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Who should lien go to?

Hello I’m in a situation where a property was being sold. The association wasn’t allowing house to be sold because they need to correct something so they can remove lien and title company can issue new owner the title. My company was hired as a painter. Title company is suppose to pay us with the closing of the house. I made sure to write that one the contract. Title company sign the invoice by the contract was made to the pervious owners name. Well the house was sold. New owners are in and they are great people and have really nothing to do with this and they still haven’t received the title since association is taking their sweet time with doing inspection. It’s now been two weeks and I haven’t been paid by the title company even though all work was completed. Now My only problem is I’ve done lien to property but they usually go to the owner. Well this owner has nothing to do with this the title company is really the one paying us. How should I go about this without affecting the new owner.

1 reply

Dec 19, 2019

Mechanics liens encumber the improved property itself - so, in many cases, the owner is only along for the ride. While it is commendable to not want to involve the current owners of a property in a dispute when they had nothing to do with it, a mechanics lien is attached to the property, not to the parties who should have made payment. As examined a bit in this article, most states don’t care whether the property has been purchased by a third party who didn’t contract for the work, and when an innocent third party purchases the property, they will generally be liable to satisfy the lien claim and will need to seek recovery from either the original owner, or, potentially, the title insurance company. If the lien is enforced, the new owners will need to be involved, but, they can seek recovery from the parties who were actually responsible for the payment. If you really want to avoid involving the new owner in any way, it is likely that the lien is not your path to payment, and instead, a lawsuit against the parties responsible for payment os required.

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