Placing A Construction Lien on Leased or Rental Property

If you are a contractor or contracting company who has performed work for a commercial property rental or business property that is used for rental purposes and that you have not yet been paid for, you may have considered putting a lien on that property in order to recover some or all of the money that you are owed. You may also need to place a lien on the tenant’s property if you are a commercial landlord and the tenant has vacated without paying, leaving behind valuable property. Placing a lien on a commercial rental property can be tricky, because many leases dictate that the landlord receives property rights to abandoned materials left behind.

Placing A Lien with the Court

f you want to place a lien on a commercial rental property and you are not the landlord, you may need to put a lien on the property by filing with the court of record in the jurisdiction where the property is actually located.  Filing against the business which has vacated is often not suitable, as the priority in the property rights goes to the landlord, not to the business which has left without paying, according to the terms of most accepted commercial leases.  So, you will want to place the lien against the landlord in the county court.

By placing the lien in the county court against the landlord, you will ensure that the money can be recovered if the landlord holds an auction or otherwise disposes of the abandoned property from the commercial rental.

By filing the lien against the landlord, you will have a legal claim against any amount of money which the landlord recovers from the sale of this property. Keep in mind that you typically have a limited amount of time to file this lien, which varies from state to state – typically, 90-120 day time periods are common. The landlord may have kept knowledge that the tenant had vacated from you to keep you from filing a lien immediately, so your time frame might be even shorter as time may have already elapsed. You will want to act quickly to file the lien in the county courts.

Construction Liens are complex

By the Texas Property Code, the process for filing construction liens properly and in within deadlines is very complex.  If not properly filed, it could delay you getting paid or even lose the chance to get paid for what you are owed.  It is imperative to get started immediately in cases where you  feel that you may not get compensated for your work or materials on residential projects.  In most cases, we can even help with filing a pre-lien to have everything in place prior to starting a project.

Attorney Javier Marcos has the knowledge, experience and resources necessary to help you pursue or even dispute construction liens.  His knowledge of the Texas Property Code and the process of Residential Construction Liens helps his clients get the upper edge when working in the complex construction industry in Texas.