When a tradesman provides materials and services, the law provides him with a lien upon the item that was improved by his skill, materials, and labor. These liens come in two different varieties, the mechanic's lien and the repairman's lien.
A repairman's lien applies only to personal property and is created by long-standing common (judge-made) law. It most commonly arises with motor vehicles, but it applies to all items of personal property. The lien is created automatically when anyone makes repairs to personal property. It exists only as long as the item repaired is in the repairman's possession and the debt is unpaid. The repairman may hold the property until such time as the lien is repaid. This lien even takes priority over the lien held by a bank that financed the item, so that the bank cannot repossess the item from the repairman without first paying the repair bill. This makes sense because it is only fair that the bank pay for the repairs that improved the value of the property is it repossessing.
