I am a property owner and hired a GC to work on my property. He took off with the down payment and never paid any subs. I want to put a lien against his property but cannot find the correct selection. We are located in Osage County in Oklahoma.
1 reply
Jun 28, 2019
I'm very sorry to hear about that. I can't imagine how frustrating that must be. However, mechanics lien rights are available to those who perform work which improves real property, but they don't provide two-way street. So, while a contractor might be able to file a mechanics lien against an owner who fails to make payments, owners aren't entitled to file mechanics liens against their contractors, regardless of what has occurred with the project.
However, an owner might have legal claims against a contractor, and it might be possible to recover payment by either threatening to make some claim against a contractor, or actually pursuing legal remedies. Further, depending on the amount of the dispute, expediting things through small claims court might be an option, too.