Lien

[Circe74]

My mother recently had a company put new siding on her house. However, the company did a terrible job, and parts of the siding were falling apart, parts done improperly, etc. She's called the company and spoken to the owner several times, who has made three separate appointments to come and look at the problems (which are obvious ones), but even though my mother has had to take time off work for these appointments, he hasn't ever shown up. (Mind you, my mother has told them repeatedly that she has the money to pay them immediately, as soon as they fix the problems they caused.) Now, months later after my mom trying to get them to come out and fix these problems, they've sent her a letter stating they're putting a lien on her house for nonpayment. They've never even sent her a bill...she's just had a few calls from their office saying she's "late" with her payment, and she told them that the job isn't done, then made another appointment to come look at the problems that they never kept. First, what is a lien? And will this result in them suing her (which she would almost be happy about, so she could finally either get them to fix the problems OR get her downpayment back so she could pay someone else to fix the job)? How can a company just put a lien on someone's home without taking them to court? And what are her options from here? Any thoughts would be appreciated..thanks!

FYI - she has documented the owner's failure to visit her, and even had a lieutenant friend with the city's police force with her waiting on one of the days when the owner never showed up. She has photographs of the obvious unfinished parts of the job, and before the guy who was "foreman" on the job had left, he'd looked around with her and said that yeah, there were serious issues that they needed to fix, but then just never came back to fix them (and according to the owner is no longer working there). And my mother has sent the company a certified letter explaining that she hasn't been able to contact them (every time she calls the phone rings, and there's no answering machine) but she would like them to come and complete the project so she can pay them for the finished job.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I'm sory to hear about your problems:

(1) As shocking as it may seem, you won't necessarily know if a mechanic's lien is filed on your house. A lien is a charge, hold, claim or encumbrance on the property of another as a security for some debt or discharge -- it is not title to the property but a charge upon it which gives the right, under law, for the debt to be satisfied out of the sale of the property. The company will want to do so to ensure that they are paid for the improvements done to your house.

(2) You will absolutely want to write a letter, certified return receipt letter, documenting all of the efforts you have taken and the unacceptable results. You should also state in the letter that the work done was unacceptable (make sure to take photos) and therefore you cannot and will not make payment until the job is done. In addition, you will want to warn them that if they do follow through on the lien on the house, then you will take them to court and file suit against them for compensation for all damages including "consequential and incidental damages" (nice words to include that will make them think you may have spoken to an attorney) and that they will also have to pay for any work done by another contractor to estimate and fix the work done by this contractor. You will want to obtain estimates for the work that needs to be done. You should also state that you will report them to the better business bureau (usually does nothing but why not) and see whether they take you seriously.

Note the company will likely have to sue your mother within a period of time or else they will lose their lien on the house. If they do sue her your mother should have enough proof to show that the company never responded and never finished the job. She should counterclaim in such an instance for her damages and show this company's abuse of process in demanding payment for work it knowingly did not complete.... But first, see what the certified return receipt letter does. That should wake them up. If it doesn't, send another stating that you will be paying another contractor to fix the substandard work -- but make very sure that you have proof to show that the work done was inadequate. Take those pictures, get those estimates and then play hardball. Good luck!

My mother recently had a company put new siding on her house. However, the company did a terrible job, and parts of the siding were falling apart, parts done improperly, etc. She's called the company and spoken to the owner several times, who has made three separate appointments to come and look at the problems (which are obvious ones), but even though my mother has had to take time off work for these appointments, he hasn't ever shown up. (Mind you, my mother has told them repeatedly that she has the money to pay them immediately, as soon as they fix the problems they caused.) Now, months later after my mom trying to get them to come out and fix these problems, they've sent her a letter stating they're putting a lien on her house for nonpayment. They've never even sent her a bill...she's just had a few calls from their office saying she's "late" with her payment, and she told them that the job isn't done, then made another appointment to come look at the problems that they never kept. First, what is a lien? And will this result in them suing her (which she would almost be happy about, so she could finally either get them to fix the problems OR get her downpayment back so she could pay someone else to fix the job)? How can a company just put a lien on someone's home without taking them to court? And what are her options from here? Any thoughts would be appreciated..thanks!

FYI - she has documented the owner's failure to visit her, and even had a lieutenant friend with the city's police force with her waiting on one of the days when the owner never showed up. She has photographs of the obvious unfinished parts of the job, and before the guy who was "foreman" on the job had left, he'd looked around with her and said that yeah, there were serious issues that they needed to fix, but then just never came back to fix them (and according to the owner is no longer working there). And my mother has sent the company a certified letter explaining that she hasn't been able to contact them (every time she calls the phone rings, and there's no answering machine) but she would like them to come and complete the project so she can pay them for the finished job.