Construction Lien

[Your Mom]

I hired a contractor to finish my basement. He subcontracted the drywall work out. I paid my contractor, my contractor says he paid the drywall guy. The supplier of the drywall says he was never paid by the drywall guy. Now I have received notice via certified mail that the supplier of drywall has a contruction lien against my house for the whopping sum of $535.04. The drywall was done in early April and this is in Nebraska if that matters. I just talked to the drywall guy. He said his drywall business went under. What's my play here?

[CrazyEyez]

If some other person came and got drywall from the drywall guy, how the hell can he do anything to you? If I go steal paint from Home Depot, then go paint your house with it, can Home Depot come after you?

edit: Maybe the drywall guy delivered it to your house?

[NT!]

wow i had no idea they could even do this

talk to a lawyer

[prohornblower]

Before you submit final payment to your contractor you are supposed to get an affidavit. He is supposed to prove that he has paid his contractors and that your property is free and clear of mechanic's liens. I'm guessing you didn't do this.

Did you even keep a retainage (10%?) of the Contractors fee?

If I were you, I'd first call your contractor and tell him to pay the guy, because he placed a lien on your property. If the Contractor is at all ethical, he will take care of it (especially since he f***ed you already by accepting final payment without paying his subs).

A phone call might be all it takes.

[Your Mom]

[ QUOTE ]
Before you submit final payment to your contractor you are supposed to get an affidavit. He is supposed to prove that he has paid his contractors and that your property is free and clear of mechanic's liens. I'm guessing you didn't do this.

Did you even keep a retainage (10%?) of the Contractors fee?

If I were you, I'd first call your contractor and tell him to pay the guy, because he placed a lien on your property. If the Contractor is at all ethical, he will take care of it (especially since he f***ed you already by accepting final payment without paying his subs).

A phone call might be all it takes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I didn't know about this kind of stuff, although it makes sense in retrospect. The thing is that my contractor would have signed something saying he paid all his subs because I'm sure he did. It's that the sub didn't pay his supplier.

[Your Mom]

Just talked to my contractor who says the drywall guy is trying to come up with the money to take care of this. Apparently, drywall guy has a 450,000 house that he has on the market which would take care of this. My contractor says he will take care of the lien amount if drywall guy doesn't. Legally, am I on the hook here if contractor and drywall guy tell me to f off?

[prohornblower]

That is weird, and doesn't make a lot of sense. His supplier was never performing a service (to be paid later).

The drywall sub should have had to pay before receiving materials...this just doesn't sound normal. A supplier is never under contract. Liens typically deal with those under contract Owner-Contractor, Contractor-many subs. The sub shouldn't have a contract with the supplier.

Anyway, I'd still try calling the contractor and just verifying that he paid the drywall guy. Tell him that you have a lien from the supplier and maybe he'll get involved and tell his sub to pay the supplier. I mean, he likely hires this sub for multiple jobs so he may simply call the sub and say "pay the supplier or I'm not hiring you again." That sort of thing. I guess what I'm saying is the sub will likely listen to the Contractor moreso than you. And the amount is so small that I wouldn't worry about going the litigious route yet. See if your contractor can take care of it.

Good luck.

[Your Mom]

[ QUOTE ]
If some other person came and got drywall from the drywall guy, how the hell can he do anything to you? If I go steal paint from Home Depot, then go paint your house with it, can Home Depot come after you?

edit: Maybe the drywall guy delivered it to your house?

[/ QUOTE ]

I know...this seems ridiculous. If the restaurant doesn't pay its suppliers, can it come make me throw up for eating their food? Somehow, the drywall supplier had my address, so I guess drywall guy has to give it to him when he orders supplies. Guess I was very naive when it came to this.

[sirtimo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Before you submit final payment to your contractor you are supposed to get an affidavit. He is supposed to prove that he has paid his contractors and that your property is free and clear of mechanic's liens. I'm guessing you didn't do this.

Did you even keep a retainage (10%?) of the Contractors fee?

If I were you, I'd first call your contractor and tell him to pay the guy, because he placed a lien on your property. If the Contractor is at all ethical, he will take care of it (especially since he f***ed you already by accepting final payment without paying his subs).

A phone call might be all it takes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I didn't know about this kind of stuff, although it makes sense in retrospect. The thing is that my contractor would have signed something saying he paid all his subs because I'm sure he did. It's that the sub didn't pay his supplier.

[/ QUOTE ]

It goes on down the line. A reputable General Contractor should be getting 'release of lien' papers signed at every payment he gives to a sub. A sub providing turnkey materials + labor should be providing a signed 'release of lien' from his material supplier to the GC in order to get paid. Sounds like this isn't the case.

Anyway, you signed a contract with the GC not the sub or the supplier so that is who you deal with. The GC should pay the balance of what is due and backcharge his sub. Whether or not he is still in business don't matter, it's still a debt. If the GC doen't have it taken care of in 30 days, take him to small claims court.

oh, a lien on your house doesn't do any to you or the house until you try to sell it.

[Your Mom]

[ QUOTE ]
That is weird, and doesn't make a lot of sense. His supplier was never performing a service (to be paid later).

The drywall sub should have had to pay before receiving materials...this just doesn't sound normal. A supplier is never under contract. Liens typically deal with those under contract Owner-Contractor, Contractor-many subs. The sub shouldn't have a contract with the supplier.

Anyway, I'd still try calling the contractor and just verifying that he paid the drywall guy. Tell him that you have a lien from the supplier and maybe he'll get involved and tell his sub to pay the supplier. I mean, he likely hires this sub for multiple jobs so he may simply call the sub and say "pay the supplier or I'm not hiring you again." That sort of thing. I guess what I'm saying is the sub will likely listen to the Contractor moreso than you. And the amount is so small that I wouldn't worry about going the litigious route yet. See if your contractor can take care of it.

Good luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the info. Any info you have on removing a lien of this type once payment has taken place or on fighting the lien. I obv. don't want to use a lawyer on a 500 buck lien, but at the same time I don't want it on my property and I certainly don't want to pay for something I already paid for.