With the summer season over, East End landlords are in the process of retaking possession of their homes. Beyond perhaps a few beach trips, it’s the time of year when landlords need to assess the extent that their tenants damaged their summer homes and to hire contractors to make the requisite repairs and improvements to those properties in order for them to be ready for next year’s crop of tenants. However, the damage is not the end of the headache.
Instead, incident to getting those repairs done many landlords will end up fighting with contractors over fees, which can be an all-consuming experience because of the ever-present threat of a mechanics’ lien. Pursuant to the New York State Lien Law, a mechanics’ lien is a type of security instrument in real estate available to a “[a] contractor, subcontractor, laborer, materialman, landscape gardener, nurseryman … who performs labor or furnishes materials for the improvement of real property with the consent or at the request of the owner,” which must be filed within 4 months (8 months in commercial) of the last date such labor or materials were provided at a residential project.
Andrew Lieb, Esq. shares the top 5 facts about mechanics’ liens that every homeowner should understand on Dan's Papers. Click here to read the full article.
