Legal Question in Construction Law in California
Hello,
I am in California and I hired a contractor to do some work on a table. He told me it would cost $30/hr or $240 max. Once the job was done, he sent a bill for $455. Upon inquiring about the extra fees, he said it took longer than expected and needed to pay more in "workers comp and payroll liabilities" for his subcontractor. I of course refused to pay and he put a mechanic's lien on my house for $499 (the additional fee, he claims, is for the extra time and filing fees). This all occurred within 2 weeks of completing the job.
In my opinion, this is a gross abuse of the system by the contractor and I am not sure how to respond. I paid the original agreed upon amount but he just tore it up. The $200 is not even worth my time, but I refuse to pay out of principal.
My questions:
*I can't imagine anyone would pursue foreclosing on my house over $200 and I just bought it and have no plans to refinance or sell for a long time. Do I need to fight it?
*From reading over the mechanic's lien laws, there seem to be very tight rules on what fees can be included in a lien. Is his lien even valid with fees such as: workers comp, payroll liabilities and filing fees?
*The work did not improve my house at all. It was on a table. Can he still file the lien on my house?
*He didn't provide the 20 day notice and simply slipped the lien under my mat. Is this valid?
Thank you!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Your "contractor" seems like a loon. Unless the table is permanently attached to your house, the mechanics lien law doesn't even begin to come into it. It is a completely illegal lien. It is too bad that an hour of my time would be more than the amount in dispute. I'd love to rip this jerk a new one.
The mechanic's lien law applies only to works of improvement on real property. Tables are not real property, they are personal property. The lien is invalid.
The 20-day notice requirement doesn't apply to contractors who are in direct contract with the owner, but this is immaterial, because the guy has no right to a lien anyway.
Repair people working on personal property are entitled to a repairman's lien (Civil Code section 3051) but these liens are depedent upon possession, i.e., the computer is still in the repair shop so the repairman has a lien and needn't redeliver the computer to the customer until the repair bill is paid. This doesn't apply if the work was done in your home and the refinisher never had possession.
The bill would probably be $500 except then the guy would need a license and a bond.
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