Tag Archives: Placing a lien

Placing a lien when you are already paid can be a serious problem

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There was a time when construction companies once having taken a project will complete the entire project on their own. They will not like the involvement of any other party in the work. However, the dynamics have changed completely. Now big construction companies only take up projects and let it to other construction companies who further sub-let it to small construction companies or contractors. So one big project is worked by many different companies and the main company who initially took the work has to ensure that all the parties involved in this work are paid in full because if either of the party is not paid then it can have serious repercussion on the project.

The parties who are unpaid can place a lien on the project which means that only when they are paid first that the owner of the project will be able to sell anything to anybody. It also means that the parties who are unpaid and have placed a lien are in a way the actual holders of the property. However, once they are paid in full they will withdraw their lien and then it becomes lien free. As a lien on a project can have serious impact on the project owner in the same fashion if someone has wrongfully placed a lien to harass the project owner, it can again have serious impact on the person for taking incorrect advantage of the lien. Contractors and sub-contractors are allowed to place lien so that they can safeguard their interest if they are not paid by the project owner. But this should not be in any way misused or else the entire purpose of having a mechanism like this goes for a toss.

The law in the United States is strict enough to weed out any menace like this. People who take place wrong liens are punished once they are proven guilty. However, an equal opportunity is given to both the project owner and the contractor to prove their point and if it is found that the project giver has paid in full but it was because of some kind of confusion the contractor did not receive the money and placed a lien, then the court tries to clear out the confusion and at times also gives the contractor a warning to check things first before placing a lien.

Ideally, a lien is supposed to be placed after a series of discussion between the project owner and the contractor and nothing has come out of it. One can’t just go and place a lien when things can be solved via discussion. Placing a lien should be the last option. Therefore, it is suggested that the contractor gives ample of time to the project owner to pay him for his work. If he places a lien without giving sufficient time, it may back-fire him. By no means should the contractor do anything that will place him into problems. If proven guilty he may end up paying good chunk of money as penalty and may also have to be behind bars for few months.

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Placing a lien on the property is one of the best ways to claim your dues

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There may have been few instances where you are not paid for the work done on a project. You have been given some or the other reasons by the construction company that you found to be absolutely vague and got the hint that you will not be paid for your work. Situations like these are nothing but a nightmare for small contractors. Firstly, the small contractors do not have sufficient money to pay the workers and if at all they manage to secure the money from any of their sources, they experience a hard time to meet the other operational expenses of their business. On top of that if they see the construction company to be defaulting on them, they can’t imagine anything worse than that. In such a situation, the only thing that they can do is place a lien on the property that will disallow the company to get any loans or any sort of finance on the property.

You can’t place a lien on any property just because you want to. For that, you have to approach the court and put forth your matter to them. Take help of a competent attorney who will guide you with the legal proceedings and also will fight the case for you. Once the court acknowledges and sees that you owe money on the property that will allow you to place a lien on the place. Now once you get the lien, you also get the legal right to sell the property and claim the due amount.

Now the kind of evidences that you can submit to the court is the invoices of the materials that were bought for the construction of the building in the property. Additionally, you can also show the bills that were incurred for the wages you paid to the workers. These evidences will certainly make your case strong and you can hope that the court will rule in your favor. However, there is a timeframe for placing liens. You need to place the lien within a stipulated period of time or else the court will not entertain your plea.

Once you get the ruling in your favor, you have to inform your debtors about it and send a copy of the notice to them. This will give a strong message to your debtors that you are just not letting them go and placing a lien can bring trouble to them. They might then intend to pay you in full and once you are paid in full, you should drop the lien by informing the court that you have received the money in full.

Though placing a lien can work as a tool in recovering your dues, this should not be misused by you in any manner. In case, you approach to the court stating that you have not received the money whereas you have been already paid, it can backfire hard on you. The court may direct the authorities to put you behind the bars. Hence any such intention should be strictly avoided.

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