It happens all the time. The scenarios vary, but the basic premise is the same: an owner is faced with a mechanic’s lien against its real property that the owner believes has been wrongfully or improperly recorded. The owner may have made full payment to its contractor, or work may have been performed on the owner’s property without the owner’s knowledge or approval or the owner may believe that the lienor’s right to file the lien has expired. In any case, the owner1 needs to remedy the encumbrance. Although an owner will ultimately have recourse or protection against a deficient or invalid mechanic’s lien, the nature and extent of that recourse or protection depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the perceived deficiency in the lien. The following is a discussion of some of the options available to an owner aggrieved by what the owner believes to be an improper lien.
The Lien Law
New York’s Lien Law allows a contractor, subcontractor or other person that performs labor or provides material for the improvement of privately owned real property2 to file a lien against the property for the value or agreed upon price of the work that is due or payable. The labor must have been performed or materials supplied with the consent of, or at the request of, the owner of the real property, or of the owner’s agent, contractor or subcontractor. N.Y. Lien Law §3. The lien on the real property secures the amount due for the labor and/or materials supplied.
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