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How does CDARA affect liens? Will a Lien stick if challenged by the CDARA process?

I performed a re-roof job and am owed around 30K. After completing the job I was informed by the customer not to enter the property and that they didn't plan to pay me and were citing construction defects through the CDARA process and serviced that notice. I next asked them to provide me with a description of what exactly was wrong so I could fix it, but it seems like they are more interested in not paying than having anything that could potentially be wrong fixed. At that point there was nothing more to do but honor their request to not return to the property and invoice them, which they have not paid anything on, and according to their lawyer do not intend to. I have made requests to have reasonable access to the property to inspect the allegation within 30 days of the notice and description of alleged defects as allowed for by the CDARA process, but have yet to get a response from their attorney confirming this permission. I don't want to just show up as that could be cause for chaos but I'm afforded an opportunity under CDARA to do so. I have filed a notice of intent to file lien via registered mail and email, texts, etc and want to know if it will stick or how the CDARA process could affect the lien. If I get tottally burned I at least want to know the lien will stick... Any insight is much appreciated.

1 reply

Jan 16, 2019

That's a fair question, and it sounds like you understand Colorado's Construction Defect Action Reform Act (CDARA) pretty well. As you'd mentioned above, after a Notice of Claim is filed under the CDARA, the party whose work was allegedly defective is entitled to request for access and inspect the property within 30 days. Where a property owner refuses to acknowledge a contractor's right to inspect, they find themselves afoul of the Construction Defect Action Reform Act - and as a result, they may have difficulty filing legal action based on allegedly defective work until that process has been completed. However, that will have little to do with the mechanics lien process. As zlien discusses in the following article, just because there are disputes over workmanship does not mean that a mechanics lien cannot be filed: Can I File A Lien If My Workmanship Is In Dispute? Further, there doesn't appear to be anything in the Colorado mechanics lien statute that would limit the ability to file a lien claim where the CDARA process has been put into play. While it does not appear that Notice of Claim process should impact the ability to file a valid mechanics lien, it's worth noting that recovery under that lien - should a lawsuit become necessary under either the construction defect claim or an action to enforce the mechanics lien - could be impacted by potential defects.

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