ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion Ripped Off

Here's my question. What if the builder has already sold the home? That's the situation I'm in. They built it, we wired it, they never paid the final draw. Can I still file a lien on the property?

Contracts,contracts, contracts, these are the most bitter lessons i've had to learn and it'll make an old man out of you. In Ark. you must send a (specifically worded) notice of intent to lien within 75 days of the money being owed, then within another 45 days file the lien, but you then have to file suit in order to enforce the lien. You need to get an attorney to send these notices, but keep copies. when you do this stuff, you gotta be letter perfect with the legal description of the property. Once your situation is in the hands of an attorney, you loose anyway... but get after this, send the notice of intent to lien to the owner because it clouds the title and they don't want that. Kick their A$%#s.

Maybe not ripped off, but slow pay. I finally received $2,000.00 off this deadbeat. I went to his house 3 times and repeatedly called him. He still owes me $1,000.00, which he says I will receive in a week, we will see.

His payment is proof of contract, in the eyes of the court.

Slow pay beats no pay.

In Florida you are required to file a notice to owner before you start. No Notice, you can't file a lien. If you had filed a notice, he would not have been able to sell the house without paying you.

I know this topic is really old but I wanted to add another suggestion. I have had clients in the past that have “sweet talked” me just long enough for our lien rights to pass, then tell me good luck on getting paid. After getting screwed enough times I stumbled across a collection agency that took on these deadbeats for me, and they have a 90% success rate, and charge 30% of the dept they collect.

What they do is not pretty, they have a private investigator and identify the key people who own the business or property and hound them relentlessly, as well as filing on their credit reports, and endless phone calls. It does not matter what kind of handshake deal you may have had they are a pack of hyenas that only get paid if you do and they don’t give up.

70% of you money is better than nothing, and losing clients like this is not really a loss.

The only GOOD advice someone on this forum should give you pertaining to LEGAL matters is "talk to a Attorney"!

People here have good intentions, but they are not lawyers. There are many myths to what we should do in this case.

TALK to a ATTORNEY! No I am not an attorney

and make sure it is one that deals with this type of thing!

[This message has been edited by ayrton (edited 03-07-2007).]

It never hurts to speak to an attorney or I should say pay to speak to one, but once you retain them the results never seem to be what you think they should be. In most cases a lean will take care of the issue and paying an attorney to show you how to do a proper lean procedure in your state is a good idea too, but 9 out of 10 times that I have hired a attorney to settle a debt, the results have been less than what I expected and the lawyers all got paid real well for it. This is why I switched to collection agencies; at least I know the results o the front end.

IMHO one of the biggest problems the US has is our “Culture of Lawyers”, we jump to sue way too quickly, and the threat being sued defines way too much of our daily lives. Once the lawyers get involved, nobody really wins but he lawyers who all get paid no matter what the results are for either party.

Just my 2 cents, it never hurts to get legal advice, but once the suing starts the results are not guaranteed and it may not work out like you think it should.

The only GOOD advise someone could give you about attorneys is: Buyer Beware.

[This message has been edited by ITO (edited 03-07-2007).]

I'm still waiting for the $1,000.00.

That is not enough to get a lawyer involved, just turn it over to a collection agency and maybe you will get some of it back.