Can I file a lien on a house that is being rented?

Question

I own a lawn company and a customer has not paid in 3 months. We have been trying to collect from him for almost 8 months now and he is avoiding us. He is only renting the house he lives in. So can I file a lien against that house even though he is a renter or would it be better to take him to small claims court. He only owes a little over 200.00, but the time spent trying to get this money is unbelievable. What should I do?

Answer 1

No you would not be able to put a lien on the house since they are not the record owner. FYI-This would be called a mechanics lien if they were the owner. It varies state by state who can file such lien. But typically it is any public or private works of improvement will qualify.

Just know if you ever had to do this it could take years for you to redeem your loss. The lien would just have to be statisfied if they were to sell the house. If the house was to go into foreclosure many states do not require the liens to be statisfied and are wiped out by the foreclosure process

In this case you will have have to go thru small claims court and request all costs incurred for filing  the claim.

Answer 2

Your only recourse is small claims.

Even if he owned the house, you would not be able to file a lein against it unless he guaranteed his payment with it...

Dave

Answer 3

You have to make a judgement against him. Certified mail bill to him too. The process is pain-staking but you can sue for more then what he owes. Good luck.

Answer 4

To put a mechanics lein on the house, you would have first had to notify the owner in writing he'd he held financially responsible.  Also, I used to manage an apt. building and tenants could NOT have things done, like have carpeting installed, without written permission from the landlord.  It was to avoid having mechanic liens being placed on the property by those vendors.  

Your contract is with that tenant.  Do everything you can to collect from him directly.