Expert: jonewall - 6/25/2009

Question
If your contractor did not pay the engineer on your job and did not disclose that on the final affidavit that engineer was not paid can engineer lien property

Answer
Mark
I will assume that you are the engineer and not the owner who hired the contractor.
I would suggest you contact the owner after you have tried to collect from the contractor.Reason being that I assume the contractor hired you to provide some type of services.
I  will assume that there may be some reasons why the contractor is not paying you since he has been paid by the owner.
Contract and pay disputes are sometimes complicated and in many cases require legal advise.

Should all efforts with the contractor be exhausted, I would consider talking with the owner and advising him that you were not paid by the contractor. Be prepared, he may not talk to you regarding payment unless there maybe some funds owed to the contractor.

Now to answer your question.In most cases if you performed contract work on a project,you should be able to file a lien on the property.Again be mindful,that legal counsel should be contacted for legal advise in disputed construction matters.

I have written an article about construction disputes on ezines.com that illustrates the problems and possible solutions involving the construction industry.

Wishing you the very best
Jon Ewall