(a) There shall be a lien on any lot or tract of real property upon which an improvement has been made by a prime contractor or any remote contractor; provided, that the lienor has complied with title 62, chapter 6. If the lienor has not fully complied with title 62, chapter 6, no lien is established by this chapter. The lien shall secure the contract price.
contract signature

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 66-11-102

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contract: means an agreement for improving real property, written or unwritten, express or implied, and includes extras as defined in this section. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Contract price: means the amount agreed upon by the contracting parties to be paid for performing work or labor or for furnishing materials, machinery, equipment, services, overhead and profit, included in the contract, increased or diminished by the price of extras or breach of contract, including defects in workmanship or materials. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Improvement: means the result of any action or any activity in furtherance of constructing, erecting, altering, repairing, demolishing, removing, or furnishing materials or labor for any building, structure, appurtenance to the building or structure, fixture, bridge, driveway, private roadway, sidewalk, walkway, wharf, sewer, utility, watering system, or other similar enhancement, or any part thereof, on, connected with, or beneath the surface. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Lienor: means any person having a lien or right of lien on real property by virtue of this chapter, and includes the person's successor in interest. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Owner: includes the owner in fee of real property, or of a less estate in real property, a lessee for a term of years, a vendee in possession under a contract for the purchase of real property, and any person having any right, title or interest, legal or equitable, in real property, that may be sold under process. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship, joint venture, association, trust, estate, or other legal or commercial entity. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Prime contractor: means a person, including a land surveyor as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Real property: includes real estate, lands, tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, and fixtures and improvements thereon. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Remote contractor: means a person, including a land surveyor as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
  • Visible commencement of operations: means the first actual work of improving upon the land or the first delivery to the site of the improvement of materials, that remain on the land until actually incorporated in the improvement, of such manifest and substantial character as to notify interested persons that an improvement is being made or is about to be made on the land, excluding, however, demolition, surveying, excavating, clearing, filling or grading, placement of sewer or drainage lines or other utility lines or work preparatory therefor, erection of temporary security fencing and the delivery of materials therefor. See Tennessee Code 66-11-101
(b) The lien established by this section shall include a lien on any lot or tract of real property in favor of any land surveyor who has, by contract with the owner or agent of the owner of the real property, performed on the property the practice of land surveying, as defined in § 62-18-102. The lien shall secure the contract price.
(c)

(1) The lien established by this section shall include a lien on any lot or tract of real property upon which an improvement has been made, by contract with the owner or the owner’s agent, in favor of any person licensed to practice architecture or engineering under title 62, chapter 2, for architectural or engineering services performed with respect to the improvement actually made. The lien shall secure the contract price.
(2) The lien provided for in subdivision (c)(1) shall attach as of the time of visible commencement of operations as provided in § 66-11-104.
(3) This subsection (c) shall not apply to owner-occupants of one-family or two-family detached unit homes.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no prime contractor or remote contractor of a lessee of real property may encumber the fee estate unless the lessee is deemed to be the fee owner’s agent. In determining whether a lessee is the fee owner’s agent, the court shall determine whether the fee owner has the right to control the conduct of the lessee with respect to the improvement and shall consider:

(1) Whether the lease requires the lessee to construct a specific improvement on the fee owner’s property;
(2) Whether the cost of the improvement actually is borne by the fee owner through corresponding offsets in the amount of rent the lessee pays;
(3) Whether the fee owner maintains control over the improvement; and
(4) Whether the improvement becomes the property of the fee owner at the end of the lease.
(e) A lien arising under this chapter shall not include in the lien amount any interest, service charges, late fees, attorney fees, or other amounts to which the lienor may be entitled by contract or law that do not result in an improvement to the real property or are otherwise not permitted by this chapter.
(f) When a lienor, without default, is prevented from completely performing the lienor’s part, the lienor is entitled to a lien for as much of the contract price as the lienor has performed in proportion to the contract price for the whole, and the lienor’s claim shall be adjusted accordingly.
(g) A lien for furnishing tools, equipment, or machinery arises under this chapter to the following extent:

(1) For the reasonable rental value for the period of actual use and any reasonable period of nonuse taken into account in the rental contract; except that the reasonable rental value and reasonable periods of use and nonuse need not be determined solely by the contract; or
(2) For the purchase price of the tools, equipment or machinery, but the lien for the price only arises if the tools, equipment or machinery were purchased for use in the course of the particular improvement and have no substantial value to the lienor after the completion of the improvement on which they were used.
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