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mechanics lien question

ColoradoLawsuitMechanics LienRight to Lien

Hello, Here is my situation...i'm building a home, and serving as my own general contractor. I hired a friend of mine, who owns a roofing company (Brian). He provided me a list of material I needed, I contacted a supply house, and they delivered all of the material, which I paid for. Long story short, Brian subcontracted the roof out and the people didn't do the roof right. They left off jacks, and the roof leaked a few days later. They came back 5 days after the roof leaked and put the Jacks on. They left off flashing, and vents also. All of these other things weren't discovered until the stucco guy came around two months later. The roofing company kept telling me he was getting the people to come out to finish up, but nobody ever came back. Meanwhile, the wife of the roofer (laborer) approached me and is wanting to collect her money, but I told her that the vents, and flashing were still not complete. Her excuse was the roofing company who she works for didn't provide enough of the material. I hired a roofing company to manage all of this, because i'm not a professional roofer, I wanted an expert to supervise this job right....He's no where to be found. I'm left to try and deal with this woman, and explain to her that I don't know if my roof is even done correctly? And, I wasn't paying her anything until my roof was inspected. She has filed an intent to lien, and now is threatening to put the lien tomorrow if I don't pay. The roof has not been inspected, and our final inspection isn't happening for a few more weeks. Can she legally file a lien? She has no contract, plus she was hired by the roofing company not me. a couple of months ago the roofing company told me I owed 2 grand. I said ok, as soon as I get an invoice, I can submit that to my bank for my draw. He never sent it to me. So to this day I haven't paid.

1 reply

Aug 21, 2020
Generally, parties are entitled to mechanics lien protection only if (and to the extent that) they performed work for which they are unpaid, when that work was in furtherance of the permanent improvement of the property. The lien extends to the value of the labor or material provided. A claimant cannot claim a lien for work that they did not perform / was performed by others. There are also specific requirements that must be met in order for a claimant to file a valid and enforceable lien. All parties in Colorado must provide a specific Notice of Intent to Lien at least 0 days prior to filing the lien itself, and the lien must also be filed no later than 4 months from the claimant's last furnishing of labor or materials to the project (2 months if the project is a residential property with a bona fide purchaser). If a lien is filed, there are defenses to the lien and disputes over the appropriate amount of the lien claim if there are workmanship disputes. And, there can be proactive steps to take if the defective workmanship caused damages to the property owner and/or the property owner was required to hire other parties to fix the shoddy work.
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