Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>After recording the Mechanics Lien, owner's hired a lawyer, still I'm not getting paid and getting no where. If I send the debt to a collections agency, what can I expect from their attorney?

After recording the Mechanics Lien, owner's hired a lawyer, still I'm not getting paid and getting no where. If I send the debt to a collections agency, what can I expect from their attorney?

CaliforniaMechanics Lien

Mechanics Lien was filed through Z Lien. Recorded on early part of Dec. 2018. Owner's hired a lawyer, I still waiting to get paid, getting no where with the attorney. Most likely I'll not get paid using this approach, owners will refuse to pay. If I send the debt to a collection's agency, once they start to try and collect. What actions and or repercussions can I expect from their attorney. I don't want to go into court or hire an attorney, and make; what I believe to be simple matter i.e. (will they pay or not?) much larger that what it is.

1 reply

Apr 1, 2019

I'm sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately, it's hard to predict exactly how a property owner might try to fight a lien claim or a debt sent to collections. Generally, once a lien claim is filed, payment talks and negotiations take place in order to resolve the dispute without the need for legal action. Just as you mentioned above, many owners will (understandably) push back against a lien claim and attempt to convince a claimant to remove their lien without first obtaining payment. In those cases, some might see enforcing the mechanics lien as the next step to recovery - but sending a warning or threat letter like a Notice of Intent to Foreclose could help compel payment without the need for legal action. A Notice of Intent to Foreclose states that, if a lien claim isn't paid and paid soon, then the claimant will enforce their lien. Due to the serious nature of mechanics lien actions, many owners will be willing to talk payment upon receipt of the notice. zlien discusses that idea here: What is a Notice of Intent to Foreclose? As you mentioned above, another fairly common method of payment recovery is to send a debt to collections. Unfortunately, it's hard to predict how a given property owner might respond to their debt being sent to collections. However, it would seem unsurprising for an owner and their attorney to attack the underlying debt - claiming either that the claim made is overstated, procedurally or facially flawed, late, or otherwise improper. Further, complaints about workmanship are also common when fighting a lien claim.

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