Painter Not Get Paid, What Should I Do

rental30044

Here is my situation and would like to get some input from experienced real estate investors:

1. Bought a house and doing remodelling now. Hired a contractor from craiglist.com. So far the job is about 75% done, and have paid about 60% to the contractor.
2. I found out today that the contractor has not paid his painter yet. The painting job is finished already. The painter has been trying to get his money from the contractor, but with no success. .

The contractor has been lying to the painter that he has not got any $$ from me, and would like to quit and pull off from this project. So looks like he does not want to pay this painter. (This painter never worked with this contractor before).

The bad part is, if the painter is not got paid, he can file a lien against my property.

I would like to know under this situation, what can I do to protect myself? The contract between me and the contractor does not mention those condition. As I still hold 40% of the money, I can prepare a supplement to indicate it's his responsibilty to pay all the workers he hires, but I am not sure if it will work legally.

Any suggestion is appreciated.

我也碰到過相同的情況
承包的告訴工人說我沒付款 所以他沒錢付工資
我把所付的錢日期 金額全部列給工人看

The people who work for the contractor and not get paid by the contractor can ask the home owner to pay for it or file a lien against your property.