First I am in ILLINOIS in Cook county. I entered an agreement to loan money to a company to rehab a two flat July 28, 2021. I signed an agreement and notarized a “notice of lien” that the person was to file. I have a copy of the notarized lien document. Months later, I still do not see the lien notice when I look up the property. The project is well past the expected time frame of 3-4 months. I inspected the property two weeks before Christmas. It needed about three more weeks of work to close out in my opinion. A buyer is in place and approved but no closing date. The person called me multiple times a day to obtain the funds but is slow to connect now that payments are due. I have requested a portion of payments on two occasions to show good faith. I have received nothing so far. How will I collect on my investment? If the company dissolves am I out of my investment or will the buyers have to pay what is owed? I set up a notice to lien document to take to the courthouse downtown. What are the final things to check off on the list before I go there? And will I inadvertently kick off a whole new set of systems if I do so?
What you ask is essentially too involved, and fact specific, to be answered in this forum.
To begin with, Levelset generally deals with construction and mechanics liens. This is not that, eactly. You really ask if a lender on a project can enforce its loan via a lien.
And it turns out, the answer is "Yes," IF you filed your voluntary encumbrance (think of a mortgage) before, or at the same time, you made the loan, AND the loan is evidence by a contemporaneous note or other instrument recorded against the property.
What seems to be the case here is that the money was lent, payments are due, and no lien has been recorded. The most reliable way to collect is to sue and record a judgment against the property (as a "judgment lien"). Of course, that will take time, and by then it may be too late to slow-down or stop a sale. You could still collect against the Defendant/Borrower, but that is a different action.
In short, I seriously recommend sitting down with an experienced litigator to game out your options. There are a lot of issues to clean up here: it can be done, but you should act fast.
Hope this information was helpful. Best of luck.