Money has the potential to cause rifts between family members. That’s why it’s often said that you shouldn’t loan a close relative money, or if you do, to never expect it back. But, if you’ve made the mistake of mixing finance with a relationship, it’s important to have your back first before you look out for others.

If you’re confused about how to do that, take a page out of the book of this contractor who got his money back with interest after his scheming brother tried to skip out on paying him.

More info: Reddit 

Guy who goes out of his way to help his brother with home remodeling work at a discount has to put a lien on his brother’s house after he refuses to pay him for his work

Image credits: Rene Asmussen (not the actual photo)

The poster shared that he worked on remodeling several rooms in his brother’s house and only charged him $32,000, which was a sizeable discount

Image credits: AlphaTradeZone (not the actual photo)

His brother never ended up paying him and kept making excuses, so since the author was forced to pay for the material and labor, he put a construction lien on his brother’s house

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

2 years passed and his brother still hadn’t paid, but he was stuck because he wanted to get a new house and sell his old one and the lien was the only thing stopping him

Image credits: Plus-Neighborhood584

The guy eventually had to pay his brother back with interest and took out a line of credit to make it happen

The poster shared that he is working in the home renovation business. Whenever he does work for friends or family, he gives them a discount, but also makes sure to have a contract in place. Once, his brother reached out to him to remodel his basement by adding a few rooms, a washroom, a kitchenette, and a family room. The poster offered to do all of the renovations at quite a discounted rate of $32,000. But after everything was done, his brother simply refused to pay him.

After all that time, effort, and labor, his brother kept making excuses and did not pay him back a cent. It might seem shocking, but a survey on money lending found that people roughly borrow as much as $184 billion annually from friends and family. Borrowing and lending isn’t the issue; research has shown that around 15% of siblings have conflicts about money and around 33% have problems with the repayment of debt.

Knowing that his brother was planning to get away without paying him for his services, the man decided to put a construction lien on his house. According to Forbes, “liens are legal tools used to protect the interests of creditors and other people who are owed money by property owners. They’re commonly used by banks, lenders, contractors and courts to ensure that property owners pay valid debts, such as mortgage notes or property taxes. When someone files a lien, they hold a legal claim against a piece of property.”

A lien protects the rights of the contractor so that they can get compensated in cases when there is a breach of contract. The poster smartly decided to hold his brother accountable for his actions. But 2 years passed and he was still not paid, until the brother decided he wanted to sell his house and get a new place. The guy was stuck because of the property lien and asked the author to remove it.

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Image credits: JESHOOTS.com (not the actual photo)

A lien of any kind makes it difficult for people to sell their property. A mortgage lien may be easier to handle because the person can still sell their house and use the sale proceeds to pay off the debt. Another thing to note about liens is that they can affect your credit score and your ability to qualify for new credit. The brother should have known that racking up serious debt and leaving it unpaid isn’t legal.

In this case, he had to repay his debt before he decided to sell his property. Luckily, the poster protected his interests and as he mentioned, he “did everything legal and by the books.” As research on money lending in families states, it “can damage relationships with your friends and family, especially if they might have trouble paying it back. This emotional damage can often feel worse than losing the money.”

The siblings’ parents also got involved in the whole situation. They offered to pay the money back on their son’s behalf. But when the poster decided with his parents that their inheritance should not be touched, his brother was forced to take out a line of credit and repay his debt. Even though he eventually sold his house and got more than his asking price the man was still annoyed at the author for the lien.

As it seems to be proven time and time again, money matters have the capacity to wreck even the best relationships. Here, the author went out of his way to help his brother and ended up in a fix when his money was held hostage. Netizens felt he was smart for putting the lien on his brother’s house because it forced him to repay his debt. The viral post got 19k upvotes and left people ranting about the sneaky brother. Do you think the poster could have handled this situation differently? Let us know if you have a different opinion.

People were outraged on behalf of the author and applauded him for how he managed to get back at his brother

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