Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida

A lien can be placed on a person's homestead for four reasons: 1) a governmental agency can place a lien on the property for unpaid taxes; 2) a bank or other lender can place a lien on the property for a loan used to purchase the property (i.e. a mortgage); 3) a homeowners' or condo association can place a lien on the property for unpaid dues and assessments; 4) a contractor or laborer who performed work on the property can place a lien on the property if he hasn't been paid.

I assume that you are asking about a situation covered by number 4. The person putting the lien on the property does not have to be someone you actually hired. If you hired someone, and that person hired someone else to do part of the work (a subcontractor), the person who did the work can still place a lien on the property even if you had no idea that they were working there.

In the case of a contractor or laborer who worked on your home, they have 90 days from the last day they performed work there to record the lien in the public records. This involves sending the lien form to the clerk's office in your county and paying a fee to record it. From that date, the lien automatically expires in one year. If you did not hire the person directly, then they also have to send you something called a "notice to owner" before they record the lien. Within that one year, they can start foreclosure proceedings against your home.