I am a home Stager located in Santa Barbara and finished staging a property recently. The homeowners have not paid me and I'm wondering how do I file a lien on the property? It is currently listed for sale.
1 reply
Feb 4, 2020
In California, the parties allowed to file a mechanics lien to secure payment are parties who provided work authorized for a work of improvement. Generally, mechanics lien rights arise from construction projects, or in other words, a permanent work of improvement. In California, specifically, a work of improvement is defined as: "(1) Construction, alteration, repair, demolition, or removal, in whole or in part, of, or addition to, a building, wharf, bridge, ditch, flume, aqueduct, well, tunnel, fence, machinery, railroad, or road. (2) Seeding, sodding, or planting of real property for landscaping purposes. (3) Filling, leveling, or grading of real property."
In the event that a mechanics lien is available to secure amounts due, a preliminary notice must be provided in order to retain the rights to file that lien. In California, all parties must provide preliminary notice but parties who contract directly with the property owner only need to provide the notice to the construction lender, if any. You can read more about the preliminary notice requirements here.
Finally, to file the lien itself, a construction participant can follow this handy step-by-step guide, but in any event the lien must be filed within 90 days of the completion of the project. If a mechanics lien cannot be filed, the routes to recover may be through collections efforts or a lawsuit. In California, when the amount of dispute is less than $5,000 (or $10,000 for individuals) the case could be heard by small claims court. Small claims court can be less expensive and time consuming than a "regular" lawsuit.
In the event a lawsuit is filed, and a judgment obtained, the judgment can be filed in the county records of the county in which the judgment debtor owns property in order to perfect a "judgment lien."