Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>I do construction in New Hampshire and am not liscensed as New Hampshire has no liscense required by teh state. Am I able to file a lein on a proerty of a customer who is refusing to pay upon cpompleetion of the job?

I do construction in New Hampshire and am not liscensed as New Hampshire has no liscense required by teh state. Am I able to file a lein on a proerty of a customer who is refusing to pay upon cpompleetion of the job?

New HampshireMechanics Lien Right to Lien

I have contracts outlined and agreed upon by the customer. I have multiple photos of the project before during and after. The customer is now not paying me for the finalization of the work. I am wondering if I can place a lien on the owners home. The project is located in New Hampshire. I am also based out of New Hampshire.

1 reply

Nov 13, 2018

That's a good question. First, before deciding whether or not to file a mechanics lien, it's important to determine whether there any notice requirements must be fulfilled prior to a lien filing. In New Hampshire, in order to preserve the right to lien, parties hired by someone other than the owner must send a Notice of Lien Rights to the owner. While there's no deadline for this notice, a lien claimant will only preserve the right to lien amounts that are owed by the owner but not yet paid at the time the notice is sent. That means it's generally a good idea to send it as early as possible - the later it's sent the less effective it will be. Anyway, assuming the right to lien has been preserved (if necessary), a mechanics lien acts as great tool to force payment. In New Hampshire, GCs, subcontractors, laborers, and material/equipment suppliers who have provided construction labor and/or materials to a project are all entitled to mechanics lien rights. Before filing a lien, though, many claimants have found that sending a document like a Notice of Intent to Lienn can be helpful in compelling payment - and sending one can actually help prevent the need for a lien filing. A Notice of Intent to Lien essentially acts as a warning. It states that, if payment isn't made soon, then the sender will file a mechanics lien. Considering the drastic nature of lien claims, most owners and contractors will want to avoid a lien filing - so sending a Notice of Intent to Lien to a nonpaying customer as well as any other party up the chain (including an owner) can often put pressure on a customer to make payment. Plus, if it's ineffective, a claimant can still proceed with a lien filing, as long as the lien deadline has not yet passed. In New Hampshire, that lien filing deadline is 120 calendar days from the date of last furnishing labor or materials for the project. Thus, this presents plenty of time for a claimant to pursue recovery through negotiations or a Notice of Intent to Lien, and plenty of time to prepare a lien claim before that 120 day mark, if necessary. Finally, this New Hampshire Mechanics Lien and Notice FAQ page should be helpful.

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