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Can I file a Mechanic's Lien

Im a subcontractor who worked on a large project in NYC. We finished the work in July of 2019, however we were onsite in December to do some punchlist items. The GC/Owner are dicking us around on payment. First they say we need to send them a warranty so we send them one from the last date we were on site. They then come back and say we have to take it from the TCO date. When I ask for that date I completely get ignored. Is it too late for me to file a mechanics lien on this property.

1 reply

Aug 19, 2020

In New York, a mechanics lien is generally required to be filed within 8 months of the claimant's last furnishing of labor or materials to the project. However, on single-family residential projects, that deadline is shortened to within 4 months of last furnishing. The general rule is that "punch-list” work does not extend the lien deadline, while work pursuant to a valid change order does extend the lien deadline. But, that determination can be subject to whether the contract for the work was sufficiently completed before the additional work was done, and if not, the lien deadline may potentially be calculated from the additional work. Note, though, that in either case work done in December may be too removed in time to file a mechanics lien since the 8-month deadline would be sometime in August. If the deadline for filing a valid mechanics lien has elapsed, it doesn't mean that recovery is impossible, however. There still may be the opportunity to file suit to recover for breach of contract, or for violation of NY prompt payment laws which require that payment to a subcontractor be made within 7 days of payment being received by the GC.

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