If you own a home for long enough, you’ll eventually hire a contractor to make repairs or complete renovations. But before the job is complete, you’ll want to take steps to ensure you don’t get a lien put on your property, warned one Chicago-based realtor.
In a recent video, Christopher Dewilde (@dawildrealtor) explains how homeowners can become responsible for a contractor’s unpaid bills. His clip has amassed more than 1.2 million views.
In the video, Dewilde played the role of a disgruntled homeowner and someone who was explaining the little known—and rarely discussed—state laws that can lead to a lot of headache and “frustration.”
Wait, what’s a lien again?
According to Experian, a lien is “a legal claim against your property or assets that are used as collateral to satisfy a debt.” As Investopedia notes: “A creditor or a legal judgment could establish a lien. A lien serves to guarantee an underlying obligation, such as the repayment of a loan.”
How did the homeowner receive the lien?
Dewilde pretends in the clip to have just received a contractor’s, or mechanic’s, lien on his property. Unfortunately, he said this can happen even if a homeowner has already paid their contractor.
Dewilde said that “when a contractor buys supplies from big supply companies… and they decide to stiff that vendor, the vendor has an address for where they’re to drop the materials for the install.”
That vendor, he said, is then able to file the lien on your property in an attempt to get the contractor to pay them.
If a lien has already been filed, Dewilde said, an attorney might have to fight it in court. This would require showing a judge that you’ve paid a contractor for the work they’ve completed. When provided with this evidence, Dewilde said judges will typically tell the manufacturer to remove the lien from your property “because you satisfied your part of the contract.”
“The dispute is now between them,” Dewilde said. “However, [this] can take a lot of time, effort, and frustration.”
How can you avoid this hassle?
Dewilde said that, after getting any repairs done, homeowners should obtain a “waiver of liability,” or a lien waiver.
“Anytime a contractor completes work and both parties are satisfied… you should get a completed invoice with a zeroed-out total and a release of liability waiver,” Dewilde explained. The waiver, he said, states that the person who received the service is not responsible “for any debts, payments, or subcontractors” that are owed money on the property. The signing of this document, Dewilde said, relieves property owners from any potential liability.
For homeowners who forget to take this necessary and important step, Dewilde said “it’s not the end of the world.”
“Just make sure that you do these things going forward,” he said, ending his video.
In the comments, one woman simplified how homeowners get put in the middle of these disputes between a contractor and manufacturer.
“You paid the contractor, but he didn’t pay the supplier,” she wrote.
Others, however, said they were unaware that contractors could get away with this.
“Wow. This process is such BS,” another said. “Can’t believe this is even allowed.”
“How on earth do people know [how] to get something like this?” a third person asked.
@dawildrealtor Nobody likes waking up to see that their property is being liened for something that they didn’t do. So whenever you have a contractor perform work on your home that you bought. a release of liability or lien waiver is an absolute necessity upon completion of the work if the contractor you’re working with, doesn’t know what that is walk away immediately. ##realtoroftiktok##realestate##homerenovation##realestatetips ♬ original sound – Christopher Dewilde
“NEW. FEAR. UNLOCKED,” another user wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dewilde via TikTok comment.
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