How To Know If A Lien Is Against A Property Or Person?

Comments(12)

• 
  Sunre23rd March, 2004

  In Florida, if the person owns property, the lien automatically goes against the property. So, you would simply look up official records for the name(s) of the owner(s), and see what liens, judgments, mortgages are out there.

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  hibby7623rd March, 2004

  As I understand it Liens always go against property, and Judgements always go against people (and corporate entities).

• 
  NancyChadwick23rd March, 2004

  My understanding (PA) is that a lien is any charge against the title of a property securing some debt of the property owner. It can be a judgment against the property owner that has been recorded against the property. There are many types of liens--mortgage, tax, judgment, estate, etc. These can affect real estate as well as personal property.

• 
  Sunre25th March, 2004

  Judements are against people, but in FL, if the person owns property, it is automatically attached. So looking up the person's name in Official Records, will show you all mortgages, liens, judgements, etc. that they have against them.

• 
  godaddyo26th March, 2004

  OK,
  
  Someone Please Correct me if I am wrong:
  
  A judgement is only something that the courts award you from a type of litigation, in which you are award you monies from the other party. In order to collect those monies, you must pursue this by taking the judgement and getting a writ that allows you to collect. You must file a lien in the counties recorders office against the PERSON in order to attach youself as a valid lien against any property they may own. If you don't record the lien,then all you have is a judgement that does abosolutely nothing. You have to attempt to collect.
  
  This is why the Feds always record tax liens at the recorders office to attach to any property that person may have in that county. A judgement is just a judgement and if it doesnt show up on your credit reports or as a lien, it is pretty much just a judgement. Most judgements are automatically entered in the public records sections of a credit report and must be paid in order for the owner to get new financing in many situations, but I dont believe that they are required to be paid out of closing unless they are actually attached as a lien at the recorders office..
  
  If I am open to being wrong..

• 
  arytkatz26th March, 2004

  Taxmanpro:
  I'm in the exact opposite position as you here in IL: I can see liens against property, but don't know how (yet) to see liens against a person.
  I have read in many places that part of due diligence is to check out both property and personal liens, so you now in advance what you're dealing with.
  
  Property liens I can get through online access to my county recorder's office.
  How do you get info on liens against a person?
  
  Thanks,
  Andy

• 
  taxmanpro29th March, 2004

  I can look up filings via the county recorders online site. I can do searches based on the owners name but not on a property address. I just wondered how you knew if a lien was against a property. It sounds like from the replys here that if you see a lien filed against a person you must assume it is against their house also.

• 
  arytkatz29th March, 2004

  TMP:
  Actually, our online recorder's stuff is pretty cool: it's actually a subscription-based software that lets me search by name, address, PIN/APN, parcel, etc.--basically anything they have recorded.
  
  I've been searching by property address. Just tried a name and it lists all liens against that name. However, I'm still not sure if this is all the liens that can effect me if I take over the property--is it possible for a lien to exist that isn't recorded at the county? If it's not recorded, can it attach to the seller's property?
  
  Andy

• 
  j_owley29th March, 2004

  more than likely what ever the lien, it will need to be taken care of by close of the deal

• 
  taxmanpro29th March, 2004

  Andy - My recollection is that for a lien to be valid, it has to be recorded at the county recorders office. It is possible though that the office has a lag time for posting filings online. You might want to find out what that lag time is.

• 
  Ryan406929th March, 2004

  I just wanted to clear up that its "judgment" when talking about the the court system. No "E".
  
  In Iowa, the judgment has to be paid when the person buys or sells property as the lien attaches automatically.
  
  Ryan

• 
  spikerz37th October, 2004

  If a person has state pesonal income tax lien (CA) recorded, how will it affect the sale of a personal property?