Legal Question in Construction Law in California

The California Constitution grants a right to a lien on any private property on which someone has provided work or materials. If you don't have a direct contract with someone, they can still legitimately lien as long as they provided a prelien notice.

Getting the lien removed is a relatively simple process. One petitions the court to do it under a special procedure. One nice aspect of this procedure is that you are entitled to attorney's fees up to $2000 if you have to go through this procedure. I can't say how many demand letters I've sent to contractors around the state to remove their liens, but I always include a sentence that I'm going to extract attorney's fees if I have to go to court. I'd say that about 3/4 of contractors sign the lien release rather than allow me to go to court. If I do go to court, I get the judgment and then send it into the Contractors State License Board. They then suspend the contractor's license until it is paid. Works every time (except in those rare instances where the contractor has decided he's going out of business forever).