Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>Should I get a lien or sue in court

Should I get a lien or sue in court

My husband is a licensed contractor. Did a roof for client, stopped payment on balance due, saying it was too much. Have a signed contract. However, client was informed there may be unforeseen extra expenses, and he agreed. Now he has stopped payment and owes the entire balance.

2 replies

Aug 21, 2019

You can do both, record a construction lien and file suit in court. If you started by recording a lien, that might motivate the homeowner to pay you and/or give you leverage to negotiate a settlement that makes business sense to you. (You may be mad at the homeowner, but don’t let that get in the way of negotiating a settlement that gets you paid sooner rather than later.) If that doesn’t work, you can also file a lawsuit (unless there’s arbitration provision in the contract). Depending on the amount you’re owed, you could sue for the unpaid contract amount in district court (for claims under $25,000) or sue to enforce on the contract and to enforce your lien in circuit court. In Michigan, circuit courts have exclusive jurisdiction over construction lien foreclosure actions, regardless of the dollar amount. In Michigan, lien claimants have up to one year when the lien was recorded to file a lawsuit to enforce their construction liens. After one year, the lien “expires”. The time for bringing just a contract claim is 6 years from the breach (non-payment when due). District court cases generally do not take more than a year from filing to trial; circuit court cases can be 18-24 months depending on your location. I hope this helps.

0 people found this helpful

Helpful

Aug 21, 2019

Thank you so much.

Report Spam