Contractor liens

[Western]

Have any of you guys ever filed a "contractors Lien" for unpaid work?
I was wondering about , If there is a statute of limitations and any other thoughts.

If you have, was it a big pita?

I have a small bill for a "emergeny" rush job I did for another GC, who was to far from the job to resolve it, so he asked me to take care of it.

The $ is minor but the principle of the deal is major to me. He did some "emergency" work for us and we just sent him his payment of over $17,000,, net 30 of coarse.

Thing is, he calls 15 day's into the bill and and was an *** to my father saying " I need my money, I have bills to pay" among other stuff

The amount he owes me is small, but the lien would be agianst his biggest client, which would cause huge ripples in his business relationship with them.

 

[Soundguy]

There are specific time limits for filing the 'notice to owner'.. I could give you the statuates in FLORIDA law.. but over in TEXAS that won't help you much.

Check your state statuates for time limts.. etc.

soundguy

 

[plowking]

In NH, you have to go to the register of deeds. My wife paid a lawyer 300.000 to put a lien on a property of a person who owed her 3000.00 balance for selling him a dump trailer/truck. This was a few years ago. He had to pay her or he couldn't sell his house which he eventually did when his realtor went for the deed for sale of the house [title search]the realtor got a surprise,could have been other liens too. All had to be settled to release to finish house sale. Different states have different laws on liens. You might have to get a lawyer . Some liens you could add court costs,lawyer costs. plowking

 

[radman1]

When you paid him his 17k, why didn't you just deduct what he owed you from the bill? Or deduct it on your next bill.

 

[Kays Supply]

I found the info for Illinois lien laws on the net. It will get the owners attention. It really hits home when you send the owner a copy. The hardest part is getting a proper legal description of the property. I went to the court house and a clerk let me use a settled lein as a guide to fill mine out.

 

[EarPlug]

Try looking here for Texas info - -
Texas mechanics' lien and bond claims

 

[plowking]

Hi,Western. How long have you known this other contractor? I have working relationships with my associates in the business. Most of the time we bill customer direct[ regardless of whose customer it is] unless it becomes to confusing for the customer. If he wants to have you pay in under 15 days, there is usually a cash discount. Are you going to keep working with him? Another thing is,some of my customers require a insurance umbrella to be on their premises during completion of a job,have to be sure my associates have same or they have to provide certificate of insurance incase of an incident. I read your states lien laws, keep the exact dates handy. plowking

 

[dmccarty]

In NC there is a time limit which I think is 60-90 days.

The contractor just has to go to the courthouse, I think the Deeds department, to register the lien.

What I don't know is when does the time period START. We did some research a few years ago on this when we were thinking about buying an unfinished house and wanted to know what the contractors could and could not do.

Our two cents was that the contractor has quite a bit of power in this over the owner. It seemed pretty easy for the contractor to file the lien. Which from the contractors view point makes a lot of sense.

In the case we were dealing with we had talked with several lawyers. Then we went to the courthouse and checked the property for liens. None had been filed. A week later the wife stopped in again to check. The clerk said it was funny, but a day or so after the wifes previous vist the contractor showed up and filed a lien.

Best we could tell, one of the lawyers we talked to was involved with this house's loan. He knew us, the other owner and the GC. We think he mentioned to the GC that he, the GC, should think about a lien on the house. We were pretty sure that the GC had missed his time to file the lien by quite a bit. We figured he was owed 20-30K at that point and he had not filed a lien. DUH.

We walked away from the house for various reasons.

Later,
Dan

 

[Soundguy]

I found the info for Illinois lien laws on the net. It will get the owners attention. It really hits home when you send the owner a copy. The hardest part is getting a proper legal description of the property. I went to the court house and a clerk let me use a settled lein as a guide to fill mine out.

In many state you can do a property search on line at the county tax apprasiers office ( public records ).. just search for the owners name. then pick out the correct parcel.. usually there is a parcel id.. site address, legal description and S-T-R info listed on the property tax listing.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

In florida the contacctor has * it hink* 45 days fromt he start of the project ( notice of comencement ) to file a notice to owner.

