The double-payment trap
Everyone who improves your property, general contractor, subcontractors, suppliers, earns potential lien rights against your title if unpaid. If your GC takes your money and doesn't pay the electrician, the electrician can lien your home. You paid once; you can effectively be forced to pay part of the job twice. This is the single most under-explained risk in residential construction.
The shield: the statutory holdback
The Construction Act requires every payer, homeowners included, to hold back 10% of the value of work as it's performed. That fund is the lien claimants' security, and it caps your exposure: liens from unpaid subs attach to the holdback rather than compounding on top of what you've paid. Release it only after the lien period expires, 60 days from substantial performance or completion, with no liens preserved on title.
"The final invoice arrives, the contractor says 'the last 10% too, we're done here,' and most homeowners just pay it. Don't. That 10% is the one piece of leverage the legislature handed you. I structure my own contracts around the holdback because a contractor who's paid his subs has nothing to fear from it."
Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.
The end-of-job routine
- At completion, note the date substantial performance occurred: the 60-day clock runs from there
- Ask the contractor for statutory declarations that all subcontractors and suppliers are paid (we volunteer these)
- Before releasing holdback, run a title search confirming no liens registered
- Release the 10% once the period expires clean
If a lien does land: don't panic and don't double-pay anyone. Lien claimants must "perfect" (sue) within 90 days of their preservation deadline or the lien expires; a construction lawyer can often resolve residential liens quickly against the holdback. Note also that the Bill 216 and Bill 60 amendments came into force on January 1, 2026. They add a mandatory annual release of basic holdback (the owner publishes a notice within 14 days of each contract anniversary and pays between 60 and 74 days after publication, with the contractor paying subcontractors within 14 days of receiving it), repeal the old section 27.1 that let payers refuse holdback payment, and deem an invoice to be a proper invoice unless the owner objects in writing within seven days. Lien timelines are unchanged at 60 days to preserve and 90 days to perfect.
The holdback is one of four protections replacing Tarion on renovations; the full stack lives in the rights hub, and the payment schedule it slots into is in the deposit guide.