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Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>We are property managers and we need to put a lien on a property. Do we need to be licensed? We did a lot of general maintenance for the property, outside and indoors.

We are property managers and we need to put a lien on a property. Do we need to be licensed? We did a lot of general maintenance for the property, outside and indoors.

New YorkRecovery OptionsRight to Lien

This is about a home that belongs to me and my husband, but which we put in the name of my husband's brother. Now we had a possible sale and the brother in law refused to cooperate. He refused to work with us - we are the true owners - to lower the interest rate, to lower the taxes, to build on the empty lot, and he took insurance claim money that he was not entitled to. We have done the upkeep of the property for 25 years, when we bought the house in 1993, and each month the work and repairs we did on the maintenance and upkeep of the property with the house on it is valued at $1800.00. Since the brother is unwilling to either finalize a sale or pay us for the property, we have no choice but to file a lien.

1 reply

Sep 27, 2018
I'm very sorry to hear about that, and I can't imagine how frustrating that must be. While a remedy is surely available here, and potentially even some sort of lien, a mechanics lien might not be the most appropriate remedy here. Mechanics liens are a remedy for those in the construction industry who have performed work and gone unpaid. Ongoing and repetitive services - like upkeep and property management, typically do not serve as the basis for a mechanics lien filing. Further, mechanics liens have strict deadlines, and work performed over a 25 year period would very likely not be protected - especially when no contract to perform the work exists. Of course, this does not mean that no remedy is available. Posing this question for attorneys with more experience on situations such as this one could provide a lot of insight into potential remedies since our expertise lies in the construction arena. The following websites provide the opportunity to ask legal questions on all sorts of topics, and they have attorneys available from all different practices: Avvo, Justia, Lawyers.com. Good luck!
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