We usually file notice to owner as soon as we move on a project.. this puts the owner on alert to make sure his general contractor is paying his subs. Usually a copy o fthe notice to owner is also sent to any financial institutions working ont he project.. IE.. the mortgage holder of the property.. this lets them know to get release of lienns from all the subs before checks are cut to the general... mortgage co's don't like to hold titles that aren't clear of leins.. etc..

soundguy

In NC there is a time limit which I think is 60-90 days.

The contractor just has to go to the courthouse, I think the Deeds department, to register the lien.

What I don't know is when does the time period START. We did some research a few years ago on this when we were thinking about buying an unfinished house and wanted to know what the contractors could and could not do.

Our two cents was that the contractor has quite a bit of power in this over the owner. It seemed pretty easy for the contractor to file the lien. Which from the contractors view point makes a lot of sense.

In the case we were dealing with we had talked with several lawyers. Then we went to the courthouse and checked the property for liens. None had been filed. A week later the wife stopped in again to check. The clerk said it was funny, but a day or so after the wifes previous vist the contractor showed up and filed a lien.

Best we could tell, one of the lawyers we talked to was involved with this house's loan. He knew us, the other owner and the GC. We think he mentioned to the GC that he, the GC, should think about a lien on the house. We were pretty sure that the GC had missed his time to file the lien by quite a bit. We figured he was owed 20-30K at that point and he had not filed a lien. DUH.

We walked away from the house for various reasons.

Later,
Dan

 

[Western]

Thanks guy's for the comments, If I do move forward, I will use a Lawyer.

2 reasons we didn't "garnish" it from our bill, foremost I did it as a "side" job since our company and his, are venders for the same business, so it would be looked down upon (at the time) for him to need help from another regional vender, hope that makes since. 2nd reason and more importantly, we do not want to be accused for not paying and possibly jeapordize a $ 1.5mil contract.

The stupid thing is it was only a $1000 dollars, so I wont loose my farm over it, and I was doing around 20 - 30k year for him which I wont do agian. I have always had to wait for payment, this small amount was on principle.. can you say "bookoo lies" on his part.

Really, I had blown it off and refused any new work, until he called my dad acting like a real, well you know. 20 years ago I would have got in my truck and went up to his place and "spoke" to him about our family values, but at my age now I'd rather be shredding on my tractor than shoveling manure.

 

[Soundguy]

Really, I had blown it off and refused any new work, until he called my dad acting like a real, well you know. 20 years ago I would have got in my truck and went up to his place and "spoke" to him about our family values, but at my age now I'd rather be shredding on my tractor than shoveling manure

Yep.. sometimes it's best... good luck.

soundguy

 

[LBrown59]

I My wife paid a lawyer 300.000 to put a lien on a property of a person who owed her a $3000.00 balance
*He had to pay her or he couldn't sell his house .

This don't make sense.
Why would one want to block the sale of the house especially when getting your money depended on the sale of the house?
The bank holding the mortgage would have to be paid off before your wife ever got a cent.
Why would your wife want to pay off say a 30,000 dollar balance due on the mortgage?

*If the owner defaults on the mortgage the bank will foreclose and the house will be sold in spite of your wife's $3000 lien.
The Bank's not going to forfeit such a big chunk of money simply because your wife has a measly 3000 dollar lien on the property.

 

[Soundguy]

The mortgage co has the primary security interest.. every other lein is a secondary interest... befor ethe title can be cleared and marketable.. everybodies got to get paid.. unless there is a bankruptcy issue / auction.. etc.

then just about everybody looses.. etc.

soundguy

 

[plowking]

This don't make sense.
Why would one want to block the sale of the house especially when getting your money depended on the sale of the house?
The bank holding the mortgage would have to be paid off before your wife ever got a cent.
Why would your wife want to pay off say a 30,000 dollar balance due on the mortgage?

*If the owner defaults on the mortgage the bank will foreclose and the house will be sold in spite of your wife's $3000 lien.
The Bank's not going to forfeit such a big chunk of money simply because your wife has a measly 3000 dollar lien on the property.

Sorry ,it was a typo,it should have been three hundred dollars for lawyer to put on the lien. In,NH the lien has to be satisfied before title is released for completion of tranaction. plowking