Our contractor completed work on our home on January 28th, 2020 for a project that began in March 2019. The relationship was not a good one & many mistakes were made that we asked him to correct (ordering incorrect shingles, siding cut with gaps, ordering & installing the wrong windows & sink are just a few examples). As the relationship got worse, he started threatening my partner with a lien on our home. She was pressured into signing off on two walls (that I wanted redone) & approving a final payment after enduring verbal abuse from the contractor & his foreman. She simply wanted the contractor & his foreman out of our home, as communication had become so hostile. The contractor & all subcontractors were paid in full at the end of January 2020. Here nearly a year later, there are items we have had to call the contractor back to fix (his work has a one year warranty). While he did respond & is addressing some of the issues, he is once again using the threat of a lien to get my partner to agree to let repairs go. My question is this: I know he had 90 days from the January 28th, 2020 to file a lien for the original work done, but does he have the right to file a lien now? Here a full year past when the work was completed, he is saying there was a "side contract" that we had with him that was "unpaid" & that if we write a negative review of his company, he will put a lien on our home. How can we fight back against this?
The way to "fight back" on this is to serve him with a letter from an attorney or from you (and clearly written by an attorney) demanding that he cure any alleged defect, etc. Of course, the one year period of time is now expired under the contractor's warranty it appeasr. As to the "side agreement" and what is or is not lienable, more information is needed.