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If you supply a vendor, can you place a lien on there customers home for product that isn't paid for ?

FloridaMechanics Lien

Our company Mobility Bathworks Mobility is b2b distributor of walk in tubs. We sold to a company Freedom who then resells to a end user Tom. Can Mobility place a lien on Tom for a product Freedom doesn't pay for ? Freedom currently sells in Would the lien law be different for each state ? Virgina Florida Arizona Pennsylvania Maryland New Jersey New York

1 reply

Mar 16, 2018

That's a great question, and as alluded to above, the answer will vary by state. In Virginia, it's a little unclear - but it appears that suppliers to suppliers may be entitled to lien rights. In Florida, material suppliers providing supplies to other material suppliers do not have lien rights. In Arizona, suppliers to suppliers are not qualified to file a mechanics lien. Further, only those parties who have a written contract with an owner-occupant may file a lien against his dwelling. In Pennsylvania, this will depend on who hires the party that ultimately supplies material to the project - a party who supplies another supplier will only have lien rights if the party who ultimately supplies the material to the project has a direct contract with either the owner or general contractor. In Maryland, there is no specific tier of potential lien claimant that is considered too far removed to assert lien rights - so a supplier to a supplier may have lien rights. However, note that if a lien claimant is a corporation, it must be registered in the State of Maryland in order to maintain a mechanics lien. In New Jersey, as of 2011, a supplier to a supplier is allowed to claim a mechanics lien, but only within the first 3 tiers. That means that a supplier to a supplier who contracted with the property owner is allowed a mechanics lien, but a supplier to a supplier who contracted with a party other than the owner is not. Finally, in New York, suppliers to suppliers likely do not have mechanics lien rights.

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