Your Legal Questions Answered
What action should I take when a subcontractor who did roofing on my home in July has supposedly not been paid by the contractor and is now threatening a Notice of Intent to Lien on my property. It has been 6 months since the work was done. However, they handed us an invoice with the Notice of Intent that was dated last week.
Under Colorado law, specifically C.R.S. § 38-22-102, homeowners are afforded protection against mechanic's liens if they have fully paid the general contractor for the work done. This statute effectively shields homeowners in situations where the general contractor has received full payment but fails to compensate the subcontractors. In the context of your situation, if you can demonstrate that you have fulfilled your financial obligation to the general contractor for the roofing work on your home, then, according to Colorado law, the subcontractor's mechanic's lien should not be enforceable against your property.
This legal protection was affirmed in the case of Koch Plumbing & Heating, Inc. v. Brown by a Colorado Court of Appeals. In this case, despite the subcontractor's attempt to enforce a lien for unpaid services, the court upheld the dismissal of the action to foreclose on the homeowners' property because the homeowners had paid the general contractor in full. There are some nuances to when the protections apply.
As you point out, the subcontractor may also have an issue with their lien notice timeline. In Colorado, the law stipulates a specific notice period that must precede the filing of a mechanic's lien. According to C.R.S. § 38-22-109, a contractor or subcontractor is required to issue a Notice of Intent to File a Lien a minimum of 10 days before actually filing the lien.
The timeline for filing a mechanic's lien in Colorado is defined under C.R.S. § 38-22-109(5). According to this statute, a contractor or subcontractor must file a mechanic's lien within four months after the day they last performed work or furnished materials for a project. Once a mechanic’s lien is filed, the party filing the lien has an additional six months to take action to enforce it, as detailed in C.R.S. § 38-22-110. If the subcontractor fails to file a motion to enforce the lien within this six-month period, the lien expires. Determining the date that the work was last performed can be complicated in some circumstance, so I would recommend speaking with an attorney to discuss your particular case. If the work was completed six months ago, the subcontractor may have an issue with the lien-filing timeline.
To learn more about homeowners' rights against lien, see our article "Fight the Lien on Your Home." If you would like to speak to one of our attorneys please call us at (303) 688-0944 or go here for more ways to contact us.
The foregoing information is general information only and should not be relied upon to take, or fail to take, legal action. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this information. __The only manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with an attorney.__
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