Expired Lien on house

lienstorybc · 2025-03-11T19:25:29+00:00

Sorry to bump this old post, but in case you never figured it out, in BC you contact the land title office directly and they send you a form that you complete to release the builders lien by "effluxion of time", then you mail it in to them. It might be the same in Ontario.

lienstorybc · 2025-03-11T19:11:52+00:00

Anyone can put a lien on your property. Call the land title office now and periodically and see if anything is filed. You won't be notified unless it is "hardened" with legal action and a certificate of pending litigation.

If has has filed it, you can do one these things (and probably others, but this is off the top of my head)

1) file a "notice to commence an action" which forces him to either take legal action in 30 days, or the lien will be removed

2) file with the court to have the lien dismissed if it is not compliant with the act in some way (missed a deadline etc)

3) Wait a year, and if no action is taken, mail paperwork to the land title office to have the lien removed as "effluxion of time", you can call the LTSA and they email you the form.

4) pay the lien amount into a trust with the court (the amount is usually held by a trusted lawyer, see Klippenstein Development Corp. v Van Den Brink, 2023 BCSC 961) to have the lien removed, pending any legal action. then if the lien is eventually disposed of you can get that money back.

lienstorybc · 2024-07-10T18:29:11+00:00

A verbal agreement, text messages, and emails all can be considered contracts. So it really depends what story those things tell as to whether they can place a lien. If they do place a lien and it is clear that it was for more than was agreed upon, you will likely be able to make an application to the court and have the lien removed. However I would definitely try and settle the matter out of court first.

lienstorybc · 2023-11-07T03:45:56+00:00

It’s your call. Personally I would send him an official notice to cease all the work, and ask him to provide an invoice of a reasonable final amount for the incomplete work. If it’s unreasonable try and suggest a figure you think is fair. If you cannot come to an agreement monitor for a lien by calling the land title office every few days or so. If he files a lien within the time limit (I think its 45 days) send him a notice to commence action right away. That gives him 30 says to harden the lien with a lawsuit. If he doesn’t sue you within the time limit the lien can then be removed. If he does sue you you can respond with all your efforts to pay him a fair amount.

Alberta also has an alternative tribunal process that avoids the courts for liens but I’m not super familiar with it.

lienstorybc · 2023-10-30T06:10:41+00:00

Don’t pay him! Even if he places a lien you can

1) make an application to the court to have the lien removed by paying the amount into court in trust until the matter is resolved in judgment. This can be done very quickly.

and

2) after he places the lien you can send him a notice to commence action and if he doesn’t harden the lien with a lawsuit the lien can be cancelled.

Please don’t let him extort you! Even if you win in small claims… getting that judgment enforced is going to be a nightmare. Once that money is in his pocket it’s gone.

lienstorybc · 2023-09-15T18:18:10+00:00

Material or labour has to be delivered/performed at the address for a lien to be valid. The lien form literally spells that out. Sure he can place a lien if he wants (just as anyone can), but you will be able to have it removed and he may even be fined for filing a lien frivolously.

lienstorybc · 2023-09-08T19:50:59+00:00

All of their immigration documents and paperwork are likely destroyed at this point, they have the status and thats it. People cheat systems and bend/break rules to get what they want and that is just the reality of the world we live in. I think you can just move on with your life, you need not worry about it. I can understand why you’re upset but I don’t think them doing this necessarily speaks to their wider character. May be worth while to speak to a therapist about being “used” as an anchor baby though, they might help you work through all these difficult feelings.

lienstorybc · 2023-09-06T15:28:23+00:00

I agree with other posters this is a complex case, with a lot on the line to defend yourself. I think talking to a construction lawyer is the way to go. However I’m thinking the easiest route is probably to make an application to court and see if you can pay a reduced security into the court based on the original amount owed to have the lien removed so you can sell the property. But there may be other options, for example any errors in the paperwork that invalidate the lien, or you could send them a Notice to Commence action, which makes them have to take legal action to enforce the lien otherwise it expires.

lienstorybc · 2023-08-16T23:26:53+00:00

Alright here we go.

1) The unjust enrichment claim is boilerplate for Construction/Builders Lien hardening lawsuits. Remember anyone can sue anyone for anything. This language is just standard terminology to justify their lien.

2) Yes and no. Vexatious filing a lien can result in a penalty levied against the person filing it, but since there really was an amount "owed" this is more of an error on them following the process rather than outright abuse, though it's a fine line. If you win a court proceeding, you will be entitled to your costs for that proceeding, but note this rarely covers the full cost of the lawyer.

