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Can a lien be filed?

My girlfriend paid her contractor the amount quoted in the contract for a re-roofing job. Now about 3 months later they say owes them an additional amoun . They have threatened her with putting a lien on her house. She hasn't gotten any additional paperwork from them for the additional amount. Can they place a lien on her house? The state is Colorado. The contractor says she owes them an additional amount. But haven't backed it up with any sort of documentation. The invoice she was presented with is paid in full They claim she owes them an additional amount based on an insurance settlement. One last question. The contractor would need to prove, say with an additional contract or signed addendum to the original contract that she's liable for the additional amount?

1 reply

Oct 16, 2019

Mechanics lien rights are only available for amounts owed due to work that's been performed but not paid for. So, if work has been fully paid for, a contractor coming back and alleging that additional amounts are owed - and that those amounts are owed due to some insurance arrangement, and not because their original work wasn't paid for - they would seemingly not be entitled to file a valid and enforceable mechanics lien. With that being said, that doesn't mean a mechanics lien won't be filed. Lien claims can be lodged in the property record even in a situation where there's no valid basis for the claim - recorders offices generally have neither the bandwidth nor the authority to investigate each claim that's made. But, at the same time, owners can challenge improper mechanics lien claims. And, in a situation where a mechanics lien has been exaggerated or fraudulently filed, damages, fines, and even criminal penalties could come into play. Regarding proof of the claim - a contractor wouldn't need proof of the overages simply to get their claim filed. As mentioned above, the process for filing a lien claim is pretty streamlined. However, when a lien claim is exaggerated or fraudulent, an owner can challenge their filed lien claim. And, where there's proof a contractor has already been paid in full, that would seemingly be a pretty good position for an owner challenging the lien claim. So, if a contractor doesn't have any sound documentation supporting their lien claim, that contractor will generally not be successful in defeating a challenge to their lien. Though, ultimately, that decision would be up to the court (if the dispute gets that far, of course). Here are some additional resources that should be helpful: (1) I Just Received a Notice of Intent to Lien – What Should I Do Now? (2) A Mechanics Lien Was Filed on My Property – What Do I Do Now?

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