mechanic's lien; need an attorney! (sales, credit, houses)

[danandand]

An (invalid) affidavit of lien was put on my home last year by a subcontractor. I say invalid because the timeline deadlines were not met properly, and the property identification is incorrect (not to mention we paid our bill in full to the original contractor). This subcontractor has a long history (over 50 such liens on the Bexar County website) of shoddy work and then claiming liens...he did this all without an attorney, and was sending us threatening letters regularly. We hired an attorney who substantiated our research that the lien was invalid, but he was charging us so much money. What we need now, is an attorney to get this removed from public records...a simple job I believe, but we'd like someone who will do it at a reasonable fee. Any recommendations would be highly appreciated!!!

[dendox]

dm sent

[canterm]

i know the lien is invalid but check one thing: how long can a lien remain before it must be enforced by the subcontractor filing suit. Just because a sub gets a lien does not mean a thing if they do not enforce it and after a specified period of time you can have the court strike the lien (remove it). In Pa its two years which tends to be on the longer side. I think it would be easier to deal with it this way. Also have your attorney send a demand to remove the lien. In my opinion its bs becuase the sub should have to go after the GC if the GC was indeed paid. I know your position because I went through a similar circumstance. Best of luck

[danandand]

Canterm,
thanks for your reply. From what we've read, the statute of limitations is 2 years in Texas. We are at 1 year, 3 months, so we will definitely go that route at two years. We did have an attorney send him a letter demanding he remove it (with a threat of a 10,000 lawsuit against him if he didn't), but he didn't remove it...He knows it will cost us thousands to take him to court. I've talked with a friend who builds houses, and it appears that this is just how it is in Texas, very easy to put a lien without merit. He never even tried to get the money from the original contractor, just thought he could harrass us. Now, when we hire anyone at the home, we make sure they are not using subcontractors, and if they do, we get lien releases from everyone...a lesson learned.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by danandand

Canterm,
thanks for your reply. From what we've read, the statute of limitations is 2 years in Texas. We are at 1 year, 3 months, so we will definitely go that route at two years. We did have an attorney send him a letter demanding he remove it (with a threat of a 10,000 lawsuit against him if he didn't), but he didn't remove it...He knows it will cost us thousands to take him to court. I've talked with a friend who builds houses, and it appears that this is just how it is in Texas, very easy to put a lien without merit. He never even tried to get the money from the original contractor, just thought he could harrass us. Now, when we hire anyone at the home, we make sure they are not using subcontractors, and if they do, we get lien releases from everyone...a lesson learned.

You may already know this, but just in case, it's worth noting. Since it sounds as if the lien should never have been filed, you will want it expunged from the public records, ie - no record remaining whatsoever that a lien had been placed on your property. The subcontractor nor his attorney can "expunge" anything. It has to be court ordered.

A release of lien is totally different. The original lien will still be on your record. A release is filed in the same way as a lien and indicates the debt is no longer owed...specifically by being paid off. Having a release of lien implies that you paid off a debt. Your public records will show a lien, and then a "rel lien" at a later date. This can hurt your credit if it's handled that way when you never had the debt to begin with.

Please be sure this doesn't happen to you!

[danandand]

wCat, Thank you for explaining that. In order to get the lien expunged, would we need an attorney, or is this something we can do thru small claims court? I know this man has little money, and if I was to go to court with an attorney and try to sue him for attorney's fees, I would not expect to ever receive the money from him.

[CONTRUCTION07]

We took a shutter comapny to install our home shutters and they took a downpayment and ask us to apply for financing the balance, the sales person called me and stated that everything was ok and they were going to install the shutters, we agreed to install the shutters. after the shutters was installed the sales person stated that the credit was not approve and the credit company is diapproving all their customers--that to wait a few weeks they will be getting a new company in a few weeks. after a few weeks we applied and was denied credit. we ask the Company sales person if we can pay on a monthly basis and the sales person said 12 months no interest and we agreed. Then he called a few days later and said the president of the company wants all the money. we explained that we requested money from our 401k and he said ok. when i check my PUBLIC RECORD IN FLORIDA A construction LIEN WITH A WARNING WAS PLACED IN OUR PUBLIC RECORD.i WILL LIKE TO KNOW IF WE CAN EXPUNEGEMENT THIS LIEN.WE DONT WANT LEIN PLACED AND RE-LEASE OF LIEN ON OUR PUBLIC RECORDTHANK YOU

[dendox]

may be better asking on a florida board.

You may be up a creek since it appears that you may not have all of this documented (phone conversations about payment plans).

I have no clue how florida lien law works and wish you the best.

[dendox]

this appears to be a good article that may be able to help you.

http://www.myflorida.com/dbpr/pro/ci...a_lien_law.pdf

again, best of luck

[CONTRUCTION07]

thanks for your information