Legal Question
 

My question does not pertain to my boat in a direct but indirectly it does. I just moved into my new house three months ago. I got back from Destin yesterday to find a certerified letter in the mail. Apparently the contractor that built my house has not been paying his concrete bills because the concrete company says that the contractor has 30 days from monday to pay the invoice or they put a lein on my house and i am liable for the payment! The thing that i am worried about is this the only bill he is not paying or is there more to come? Should i file suit now just in case he is about to file bankruptcy? The contractors company is an llc so he can file and i can't recoup a dime. All of the bills that he did not pay become my responsibilty. The contractor told me it was an error and it would be paid by 12:00 but i talked to the concrete co. and he said it was not paid at all and there are 10 other outstanding invoices that he has not paid. I was about to buy a new boat but now i am kind of nervous to spend the money in case it all comes back on me.

I'm no lawyer but did you get lien waivers signed everytime you made a payment to the contractor? That may protect you so the concrete company can't place a lien on your house and can only go after the contractor but I could be wrong. I know it protects you from your contractor(or whoever signed the waiver).

i'm no lawyer either , but it seems to me that if the property (land) was not a securing interest in his financing the materials , then they cannot lien on the house

Construction lien laws very quite a bit by state. You need to check and see where you stand. If you do not have a lien waiver signed by the concrete company then it's probable that they can in fact get a lien. Also you better start checking with all the subs. If he isn't paying for concrete it's likely other aren't being paid.

Could be a very bad situation. Also you need to see if YOUR concrete was paid for. Sometime they try to claim against a home that was built by the same contractor even though that particular job was paid. If he files BK be prepared for a roller coaster ride.

Do you have a construction loan? Lien wavers got very lax in the hey day as contractors would just go to a different bank if you required them. those days are hopefully over and there have been some pretty big losses by banks and I am sure more to come as the housing market shakes out.

I'd go get your contractor and drive him over to pay your bill and get a lien waiver signed on the spot by the concrete company and tell the contractor not another dime until you get waivers from evey sub that's been on the property since commencement of the project and lein waivers on eveything going forward.

Did you get a list of subs before he started?

Hate to say it but, you need to call a lawyer. In Fla. the company could lien your house but only if they notified you within a certain time frame. Laws are different in every state. they may be bluffing and they may not.

that sux. im no lawyer either but i would hope/think that they cant come after you. buy the boat.

This happened to my brother in Willamsburg. And YES you can be held liable for the bills with a lean on your property. My brother ended up paying $65000 more to get out of it.

You also most likely paid a lawyer at closing to do a check on this exact thing to make sure the builder was paying his subs. Lets hope this is just a mis-billing or something like that.

Good question, if you didn't have it built and only purchased it you may have protection from your title insurance.

3 months is a long time, many states you need to give notice within a certian time of last doing work on your property.

I stand by my original statement and you need to get with a lawyer that deals in real estate liens in your state and get the specifics to your situation.

the supplier can probably put a lien on however only for the materials delivered to you prop , as pointed out this is a warning sign and you should demand proof of payments to subs and suppliers before you make anypayments ,

ljkjs!df?? ?/klsdu&n%l WTF, shells 3.00 a box!
Some days everyone pisses you off, it's like they never heard a word that was said groiwng up.