hello, we are a material supplier and have a lien filed against a GC. The owner has gotten wind of it and has offered to pay the balance, to remove the lien off of their property. If the owner wanted to pay off the lien, do we have to notify or even get written permission from our customer (the GC) that owes us the money? Our concern is that can envision a situation where the customer may not want us to be paid because there is some issue regarding the goods we sold. If the owner pays us, the owner will probably go after our customer (the GC) for the money. Actually there could be something in the contract between our customer (the GC) and the owner which says that the customer has to pay off the lien and if not the owner can pay and then go after the customer for the money.
As the previous answers accurately explain, it depends on what the contract says! That being said, as a material supplier, your primary concern may be to get paid, but it also may be to take into consideration the status of the GC, who is your customer. You don't necessarily want to do something to burn that bridge, unless all efforts are exhausted. This could be a situation where a meeting/call/conference can get somewhere.