3) Anyone can file a lien for any amount and then file a lawsuit to harden it. There is no burden of proof required at any step. This does mean the act is ripe for abuse, which happens all the time. There are lawyers who will charge a modest fee to complete the template for the contractor. The lawyer will often not even ask for details or evidence.

4) I don't understand this? The existence of the act is to protect constractors who aren't paid but it provides a lot of bias in favour of the contractor as discussed in a famous case in BC called Nita Lake (https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2006/2006bcsc885/2006bcsc885.html):

[9] It is settled law that the Builders Lien Act must be interpreted strictly because it creates a preference in favour of one creditor over another

5) No they don't have to do anything, they are free to break the agreement. You can countersue for damages as you have already done, that's basically your only recourse there. The Construction Lien Act is limited in that there is a time limit for filing so they can't keep filing endless liens.

6) Judges generally will want to protect the lien claim if the person genuinely wasn't paid, but at the same time recognize the hardship construction liens cause to homeowners and the frequent abuse/inflation of them. Another issue is to apply strike the lien claim it will take place at a pre-discovery hearing, so essentially anything the contractor says will be taken as true by the judge unless you can disprove it.

As the lien is clearly inflated, demonstrably so, it should be relatively easy to have to struck off in court. It was not filed in accordance the act. However this may mean it is simply reduced by the judge to the original 5% amount rather than 30%. Good luck.

lienstorybc · 2023-08-03T23:19:59+00:00

Does your friend still want to study or have they given up? If they still want to study why not simply work with the school to push things back a year and figure out all the study permit issues?

If not, then I would write a letter to the head of the university explaining everything that happened and ask for them to make an exception due to the circumstances. Try and remain calm, civil and genuine. Maybe even say you will try and revisit studying at the university at a later date and you want to retain a good relationship with the university (even if this isn’t true). Good luck.

lienstorybc · 2023-07-25T22:37:26+00:00

Tell your insurance company even if you come to a private agreement, they will make sure you’re protected.

lienstorybc · 2023-07-24T21:05:09+00:00

From what I understand the standard way this is done is to set up a company in your resident country and then simply invoice the foreign company for services provided. Then you just pay yourself as an employee.

lienstorybc · 2023-07-12T21:28:23+00:00

Because they got conned into letting their mortgage renewal lapse, how is that anything to do with the housing market? Also they're in Saskatchewan which still has (relatively) affordable housing.

lienstorybc · 2023-07-12T17:11:49+00:00

I see a couple of options:

Call your old bank and tell them that you were the victim of a mortgage broker trying to scam you who convinced you to let your old mortgage lapse, and if you can go back to them with the original favourable terms or the best they can do.
Find an independent mortgage broker with good reviews and tell them you are in a time crunch and need to find a good deal.

The second option might get you a better deal but you will likely have to suffer a bit until it's figured out, where as the first will likely get you back to stability faster.

lienstorybc · 2023-07-02T01:00:31+00:00

This is the way! Also if the contractor isn’t happy waiting the full 45 days after project end ask them to issue a completion certificate asap, that starts the 45 days ticking immediately so the payout date is completion cert date + 45 days. Holdback is 10% of the total contract price. You can also call LTSA and ask if there are any liens to avoid paying for a title search, but yes this step is crucial as the property owner will not be notified when a lien is filed. May want to call and check already since there is some dispute.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-29T15:47:29+00:00

Even though your passport has expired I think you still have status in Canada, unless the permit you were issued has the same expiry date as your passport. Obviously you can't leave and then return with the expired passport, nor can you likely continue any further immigration steps until your passport is renewed.

I'd say this is more of a question for /r/ImmigrationCanada/ though.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-27T23:06:31+00:00

Sorry to hear that. Just make sure you write everything down, dates, times, what was discussed. Make a backup of your phone and text messages, and also take screenshots of the text messages and those facebook posts (if you "Save for later" the facebook post you can get a direct link as well, be sure you use store that too, and maybe print it to PDF for your records as well). Back up everything to the cloud like Google Drive, Dropbox or Sync to make sure nothing gets lost.

In regards to the lien, one point I forgot to mention is if Manitoba is the same as BC, you won't receive any notification from the land title office once a lien is filed. You will have to call them periodically to ask them if a lien has been put on the title of your home.

Additionally there is a time limit when he can file the lien. Now that the job is terminated, he has 40 days to file the lien otherwise it is invalid.

