So I’m in Texas I didn’t really know about Lein’s never had to do in 10 years of business but if I didn’t send a preliminary Lein notice how would I go about enforcing payment.. or do I chalk it up as a loss and a learning experience
1 reply
Apr 14, 2020
Whether or not certain notices were required will depend on a number of different details - but you can help to determine whether you've still got rights for this job with Levelset's payment rights advisor. Further, this page breaks down the notice requirements making it easy to see whether you've missed a notice: Texas Preliminary Notice Guide and FAQs.
Also, keep in mind that failing to send a notice at some point in the job won't necessarily prevent you from partially preserving your rights. Because Texas notices are sent on a monthly basis, it's possible that a job spanning multiple months might partially still be protected.
If you have lost lien rights, there will still be some other recovery options on the table, though. Tools like payment reminders, demand letters, and even Notices of Intent to Lien could help to convince a customer to pay what you're owed without having to pursue an official claim. Additionally, pursuing legal claims like breach of contract or under Texas' prompt payment laws could be useful too. Plus, for disputes under $10,000, Texas small claims court could make sense for streamlining the matter. And, finally, sending the debt to collections is yet another option that could lead to at least partial payment.