Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>North Carolina - should I place a $3,333 lien on each of 9 unsold townhome units or $30,000 (the total) on each unit?

North Carolina - should I place a $3,333 lien on each of 9 unsold townhome units or $30,000 (the total) on each unit?

North CarolinaMechanics Lien

I am owed $30,000 total. The Owner knows that they owe me $30,000 in total.I have placed a $30,000 lien on each of nine (9) unsold townhome units and I wanted to confirm this is OK or whether I should have placed a $3,333.33 lien on each of the nine (9) units? Does it matter legally? Of course, as soon as I get paid in full, I will remove all the liens from all properties, but I want to make sure the liens are valid as filed.

5 replies

Jun 23, 2020

If only $30,000 is owed, total, then filing 9 separate liens for a total of $270,000 would very likely be improper. Instead, filing individual mechanics liens against each property for the amount owed for work done at that property would be more appropriate. Or, if all of the properties are owned by the same owner, and if all work was done under one contract, and if the project spans multiple properties - then filing one lien on all 9 properties for a total of $30,000 might work.

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Jun 23, 2020

Very unfortunate. I was told by Levelset that I had to file one (1) lien per address, not one (1) lien for all nine (9) properties. Would have been glad to pay the full rate on that one (1) lien. Instead I paid for nine (9) individual liens for each property and then after they were filed and served, I was told by the Owner that the nine (9) liens I filed were improper (in fact illegal) so I had to withdraw eight (8) liens and now only have one (1) lien in effect on one (1) property because NC lien laws prevent amending an existing lien. Very frustrating and very costly.

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Jun 23, 2020

Generally, when work spans several separate properties, filing a mechanics lien against each separate property is the safest way to secure payment. However, when those separate liens are filed, the total amount owed should be allocated across the separate properties. It is possible, in some cases, to file one lien claim spanning separate lots within the same improvement - which is why I said it "might work" in my answer above. However, it's not quite cut and dry that it'd be appropriate. Filing one overarching lien can be a risky endeavor, and filing separate claims will surely result in secured rights when the amounts of those claims are properly stated. This article on a Florida case provides a good example of what can go wrong (particularly when there are multiple, separate contracts): Can You File One Lien While Working Under Multiple Contracts?

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Feb 6, 2022

those are two separate home owners two separate addresses

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Feb 6, 2022

this is to file in NC

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