All Forum Posts by: Christopher Dunson

Christopher Dunson The bank may pay him off. Ask to access some equity and deduct from the sale amount. I've been through this situation before as a contractor and it worked. The title company didn't want any secondary legal claims on the title besides the primary mortgage holder in 1st position.

Ummmm...You clearly didn't read my post. 1) I was the first person in this thread to point out that having a lien doesn't mean you can't sell the house, which has changed the tone of the thread. 2) I said that if you want you can take him to court but you have a 50% chance of winning since you have no contract with this guy....So, no, I was right, you just didn't read it correctly...Somehow you read that as my having said that he will only have to pay the guy 50% when the guy sells....

@Christopher Dunson You need to read and understand your state mechanics lien laws, they are Very specific.  Him not being licensed may not prevent him filing a lien, and even if so, it would likely take you a long time to get to court to remove it.  Most states have an option to "bond off" the lien either by buying a bond from an insurance co. or placing cash into a particular escrow account (here it is 110% of the lien) which would remove the lien from the property.

For my own reference, I'd run a quick search in the county records to see how many other liens he has filed.

When a kitchen contractor put a mechanics lien on my property over $1500 after doing shoddy work, I hired a lawyer.   He filed a mechanics lien even though I told him I  would pay  him $500 to part  ways.  Similar to your situation, this contractor did good work on three prior kitchens but the fourth was different.  He was a licensed contractor.  My  lawyer forced the contractor to get a lawyer to respond to him.  I think he sent him a bunch of  certified letters.   This cost him money and hassel.  Then my lawyer told his lawyer that he will take him to court.   The contractor did not want to go to court.  Then my lawyer  made them take the lien off.  My lawyer  then told him that filing a mechanics liens for no good reason tainted the title of my property and they should pay a penalty  for that.  To summarize:   Contractor paid me $1000 and took the mechanics lien off my property.  This process took about 4 months.

Yes, you're missing how business is conducted. First, you get bids and verify licenses. Next, you draw up a specific contract covering all points of the work and agree on the payment and draw schedule. Then work is performed. When complete, you do a walk through and sign off on the work. You pay the contractor and he gives you a release and the CoO.

If this guy never worked on the property and filled a lien, that's frivolous and carries jail time. If there is no contract, no license, and no process, nobody really knows who said what and when. He is just as much as fault as you are, but he isn't under the time pressure to sell the house. 

-Christopher

@Christopher Dunson did you check out if he actually file the lien against the property? If he doesn't have any proof in writing, can he still do it?

If he brought witnesses, do they have to be neutral parties or people who he hired?

I like the idea to get official inspection done (from the City, for example) and present it as a proof that the work was not done or was done incorrectly, or no proof of permits. If there is nothing in writing, it means his word against yours.

There better be a lawyer who knows about this game :(

The lien will be paid at the closing and that's what you don't want to do - because you'll pay twice for the work.

There should be a solution when contractors get greedy and don't finish the work.

Are you sure that there actually IS a lien? He's not just bluffing?