce it within the 180-day limit.
5. Apply subrogation and the double-payment risk to the payment chain, so that a solvent project does not become an unpaid one.
6. Manage lien exposure as a licensed general contractor: lien waivers, payment applications, and the records that make a claim provable.

2. Module outline and estimated times

6 modules, 100 minutes in total. Times are the estimated instructional time for each module; the course records your actual credited time.

Module 1 — Why Liens Exist — the Chapter 44A Toolkit (17 min, 2 checks)

• State the purpose of North Carolina’s statutory lien system and locate its governing law (Chapter 44A, Article 2).
• Identify who is entitled to claim a lien on real property under § 44A-8 and what that lien secures.
• Distinguish the lien on real property from the subcontractor’s lien upon funds, and explain why the distinction matters on a payment dispute.

Module 2 — The Lien Agent: Designation and the $40,000 Threshold (17 min, 2 checks)

• State the current dollar threshold that triggers the owner’s duty to designate a lien agent, and cite the session law that set it.
• Identify when the designation must occur, who may serve as a lien agent, and where lien agents are registered.
• Apply the owner-occupied single-family-residence exemption to project scenarios.

Module 3 — Information Flows: Who Must Tell Whom, and When (16 min, 2 checks)

• Describe the general contractor’s duty to pass the lien agent’s contact information down the contracting chain, and its deadline.
• Explain the permit-side disclosure duty of G.S. § 87-14(a1) and how it interlocks with § 44A-11.1(a).
• Describe the purpose of the notice to lien agent under § 44A-11.2 and why early notice protects a claimant.

Module 4 — Perfecting the Claim: 120 Days, the Right Courthouse (17 min, 2 checks)

• State the filing deadline for a claim of lien on real property and the event that starts the clock.
• Identify where the claim of lien is filed and the public-notice effect of filing.
• Distinguish the perfection path of the real-property lien from the subcontractor’s notice of claim of lien upon funds.

Module 5 — Enforcement, Priority, and the Clock (16 min, 2 checks)

• State the deadline for commencing an action to enforce a claim of lien on real property.
• Explain relation back — the priority date a perfected North Carolina lien takes.
• Assemble the full lien timeline from first furnishing through enforcement.

Module 6 — Lien Risk Management for the Licensed GC (17 min, 2 checks)

• Explain the general contractor’s two best lien-risk controls: paying subcontractors and obtaining lien waivers.
• Describe the owner’s double-payment exposure and the GC practices that prevent it.
• Connect the licensure statutes to lien practice: the $40,000 alignment and the unlicensed-contractor enforcement bar.

3. How the course works

Access

Sign in, then enroll on the course page with your NCLBGC Qualifier ID number and the Qualifier name exactly as on file with the Board (look-up: https://www.nclbgc.org/qualifier-search/). You will confirm the Qualifier ID on each return visit. Module 1 can be read before enrolling; credit is recorded only for enrolled students.

Navigation

Modules unlock in sequence. The course outline is on the course page and at the top of every module. Your place, elapsed time and completed knowledge checks are saved automatically, so you can stop and return. Statute citations open the cited law in a side panel, in the statute's own words.

Instructional time

Seat time accrues only while the course tab is active; the timer pauses on inactivity. Module dwell credits toward the 100-minute gate up to 1.5x the module’s allocated minutes (same credit policy as the VA course engine). Knowledge-check time counts as instructional time. After 15 minutes without a click, key press or scroll the timer pauses behind a "Still studying?" prompt; click Continue studying to resume. Credit per module is capped at 1.5× its allocated minutes. Knowledge-check time counts.

Tools on every module page

• 🌓 Light / Dark theme · 🔊 Read aloud (⏹ Stop) · Español rendering of the lesson · 🖨 Print or save as PDF · the time chip showing credited minutes.
• Spot an issue? at the end of each module reports a wrong statement, an outdated reference, a typo or a suggestion, tagged with the module.

Knowledge checks

12 across the course, each with the correct answer and a written explanation shown immediately. They are for learning; a wrong answer does not cost credit.

4. Completing the course and your certificate

1. All 6 modules complete and 100 minutes of credited instructional time recorded. No final examination: No summative assessment: NCLBGC removed the final-assessment requirement for CE electives (Board education staff, 2026-08-04). Completion = all six modules visited + the 100-minute verified seat-time gate.
2. The server verifies both from its own records and issues a certificate of completion with a unique certificate number (Board rule: within 10 days; normally immediate).
3. MASONBYTE LLC reports your completion to the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors through the provider portal within seven calendar days (21 NCAC 12B .0204), with the course ID, your Qualifier ID and name and the completion date, and keeps registration and attendance records for four years.

5. Required notices

• Qualifier ID. At registration — and each time you access the course — you must provide your NCLBGC Qualifier ID number and the Qualifier name on file with the Board. Look both up on the Board’s qualifier search at nclbgc.org/qualifier-search.
• 90-day completion window. You have 90 days from enrollment to complete this course. If you do not complete it within 90 days, you must retake the entire course on re-enrollment.
• Availability. This course cannot be purchased, started, or completed after November 30, or at any time during the month of December.
• Technical requirements. A modern browser (current Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari) with JavaScript and cookies enabled, on desktop, tablet, or phone. A stable internet connection is required for time tracking; no speakers, printer, or plugins are needed. Content blockers may interfere with progress tracking. Supported systems: Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 or later, iOS 16 or later, Android 10 or later, or a Chromebook, each with a current browser.
• Support. Technical support: support@masonbyte.com — monitored business days (Eastern); include "NC CE" in the subject for fastest routing.

6. For reviewers and testers

Thank you for testing. The course is being reviewed before it is filed with the Board, and your report is the fastest way to fix anything that is wrong.

Getting in

• Testers use the real path: sign in, enroll with a Qualifier ID and name, read the modules, answer the checks, and let the timer run. That exercises the same pipeline a licensee will use.
• Board reviewers receive reviewer credentials from the CE Coordinator with the course application; the reviewer view is ungated and records no credit.

What to check

1. The Board notice appears on the course page and at the top of Module 1, and the credit hours and estimated completion time are stated before you start.
2. Every module shows its estimated time, and the outline matches this guide.
3. The 90-day window, the November 30 / December availability rule, the technical requirements and the support contact are all stated on the course page.
4. Enrollment asks for the Qualifier ID and name, and the ID is asked for again on a later visit.
5. Each knowledge check shows the correct answer and an explanation immediately.
6. The timer pauses when you leave the tab and after 15 idle minutes, and resumes on Continue studying.
7. Leaving and returning restores your place, your time and your completed checks.
8. Every statute citation opens in the side panel and the text matches the official source.
9. Light / Dark, Read aloud, Español and Print all work on each module page; the printout is legible.
10. Completion issues a certificate only after all 6 modules and 100 credited minutes.

How to report

• For anything about the lesson text, use Spot an issue? at the end of the module; it records the module for us.
• For anything else, email support@masonbyte.com with the page address, the module number, what you expected, what happened, and your browser and device. A screenshot helps.
• Please do not copy module text elsewhere; the material is proprietary to MASONBYTE LLC and is licensed for review only.