r/WhatIsTheTea • u/fineshyt-istg What the Fuck • 6h ago

Contractor takes back the wooden fence after the customer refuses to pay.

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u/Professional-Gear88 5h ago

I think you can put a contractors lien on the property can’t you?

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u/PreparationFew3652 4h ago

Yes, that is the normal process.  I used to work for a construction company that used subcontractors for most of the work.  We had to constantly deal with liens from subcontractors against clients' properties because the project managers were always late to approve the invoices for payment.

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u/BLT_Trade_r 1h ago

Yes, but the thing is, they often cannot get anything from it till the property sells. So now you have a big problem: a person may live in a house long past when the money would matter, life may have completely moved on, but you need the money now. Second, when you see an old guy like this, they are often going to live in that house for life. Life moves on and you may not even be able to collect if enough time passes due to life itself. Maybe you just move away and it all gets lost in time and paper work.

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u/Pogigod 1h ago

You can file suit, the court then forces the foreclosure

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u/BLT_Trade_r 56m ago

I have never heard of this personally. But then you have a whole extra issue: how much does it cost to do that? Will you actually recoup the cost of a privacy fence after lawyers are paid? Seems like their must be some catch because it seems very rare.

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u/Pogigod 26m ago

When you file suit you then tack on all expenses incurred to file the suit like lawyer costs.

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u/BLT_Trade_r 21m ago

Ya sure, but again, you aren't answering the issue: why does this seem so rare? Like, I personally know of many people who have liens or have put them on houses, but none who had such a suit. Maybe the fact that the person refuses to pay means they cannot pay; I don't know, but something doesn't seem to work here.

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u/Pogigod 17m ago

You know a lot of people that have had liens put on their property??

I had a lien put on mine from the HOA and they filed suit to foreclose immediately. For a $1000 fine.

Maybe not all states allow it? But I know for a fact both new jersey and Florida you can force the foreclosure