remember my crazy contractor? (lawyers, feel free)

[laurenpetro]

the one that didn't show up for 4 months? (he finally finished the job, 9 months and 8 days later). well, he's back!

well, sort of. the company that installed the garage door hired a lawyer to collect the money he owed them. apparently he never paid them and it's been sitting for a year. they hired an attorney to put a lein on our property and he left a message while DH was on the other line.

i called the guy to find out WTF was going on and let me tell you, he's NOT suited for confrontation. i kind of yelled at him for a minute before he backpeddled and said that he was under the impression that we were involved in the hiring. (bullshit). i gave him all the contact info i had for the guy but apparently all lines are disconnected (shocking). i told the lawyer i'd hold onto his phone number in case i came up with anything.

can i give the lawyer the names of people who might know where he is?

DH, in the meantime, is freaking the fuck out. he doesn't handle this well at all. i explained to him that, if it came down to it, we'd settle with the company for a couple of hundred bucks and call it a day. that didn't make him feel better but he'll deal. lol.

so, what do we do if they put a lein against our property? just negotiate it and get it over with? i don't even know how much it's for but it can't be that much. it wasn't a new door, they just installed our old one again.

thanks

[casmgn]

Not a lawyer, but do you have a receipt or cancelled check showing that you paid the guy? If so, I don't see how the company can put a lien on your house - it's not your fault he didn't hand the money over.

[cindy1098]

In my county, all outstanding liens will go on your property taxes.

[laurenpetro]

Jun 19, 2012 15:43:47 GMT -5 casmgn said:

Not a lawyer, but do you have a receipt or cancelled check showing that you paid the guy? If so, I don't see how the company can put a lien on your house - it's not your fault he didn't hand the money over.

not exactly. he was SERIOUSLY delinquent in his work. during our last "meeting" he said that for every day fter may 1st he was late we could deduct $100 from the bill. our final inspection was on 6/25 so we didn't end up owing the last payment. i have a signed letter for the agreement in with the copy of our contract.

[MrsAxilla]

I'm not sure, but I don't think they can straight up put a lien on your house. I think they have to sue you first. You'll have plenty of time to settle if that's the case.

[Deleted]

If you didn't get a release of mechanic lein from them you might have an issue. I'd get your own attorney who can give you legal advice.

Sorry

[fivemutts]

Jun 19, 2012 16:20:46 GMT -5 @septimus said:

If you didn't get a release of mechanic lein from them you might have an issue. I'd get your own attorney who can give you legal advice.

Sorry

This. It varies by state, but in some states they can put a lien on your house even if you fully paid if a general did not pay a sub. You should probably talk to a lawyer. Best practice is to require a lien release at the time you make final payment.

[laurenpetro]

Well, I don't have the money to hire an attorney for this. I'll wait it out for now. I think I scared the shit out of their lawyer when I talked to him. I have no problem with settling with the company if it comes to that. The whole job couldn't be more than $700 so settling for a portion of that is NBD.

[downtoearth]

Jun 19, 2012 15:52:06 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

Jun 19, 2012 15:43:47 GMT -5 casmgn said:

Not a lawyer, but do you have a receipt or cancelled check showing that you paid the guy? If so, I don't see how the company can put a lien on your house - it's not your fault he didn't hand the money over.

not exactly. he was SERIOUSLY delinquent in his work. during our last "meeting" he said that for every day fter may 1st he was late we could deduct $100 from the bill. our final inspection was on 6/25 so we didn't end up owing the last payment. i have a signed letter for the agreement in with the copy of our contract.

So you may not have paid your contractor the portion that was supposed to go to the garage door people b/c he was delinquent and so you didn't pay for all the services you recieved? Just wondering, b/c that might be where you would need to settle with the garage door guys.

But, if you didn't contract them to do the work and the contractor did, shouldn't he have a contract with them so they can go after him or did you sign something directly with the garage door people?

[laurenpetro]

He hired them, not me. It was in the contract with the contractor. We never dealt with them directly.

[downtoearth]

Jun 19, 2012 17:03:28 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

He hired them, not me. It was in the contract with the contractor. We never dealt with them directly.

I'm not a lawyer, but if you paid him and he didn't pay that company, then it sure seems odd that they could put a lien on your property - just b/c the service took place there. I think I'd fight it on those grounds - they should be putting a lien on the business who they have a contract with, not you.

Good luck.

[5thofjuly]

We had a very similar situation happen (a contractor we paid in full didn't pay a sub) and a mechanics lien was placed on our home by the sub. Thankfully our lawyer got the contractor to pay the sub and then the sub released the lien. The other option was for us to pay the sub AND the sub's legal fees to have the lien released.

[laurenpetro]

can someone explain this to me? it's late but i think it says if i prove i paid the contractor then the sub can't hold me responsible for payment:

www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2011/2011_09582.htm