The Carpenter’s Legal Tool: Statutory Liens – Part 2

To secure payment for services, North Carolina allows contractors and other skilled tradesmen to file liens against the properties they’ve worked on. In Part 1 of this construction law series, we explored some of the basics of the lien filing process, such as: What are your deadlines? And, who must you give your paperwork to?

Now, if you’ve ever been on a construction project where you were just one subcontractor in a chain of subcontractors waiting to get paid, then you may have felt the *pinch* that occurs when the owner finally releases some funds, but everyone ahead of you, including the general contractor, has to get their cut first. In this situation, too, if you’ve completed work and not been paid for it, then you have the right to file a lien document against not only the property owner, but against everyone ahead of you in the payment stream. Furthermore, with the correct paperwork and in the right circumstances, you also have to right to be promptly informed of precisely when—and in what amounts—the upstream funds are transferred between parties.

However, making sure that you provide the correct notices, in the proper formats, to the responsible parties, and at the right time can be a monumental challenge, and the more contractors are ahead of you in the chain, the more complex the situation gets. These problems reach their apex in complex commercial builds but we also see them in residential construction.

At Asheville Legal, our construction lawyers have the legal expertise and experience to help you navigate the complex lien filing system in North Carolina. We have assisted a number of carpenters, builders, installers, and tradesmen to recover funds that were owed and outstanding through the use of North Carolina’s statutory lien system. Call our law firm today to discuss your lien filing concerns with a qualified construction attorney.