We are buying a house in PA that just was remodeled Feb-April of this year. The title search was clear and everything seems to be paid… but we don’t know for sure. If a GC decides to file a lien within the lien timeline but AFTER we purchase the home, will it be a lawsuit against the seller? Or is the lien now our problem?...Read More
Our engineering department is preparing plans and designs for a land developer and at this point he is not paying our January 2021 to present AIA applications. We have a contract with the developer for our services on the project. Are we able to file a Mechanics Lien on the project?...Read More
The mechanics lien has been successfully filed on the property of George Riden for not paying his roofing bill. What is the long term status of the mechanics lien in Pennsylvania. That is, does the lien stick indefinitely, or does it have to be renewed? John Newman...Read More
Good day gentlemen ...
I am a homeowner who hired “a guy” working on a neighbors yard to install a small section of fence and do some minor landscaping. I provided the fence and with a verbal agreement we decided on $1200 for the final fee. I was fully aware that some overage may be incurred (a few bags of Quikcrete and a small load of river rock)
The contractor was forthcoming in doing a good job and doing a little “over and above” however at NO POINT was any increase in our verbal agreement ever brought to my attention.
When the job was 90% complete, I presented him with a check for $1200.00 when I was advised he now required payment of $2400.00 plus the cost of the cement and rock.
I told him that his doubling of his cost did not sit well with me and I’d have to get back to him with an answer to his demand.
The contractor then finished up his last 10% of the work and I advised him that I was not going to agree to his new quote of $2400.
I advised him I was more than willing to pay for the cement and the rock and maybe a little more since he did a nice job, but his demand for $2400 was completely out of line.
He got back to me this morning and advised me he was going to file a mechanics lien against me.
Do I have anything to worry about ? I filed a report with the local Police dept detailing everything I just mentioned. There was no contract signed and he already cashed my full payment of $1200. As far as I’m concerned I’d like to pay him for the stone and concrete and be done with him, but now he is making a cash-grab for an amount that was never discussed until the end of the project.
...Read More
I'm a material supplier and we delivered our last piece of material on 9/23/20. We have not been paid, and need to know if we have a right to lien the project, it has been over 6 months. Or does the 6 month clock start when the GC issues a jobsite completion notice? What if we did not receive a completion notice? There has been an 83k lien against this property by someone else. We are located in CA, jobsite was in PA....Read More
I run my sole proprietership business in ny. I did a job just over the border in pa. I never got a down payment as i guess i am too trustworthy. All there was was an oral contract. i worked for almost 3 months on the job and the decided they didnt want me to finish. I have maybe a day of work left to do. I am to believe this was an excuse not to pay me. I did not realize in pa i had to register with the attorney generals office. If i were to file a mechanics lien what are my consequences. Do i have a chance of ever getting paid: ...Read More
Serving a copy of a filed lien in Pennsylvania is no easy task. Especially when we have to rely on the sheriff's office to serve and/or post. Looking for any advice regarding best practices. Can we post a copy on the job site first, and then send the lien to be served with the sheriff as a CYA tactic? Will a court allow that? Are there any other ways to streamline the process to ensure our lien is valid?...Read More
We have customer who has owed us 20k since the end of July. He did not pay for the services as per the contract, stating he needed to wait until the sale went through (after the fact). At this point, we feel we need to lien the property to ensure payment. That said, our contract accrues monthly interest. I was curious if the interest could be applied to the lien after the lien itself has been filed. (Ex. Lien filed in December, we are in June of the following year, thus 6 more months of interest would be accumulated.) Would that amount be accounted for?...Read More
I am filing a lien through Levelset, and have to sign a Certificate of Compliance which states: " I verify that this filing complies with the provisions of the Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania: Case Records of the Appellate and Trial Courts that require filing confidential information and documents differently than non-confidential information and documents."
I dont know what this is, and i'm hesitant to sign something when I dont know what it is. Can someone please explain what this means. Thank you....Read More
We hired a contractor to do some renovation work, we had previously used him on another project. The contractor gave us an estimate of how much it would cost to do the work but never drew up a written contract/estimate. Our previous work was done as a pay as you go basis. We assumed this would be handled the same way and now that the work is done he is requesting a lot more money. He has only worked 2-3 days since our last payment and at that time I asked him in a text if this included everything up until that pay date. His answer was YES. We paid him 35,000 and now he is requesting 25,000 more because he said his estimate was 60,000. My husband was between jobs and worked along side the contractor for a month doing a lot of the work he would have had to do and he also hired people to do drywalling which he was going to do and we paid them directly. Any advise?...Read More
I am a house owner in Pennsylvania. I had hired a PA to help with an electrical unit replacement claim. The PA then called the restoration company to rip off the drywall and install moisture sucking machine to find the potential leak that caused the unit replacement. They were unsuccessful in finding the cause and then we got a local handyman to fix it for us for just $150. We were told that that the claim would pay for all the expenses but the work authorization contract we signed with the restoration company had a line that said I will be responsible to pay the company if the claim gets rejected. The PA also created an inflated bill for future repairs such as repainting the drywall and carpet replacement and sent it to our insurance company which eventually got denied. The restoration company wants us to pay the inflated bill of $8000 for one day's worth of work (ripping drywall (in ~100sqft area) and sent us a notice of lien. How do I deal with this? I do not want to get into any legal battles....Read More
I entered into a home renovation/improvement contract with P&S Services on March 15th, 2020. There have been delays due to COVID. We have agreed to pay the contractor the remaining amount per the contract (these funds are for work that has yet to be completed) and have only asked for an invoice for services rendered in return.
The contractor is threatening to place a lien on my home if we do not pay the full amount on his specified date before the work is completed and refuses to provide an invoice.
Please advise if PA law allows a contractor to place a lien on my property under these circumstances.
Thank you. ...Read More
My company has been providing security services to a construction firm for over 5 months. We patrol the area and protect the site from being vandalized and from theft. The construction company has not paid me for our services. I have contacted them multiple times and every person I speak with gives me the run around. Can I place a lien on them? If not, what can I do to get them to pay me? I had to sign a waiver of Liens for another construction company that I provided services to before which makes me think I can place a lien on this current construction company....Read More