Professional · Akron, OH · Member since 2011 · 26 posts · 3 votes
I performed some consulting services for a client in Florida. The short version of the story is this.
Client owns a portion of an existing shopping center, and some of his portion is undeveloped (the “surplus property”).
I attempted to buy the surplus property for my own development purposes, but I could not come to terms with the Seller.
Seller (not a real estate guy) decided to attempt to self-develop the surplus.
This is where my “Seller” became my “Client” as he hired me to handle the development for him.
I’d put in a lot of time, but now the only way to monetize the opportunity was to pull out some consulting fees.
He hired me (yes, we had a contract) to determine what to build, how much rent could be expected, to coordinate with the other tenants, navigate through the leases, the REA, etc.
It now appears he is not going to pay me the last installment of my fee.
Can I file a lien? If not, do I have any other recourse?
Real Estate Broker · Northwest Indiana, IN · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
11y
Sticky situation here. You probably need to bounce it off an attorney in Florida. The contract could create a situation which gives you a right to file a claim for a lien. I suppose the question at hand is did you require a license for any work you performed. That will affect your standing to process any claim.
I would imagine if you do not immediately qualify to file claim for a lien then you would have to sue on the contract and obtain a money judgment which you can then use to collect. One of the ways you can obtain collection is having a lien placed over all real property within the jurisdiction of the court which granted the judgement.
Choose an attorney which is local to the property and has specifically real estate litigation experience.