Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

It is up to the second roofer if they want to take the credit risk of extending you credit despite the lien on the house from the first roofer.

There is nothing in the law that makes it right or wrong to install a new roof with a lien on the house. It is a question of whether the roofing company wants to take the chance as credit risk.

However, the first roofing company is asserting that you have a binding contract.

This is part of the problem with roofing and home improvement companies who aggressively push "free estimates" on people. This actually happened to me. They told me I had to fill out paperwork to see if I qualified for financing. Then they claimed that the credit approval was a final contract.

So no matter what you will need to deal with the claim that you entered into a contract. If you get the second roofing company to do the roof and they take the risk of it, you would still face the fight with the first roofing company that they claim you entered into a contract.

If you don't let them do the roof, they would still try to bill you for the full amount of the roof project. That is wrong because they didn't do the roof. But they would try. Then they would back down to demanding their lost profits and any out of pocket costs even though they did not actually do any work on your roof. They would claim they ordered materials, etc.

So you have to attack the claim that you entered into a contract. You should probably hire an attorney to vacate the lien and prove that you did not enter into a contract.

Too many people don't hire attorneys and make a mess because they assume that lawyers have to be very expensive. Some are. Some aren't. For the cost of a roof, it might be worth paying up to a couple thousand dollars to beat back their claim.

To the extent that they filed a lien against you, you might even explore with your homeowner's insurance whether they would pay for legal defense related to the house.