Tebay v. Kirkpatrick & Co.

Citations

• 146 Pa. 120
• 23 A. 318
• 1892 Pa. LEXIS 1205

Syllabus

<p>1. Claims for work done and materials furnished do not become liens on a building from the mere fact that the work was done or the materials furnished in and about the erection of the building. Such claims for liens must be founded on a contract, express or implied, with the owner of the estate sought to be charged: Harlan v. Rand, 27 Pa. 511.</p> <p>2. When an express contract is entered into for the building of a house, the parties are directly connected by the contract. In such case, the right of a material-man being through such contract with the builder, he is chargeable with notice thereof, and, by necessary consequence, of all its terms and conditions: Sehroeder v. Galland, 134 Pa. 284.*</p> <p>(a) A contract to erect and deliver a completed house provided that the contractor should “ not sub-let the works, or any part thereof, without consent in writing of the proprietor,” and that the latter should “not in any manner be answerable or accountable for.....any of the materials or other things used or employed in finishing and completing the said works:”</p> <p>3. These provisions constituted an implied covenant by the. contractor that no liens should be filed against the building. A claimant for work done and materials furnished upon the order of the contractor, was chargeable with notice of and was bound by them, and therefore was not entitled to file a mechanics’ lien: Dershéimer v. Maloney, 143 Pa. 532.</p>