I had a fire at my residence. The initial insurance estimate was 14000 dollars and I used their preferred contractor. He came in April,did the demolition and claimed I should have further remediation work done. He took months and did not complete the work even though he was paid 25000. In September I figured him but the insurance company paid me an additional 34000. I had to get other contractors to finish the deck,siding,flooring and electrical. Now he is claiming another 20000 dollars and filed a mechanics lien on my property. The only contact in signed was for the initial 14000. It cost almost 15000 too finish what he didn't. How do if get the lien removed?
I am sorry to hear about the trouble you have experienced. Typically, mechanics liens are powerful tools that get construction industry participants paid, yet like any other tool, they can be abused. Property owners or other interested parties may need to take steps to have an insufficient lien removed. There are multiple options when a lien is filed against your property, but three of the most common options include:
1. Immediately dispute the lien
2. Force the claimant to file suit to enforce the lien in a shorter period
3. Just wait it out
Good luck!
If the contractor filed a proper lien, you should have received documentation and had an ability to contest any improperly inflated lien sum. The first thing I would do is determine if the lien was actually recorded against your property. You can procure a title report on your property if you are not sure how to determine if a lien has been filed, or you can go to the county recorder's office yourself.
I would also advise you that PA still permits contractors to file lien claims based on verbal contracts that are properly supported. In other words, if the contractor offered to do additional improvements for an additional sum and you said sure, a judge would be likely to enforce a lien claim which included those additional improvements. If you received money from the insurance company for the fire damage, but failed to dedicate those funds to reparing your home, you will also be unlikely to prevail in subsequent legal challenges.
However, if it cost you more to fix your home than you received from the insurance carrier AND your never gave the "preferred contractor" the authority to install more than $14,000 AND the "preferred contractor" filed a lien for more than $14,000, you would seem to have viable claims against that contractor.