Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>I am buying a new home built by an owner( who is not a licensed contractor) & escrow was started prior to completion.
I am buying a new home built by an owner( who is not a licensed contractor) & escrow was started prior to completion.
If I buy a new home under construction & it is being built by a owner/developer who is not licensed am I protected from mechanics liens from the developer the sub's & suppliers?
1 reply
Dec 23, 2020
Not necessarily. If a subcontractor or supplier sent a preliminary 20-day notice, then the lien will relate back to the date that labor or materials were first delivered to the property. If the house was sold after that date, it is entirely possible that you could wind up with a mechanic's lien on the property for work done before you owned it. Title insurance may take care of that. You might want to ask the owner if any preliminary 20-day notices were sent in the last year and, if they were, get the releases for those contactors, which the owner should have if he paid for the work that was done.