NORTH CAROLINA CONSTRUCTION LIEN LAW
This research paper outlines and discusses the legislative purpose and history, basic framework, and issues associated with the implementation of North Carolina's construction or mechanics' lien law, N.C. GEN. STAT. secs. 44A-7 et seq. (2002).
All 50 states, including North Carolina, have enacted construction or mechanics' lien laws. According to Black's Law Dictionary, a mechanics' lien is "a claim created by state statute for the purpose of securing priority of payment of the price or value of work performed and materials furnished in erecting, improving and repairing a building or other structures" (981). Elias says the intended use is "to collect debts owed for work and materials contributed to construction and real estate improvement" (1/2). Mechanics' liens are uniquely an American creation. Great Britain, for example, has never recognized them. Urba et al. said that "mechanics' liens were recognized neither at common law nor in equity" (286).
After the Civil War, mechanics' liens were made a requirement under the North Carolina Constitution, which provided under current article x, sec. 3: "The General Assembly shall provide by proper legislation for giving to mechanics and laborers an adequate lien on the subject-matter of their labor."The General Assembly adopted the first such law in 1869. In 1971 "the legislature completely rewrote subcontractors' lien laws in order to clarify ambiguities and to correct problems resulting from the development of contracts into complicated transactions involving several tiers of subcontractors" (Brady 2005-2006).
Claimants. Under sec. 44A-8, parties entitled to claim a mechanics' lien include: "any person who performs or furnishes labor . . . or furnishes materials, pursuant to a contract, either express, or implied, with the owner of real property for the making of an improvement thereon." In 1975 this class of persons was expanded to incl...