lein, 14 years old

[brikaisha]

What is the name of your state? maryland

I will cover the whole story as to not leave anything out.

My parents have been living in seperate houses since 1987, but in 1990 when my mom decided to get new windows on the house that was in both of their names he co-signed for the windows. a month later (we just found this out) the window company placed a lein against the home as collateral to secure the repayment for the windows. In 1994 my parents were legally divorced, he gave my mom the house. He was also ordered to reimburse the sum of 931.00 to my mom reguarding the windows. The house went into my moms name with no problem. (according to what I was told in order to have a name on the home transferred over that the house had to be clean of leins and the lein is in both of their names) A couple of months ago, my mom went and got a home equity loan. well everything seemed to go along smoothly and a month later my mom was wondering where he money was when she's told that their is a lein against the property. my mother had no idea that was on the house. well they kept giving her the run around saying that the owner of the window company wasn't returning any of their phone calls. Well in one day I got the owner on the phone and explained to him what was going on. It seems that he took over for the original owners of the company but did have the folder belonging to both my mother and father. he said that the only way they would have put a lein on the property is if my parents were in default. Well now we know that the lein was placed a month or so later. so I told the settlement company that I got in touch with the owner and gave them the correct number and also the owner's cell phone number. we've been waiting for any correspondence. today my mother spoke to the people at the settlement company and they said that the owner's lawyer wants 16,020.00. Now we've tried getting copies of bank statements and cancelled checks but neither the bank nor my mother have that stuff it being 14 years old the bank only keeps the stuff for 7 years. Now we've come to the conclusion that someone messed up. Someone forgot to take the lein off the property and now they don't want to admit to it. Someone screwed up somewhere. We can't prove that it was paid other than theres been no correspondence from the window company in over a decade. and they haven't tried to get their money either. And back in 1998 my mother got a small loan against the house to pay on the home taxes and that company didn't find anything reguarding a lein then.

now my mom has money sitting there, and she is getting the run around. I hope there is someone out there that has advice that I can pass along to her.

I appreciate any help you may have. thanks for reading...

Donna

 

[BelizeBreeze]

You need to either get the lien paid (them not contacting you about it in 10 years is irrelevant) or dispute it. Either way, the court in your county will probably have a copy of the judgement against the parents or go to the recorder's office and they will have the lien attached to the deed file.

As to the amount, Depending on your state's statute (and I'm fresh out of research energy today) the difference between the cost of the windows and the amount now is interest compounded annually, which is perfectly legal.

 

[brikaisha]

I understand that, but I know that both my parents paid on that loan. My mom's torn her house apart looking for cancelled checks but its been over a decade since she even heard anything about it. And the bank doesn't have any records 7+ years old. My dad is completly out of the picture and doesn't return phone calls.

I don't understand how they can request that much money and not show anything that it wasn't paid.

but is it true about my parents divorce, the window/lein was placed in both names on the house. when they got divorced my father gave the house to my mom. in their divorce they had to give all joint bills/etc and one of the bills was the window one. and he had to reimburse my mother 931.00 as the cost for the windows. if there was more outstanding wouldn't that have been mentioned in the divorce decree?

 

[BelizeBreeze]

I understand that, but I know that both my parents paid on that loan. My mom's torn her house apart looking for cancelled checks but its been over a decade since she even heard anything about it. And the bank doesn't have any records 7+ years old. My dad is completly out of the picture and doesn't return phone calls.

I don't understand how they can request that much money and not show anything that it wasn't paid.

but is it true about my parents divorce, the window/lein was placed in both names on the house. when they got divorced my father gave the house to my mom. in their divorce they had to give all joint bills/etc and one of the bills was the window one. and he had to reimburse my mother 931.00 as the cost for the windows. if there was more outstanding wouldn't that have been mentioned in the divorce decree?

The divorce was a civil matter between your mother and father.

The lien is a civil matter between the house and the lienholder.

 

[HomeGuru]

The lien is a civil matter between the house and the lienholder.

**A: since when do houses get involved in civil matters?