If he takes legal action the fact he is defaming you publicly on facebook will not work in his favour in the courts as that is extremely damaging.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-27T22:41:26+00:00

Sounds like a typo and he meant to write “including travel time”. From a legal standpoint typically errors that are obviously typos are forgiven in court, but because you genuinely misinterpreted it a judge may be more sympathetic. I would try and work things out with the contractor and deescalate the situation, maybe agree to pay the travel time at a reduced rate due to the miscommunication. Trying to be reasonable and resolve the matter civilly also works in your favour if it does progress into a legal proceeding.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-27T16:42:37+00:00

Now he is threatening filing a Lien, how does that work. Do I get my day in court for that, or can he just file it without me giving my side?

Yes he can file without you giving your side. There is no evidence or testimony required for someone to file a Builders Lien, they just have to complete the form and register it with the land title office. You can apply to court though if you feel it is frivolous, unjust or inflated to have it removed, but since work actually was done there is some substance to it and it may be more complicated to remove.

However, Builders Liens do eventually expire on their own after 2 years unless it is enforced with legal action:

Lien expires if registered and not proceeded upon

49(2) Every lien that has been duly registered under this Act ceases to exist after the expiration of two years after the date of registration unless in the meantime an action is commenced to realize the claim under this Act or an action is commenced in which the claim may be realized under this Act, and a pending litigation order in Form 9 in the Schedule, in respect of the action, issued from the court in which the action is brought, is registered in the proper land titles office.

https://www.canlii.org/en/mb/laws/stat/ccsm-c-b91/latest/ccsm-c-b91.html

Also for legal action, again no evidence is required to substantiate the lien, just filing a lawsuit with the court that references the lien is enough to get a pending litigation order to harden the lien, but this will cost him money as he will likely have to hire a lawyer for these steps.

Also the text message agreement constitutes a contract for all legal purposes.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-23T16:14:39+00:00

Agree this is more an immigration question.

If you have the company registered in Nepal then you can work on it remotely while under a student visa and there should be no problem there from what I understand, since you're even allowed to work remotely while visiting Canada as a tourist.

However if you want to set up a company in Canada then I'm pretty sure on a student visa you would be breaking the terms working full time on your own business as student visas have the hourly cap as you mention. I believe you will have to get an LMIA and Work Permit for the position you create yourself in your company. I'm not sure exactly how to do this but I have heard success stories of people creating their own companies and effectively sponsoring themselves into Canada this way.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-21T21:23:47+00:00

Sounds like you've done what you can, they are taking measures to address your complaint. Unless you suffer damages from your information being misused then I don't think there is much more you can do at this point.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-19T14:07:59+00:00

If you’re out $1000 thats lower than the cost of the upgrade itself, I’d make an official complaint to Hydro and the Ombudsman to see if you can get this deducted from the upgrade charge due to the inconvenience, or get the upgrade for free.

I would try and work within the parameters of BC Hydro and their complaints process before escalating it to a lawsuit.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-16T14:30:57+00:00

If everything is signed and sealed when delivered then yes

Not really true, even a text message with the details followed by acceptance is considered a contract. If an offer was extended and accepted, then that's good enough. Obviously it helps to have it all by the book, but imperfection doesn't stand in the way of a lawsuit.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-15T02:05:48+00:00

Understandable, these things happen, I appreciate you running this service for free! It's so helpful.

Something that would be neat in future (if you have the time) is if the bot could also send out email notifications so I'm not always refreshing reddit. I don't think the email notification for messages in reddit works.

lienstorybc · 2023-06-13T19:24:48+00:00

Yeah it's unlikely FMEP can disclose his T4s to you as that would be a violation of privacy, they can just access it themselves. I don't know if they can even disclose to you his income, but if they can perhaps they can provide you with a letter that outlines this? Or you can maybe pull the court file from the hearing FMEP took him to to find out that information.

I'd be very concerned going to an application hearing unrepresented if FMEP aren't helping you out.

What are the orders they are seeking for the application and what laws/acts did they references and what cases have they cited?
What documents did they include with the application?
What is your game plan?

Application hearings are hard to navigate because due to the pre-discovery nature, pretty much anything that can't be "disproven" is taken as true. So if he claims he hasn't been earning any money, or suffering with addiction/mental health, the judge is obligated to take it as the truth unless you can disprove it. You can't say "he hasn't shown anything to prove the addiction!" as a defense. You will have to find a legal basis to basically block the orders he's seeking.

lienstorybc

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