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Can Interior Designer w/o a contractor license lien my property?

WashingtonLicensesMechanics LienRight to Lien

Hello, an Interior Designer without a contractors license has filed a lien against my home. The dispute arose from a granite countertop installation gone wrong. The designer recommended I go to a company known as Wall to Wall for my counters. They supply all the material, fabrication, transport, measurement layouts, and installation of their product, but the money went through the designer who has an account with them. The designer did not even help me pick the granite color that I used, she merely told me where to go to get the job done. She ran the quotes and took my money. The tops were unacceptable on arrival, one piece was cut backwards, another shattered during install, the rest was broken and glued back together in many places. They were just a mess. I paid for 75% of the bill. The balance I have not paid as I had to have the tops replaced at my own expense elsewhere. I am in Washington State. Does she have the right to lien my property without having a contractors license and only being a design professional or supplier of supplier?

1 reply

Nov 8, 2019
Only "improvements" are lienable under RCW 60.04.011(5): (5) "Improvement" means: (a) Constructing, altering, repairing, remodeling, demolishing, clearing, grading, or filling in, of, to, or upon any real property or street or road in front of or adjoining the same; (b) planting of trees, vines, shrubs, plants, hedges, or lawns, or providing other landscaping materials on any real property; and (c) providing professional services upon real property or in preparation for or in conjunction with the intended activities in (a) or (b) of this subsection. This does not fall under "professional services" either unless it falls under this definition: (13) "Professional services" means surveying, establishing or marking the boundaries of, preparing maps, plans, or specifications for, or inspecting, testing, or otherwise performing any other architectural or engineering services for the improvement of real property.
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