We have filed the mechanic's lien with your help within the 90 day period. We will need to enforce the lien within 180 days (90 more days). How much will it cost?
1 reply
Jan 21, 2019
Great question. Enforcing a mechanics lien requires the filing of a lawsuit. That's why most parties utilize the time between filing and enforcing a lien to attempt and work out the dispute - in order to resolve the dispute while avoiding litigation. In fact, the majority of mechanics lien claims are resolved without the need for legal action. If enforcing a lien does become necessary, typically, that will require hiring an attorney to bring suit. That means, unfortunately, zlien is unable to help any party enforce their filed mechanics lien since zlien is neither an attorney nor a law firm. As far as the cost of enforcing a lien - that will depend greatly on who is hired to enforce the filed mechanics lien. Attorneys' rates differ wildly from practice to practice, and some attorneys may even take mechanics lien enforcement actions on a contingency basis. That makes it hard to predict what it might cost. Of course, reaching out to a few local attorneys or firms to discuss the ballpark cost of a lien enforcement action could help to clear things up. Finally, it's worth mentioning that before enforcing a mechanics lien, there's a step many claimants add to attempt to recover payment without having to file suit - and that's through a Notice of Intent to Foreclose. A Notice of Intent to Foreclose is a warning - it states that if payment isn't made and made soon, the mechanics lien will be enforced via lawsuit. As much as everyone hates liens, they typically hate lawsuits even more - so a Notice of Intent to Lien could be effective to kick payment talks into gear. You can learn more about that tool here: What Is a Notice of Intent to Foreclose?