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I've filed a lien - what's the next step.

WashingtonLien Deadlines

I'm an audio/visual/special effects contractor who sells and installs equipment primarily in the trampoline park industry. A lien was filed in August 2019 and no payments have been received since then. The current balance including finance charges is $95,769. How should we proceed? The building owner (our customer is a tenant) has asked us to sign a tolling agreement two different times, but we refused. Does that mean we have some leverage on the building itself?

4 replies

Jun 11, 2020
A Washington mechanics lien is only valid for 8 months after the claim is filed. If no enforcement action has been initiated during this timeframe, the lien will expire and no longer be enforceable. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with your claim. You may want to explore other options such as a lawsuit for breach of contract or unjust enrichment. These are fleshed out a bit more in: Can't File a Lien? Here are Some Other Recovery Options. One final thing to note, when contracting with tenants/lessees, unless the owner specifically authorized the work or the lease requires the tenant to make improvements to the party, a lien claim will only attach to the tenant's leasehold, not the property itself.
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Jun 11, 2020
Unfortunately, a lien on real property must be foreclosed within 8 months of the date of filing.  Your lien expired in April.  Also, unless the lease requires the improvement, the lien does not attach to the property, only the leasehold interest of the tenant.  I think you should proceed with a straight collection lawsuit.
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Jun 11, 2020
A lawsuit needs to be filed and served immediately. It may be too late. In Washington if alien was filed, you have 8 calendar months to file a lawsuit to foreclose the lien, or else the lien is estopped/no longer valid.
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Jun 13, 2020
A laborers/materialman's lien must be foreclosed in court within 8 months of the filing date.  If you are late on this, then your recourse would be to commence litigation against the person/company who requested your services for breach of contract to pay. 
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