Materialman Liens: Why are you filing and what are you filing?

July 6, 2017

What you are filing initially, is a claim of lien. It’s not a lien until you recover on the underlying claim (the amount of money you are owed) giving rise to the claim of lien. Recovering your money through the filing of a claim of lien is actually a two step process: 1) filing a lawsuit and recovery on that lawsuit against the person or entity who owes you the money (for whom you did the work or supplied the materials) and 2) foreclosure of the lien which involves filing a lawsuit against the owner of the property on which the labor or materials were supplied and recovery on that lawsuit.

Why are you filing? While the obvious answer is to recover your money, the real reason you are filing the claim of lien is to attach your money claim to the property which you improved with your labor or materials in the event the person or company you contracted with for the services at issue can’t pay you. The ultimate objective is to recover your money. The quicker you do so, the less legal fees and time you spend dealing with issues unrelated to your primary business: building. Filing a claim of lien can effect title to the property in question and can affect the owner’s ability to sell the property. Owners dislike claims of liens on their property which can motivate them to satisfy the claim (paying you the money you are owed) or putting leverage on contracting party (to pay you the money you are owed). Often times, simply filing the claim of lien will provide the incentive needed by the contracting party or owner to pay your claim.

Carson Law helps small to medium sized construction firms in all trades deal with the legal complexities of running a small business and a construction project in the building industry. This blog is dedicated to providing straightforward legal information design to assist the construction practitioner with the legal issues they are mostly likely to face on a construction job. Construction law and litigation is our focus, helping people is our passion. See Carson-Law.com; e-mail crcarson@ccarsonlaw.com or call 678-205-1537.