A lien was placed on a property in Texas and the owner lives in California. The claimant states he is owed over $5,000 for repairs during the winter freeze of 2021. We had no written estimate or contract and believe that we were victims of price gouging. We tried to pay reasonable rates for services but the claimant refused to accept. Can anything be done?
Hello,
If he does not enforce lien rights for 1-2 years (project dependent), you can sue him to have the lien removed.
You can evaluate the actual lien itself to see if there are grounds to have it invalidated, and sue him to have it invalidited.
You can sue him for a declaratory action on a proper amount of services.
Most of these involve suing the person or waiting for them to sue you if you are not in a hurry. There is a likelihood that the person does not know how to enforce their lien or does not want to fight you in court. But they may fight you in court.
There's a lot that can go on here and most of it requires a long look at the situation and paperwork. Feel free to reach out.
E. Aaron Cartwright III
214.799.0776
Aaron@EACLawyer.com
You need to provide more information - for openers, is the property commercial or residential? The deadlines for the lien claimant filing suit to enforce the lien are different.
Did the lien claimant contract directly with the owner? If not, then certified mail notices would be required.
What kind of repairs - plumbing, roofing or what? If the repairs were performed by a contractor or person licensed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the owner may consider filing a complaint with the TDLR for overcharges.
Did the lien claimant provide notice of lien filing by certified mail within five days of lien filing? If not, the lien may be void.
Retain a construction attorney to evaluate the owner's legal position and to provide advice.
Good luck.
Hi Mr. Erikson and Mr. Cartwright,
first thank you for trying to help me.. Here are the details
I am the contractor and i have filed an affidavit of lien on homestead against my residential client who owes me 16k for material and labor. We stopped doing the work on his house in April becuase he was not paying and kept saying that insurance was not responding to him. He stated that he would not pay me until they paid him. His insurance company contacted me and i had to meet with their 3rd party adjuster onsite to go over the work. Once i did this they released the funds to him but Mr. Agu still would not pay me.
Today he hired another contractor to finish the carpet install and paint the media room and stairs as this was all that was left to be done. Mr. Agu said that he should not have to pay me more than what his insurance paid him and that since they took the 10k deductable out of his check that i need to remove it from my invoices as well.
I just want to colllect the funds i am out and move forward. Please and thank you for your guidancSandra Munoz