Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: owes me money

You're probably out of luck. The statute of limitation is 4 years for a written contract, 2 years for an oral agreement. Because it's been 5 years since they paid, it's uncollectable. You can sell the loan to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar, and they can try to literally scare a few bucks out of the debtor, but it's unlikely given their track record.

Re: owes me money

An individual usually can't just put a lien on a house because he or she has a money claim against the owner.

Contractors doing works of improvement to real estate can file mechanics' liens; their right to do so is spelled out quite specifically in the California Constitution. It is a very limited right, even so.

The tax collector can file a lien for unpaid taxes.

However, an ordinary person with a claim must first sue and get a judgment. The alleged debtor then has a chance to defend against the charges. Only upon proving the claim to the satisfaction of the judge or jury is the plaintiff given a judgment, and that in turn can become a lien on the judgment debtor's real property by recording an abstract (summary) of the judgment with the county recorder's office.

You have a further problem with the five-year aspect.....there is a statute of limitations for filing lawsuits. Your opportunity to sue may have passed, but before giving up you should place all the facts upon which you base your claim before an attorney who is competent to determine the applicable limitations period and when it began to tick away.

If you have sent regular statements, these may have preserved your right to sue despite the passage of time.