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Lien without Contract or Signed Estimate from Homeowner?

Can a lien be filed on a property owner who did not sign a contract or provide verbal or written approval to commence work?

5 replies

Oct 27, 2021

You should explain the circumstances in more detail. How is it that there was no authorization to do the work?

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Oct 27, 2021

Landscaper had approval for sod installation. Irrigation retrofit was another portion of work. We asked multiple times for an estimate. He provided none. We are at the end of a multi-phase project with him and I think he just wanted to be done. He sent an invoice for $3K of irrigation work which we never signed off on or reviewed the design of lines/heads, etc. We have paid for all other work ($43K) to date. We are upset we had no input on irrigation design (it doesn't water our entire yard, including the new sod) and were denied a final walkthrough of the sod install. The sod install did not include sections that were on the CAD drawing. We are letting that go and will install sod in sections ourselves but the irrigation is incomplete and unsatisfactory. We will have to bring someone in to add a new line to water the sodded parts of the yard. The threat of lien, interest, a $250 per month late charge (not a typo) is upsetting.

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Oct 27, 2021

It sounds like you have a complicated situation. You should contact a lawyer in your geographic area for a consultation. It also sounds like you are the owner - but that is not clear. This forum is to answer questions for those working in the construction industry.

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Oct 27, 2021

We are owners of property. Consult scheduled for tomorrow with a construction attorney in the area.

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Nov 8, 2021

That’s a good one. To properly respond, more facts are necessary. In the meantime:

If a contractor performed work at a property on an oral contract directly with the owner, that contractor would have lien rights.

If a contractor performed work at a property without any contract and without permission of the owner, a couple of questions present themselves: a) why? and b) where was the owner?

Also, the contractor most probably has no lien rights.

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