Tag Archives: Lien property

Place a lien if you are not paid for your work

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Instances where a contractor is not paid for his work are few but they do happen and this is when the poor chap does not know what he should do to claim his money. Construction companies give contracts of their projects to various contractors. The number of contractors involved in a project is completely dependent upon the size of the project. If the project is big and it requires several men to work on it, then the construction company will involve more than one contractor or else he will simply go with just one. The construction company pays the contractor on the basis of the work that has been completed. The pay to the contractor is dependent on which phase the work is on. So as and when the contractor completes each phase, he is paid for his work and simultaneously he in turn pays to the sub-contractors.

There are some construction companies who faces severe monetary crunch and are unable to pay the contractors on time. However, the contractors do not stop the work with the hope that he will be paid after the completion of the next phase and will also receive the amount in arrears. Now suppose he completes the entire project and keeps calling the construction company to pay him but see nothing coming out of their pocket. This is when he needs to take the legal course. All that he can do is place a lien on the project which means that as long as you are not paid for your work, no banks can mortgage the property. So for instance, if you are engaged in building a condominium for residential purpose and you are not paid in full by the company, you can place a lien on the entire project which will prevent the buyers to avail mortgage from banks.

This means that the construction company has to first clear all your dues and only once the lien is removed that he will be able to sell the apartments. Such types of instances are rarely seen but they do happen and whenever it happens, the best way to tackle it is taking the legal course and places a lien on the property. The construction companies are also aware of this phenomenon and therefore they ensure that they pay their contractors their full due. They also make sure that the contractors in turn clear the dues of other sub-contractors who were engaged in the project.

In case you need to place a lien on the project, the best way to do so is by talking to an attorney who will advice you on how you can proceed with it. Remember that placing a lien should be the last option and you should not do this if you do not find the company paying you. By doing this, it can also tarnish the relationship and hence it is suggested to be taken only after you have taken every possible option to claim your money.

Lien property that your heavy equipment was on

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There is always a danger that you will not be paid for your work from the person for whom you are working. This can result in huge loss for your company as you have to pay the dues to your employees which is quite obviously not going to be a meager amount and if you are unable to collect the money from the guy for whom you have been working then that will lead to big problem for you as well as for your company. In order to avoid this loss, you can place a lien on the property that your heavy equipment was on. Placing a lien will ensure that you have the right to dispose of the property after the completion of work to any third party if you are not paid for your work. In case you dispose it off, you will be able to get your dues paid and in turn you can even pay the dues of your employees that is liable on you.

We would be discussing the reasons on which you can place a lien on the property your heavy equipment have been working.

Being paid slowly or not in time:-

This is one of the indication where you should act and act fast in placing a lien on the property. If you paid fairly slow or are paid not in time, it only indicates that the person is either not interested to pay you the entire sum and is paying you a bit so that you continue with the work and once it is done he can just shrug off the responsibility to pay the entire sum of the work. Many small construction companies have suffered huge losses as they failed to put a lien on the property and it finally resulted in non-payment of their dues. You not have much to do later once you are done with your work. You have to get off the place with your machine as you have to take care of other businesses as well.

The project giver disputing your work time and again:-

This is another usual instance that many construction companies experiences in their career span. The person for whom they are working will come out with very lame and silly reasons and will make a huge mole of a mountain. You may not know if they are doing it so that they do not have to pay you the promised sum or are they genuinely unhappy with your work. It is recommended that you take their feedback and work as per their needs but if they still complain and threats not to pay you, putting a lien on their property should be the next step you should take to protect your rights.

Small contractors not getting paid by the project owner:-

At times small contractors who do not own the project directly and work for somebody else are also at risk of not getting paid by the project owner. They can also place a lien on the property and ensure that they are paid in full for their work.