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Can I lien a property adjacent to the property I did work on if the work I did was for the benefit of that property?

I'm in Texas. I recently did all the civil work for a subdivision. The land that the subdivision was built on came with a lifetime drainage easement for the adjacent property. My customer needed me to make improvements to that adjacent property in order to satisfy the easement for the subdivision that they just constructed. If he doesn't pay me for the work I did on the adjacent property, can I lien his subdivision or is my lien only valid on the actual property to which improvements were made, regardless of which property actually benefits from the improvements?

1 reply

May 11, 2020

Mechanics lien rights will generally only be available against the project property, itself. And, performing work against one property and filing a lien against a separate property with different ownership will generally not be acceptable - regardless of who's requested that the work be performed. With that being said, mechanics lien rights may well be available against the property where work was done, even if the owner of that property wasn't slated to make payment. And, threatening to file a mechanics lien against that property could lead to payment. Additionally, legal claims like breach of contract or under the Texas prompt payment laws could be available, too. So, pursuing those claims or sending a payment demand letter threatening to bring those claims could speed up payment, too.

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