{"id":783,"date":"2025-12-04T11:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/?p=783"},"modified":"2025-12-04T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:29:09","slug":"court-reaffirms-licensing-is-essential-for-home-improvement-contractors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/2025\/12\/04\/court-reaffirms-licensing-is-essential-for-home-improvement-contractors\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Reaffirms: Licensing Is Essential for Home Improvement Contractors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The New York Appellate Division, Second Department, in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycourts.gov\/Reporter\/3dseries\/2025\/2025_06712.htm\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nycourts.gov\/Reporter\/3dseries\/2025\/2025_06712.htm\">Nationwide HVAC Supply Corp. v. Mosby<\/a><\/em>, held that an unlicensed home improvement contractor cannot recover damages for breach of contract or foreclose a mechanic\u2019s lien, and therefore dismissed the complaint. The dispute began when Andrew Mosby hired Nationwide HVAC Supply Corp. to install an HVAC system at his home, leading to a mechanic\u2019s lien after payment disagreements. Although the trial court denied Mosby\u2019s motion to dismiss, the appellate court reversed, stressing that Nassau County Administrative Code requires strict compliance with licensing laws. Because Nationwide failed to allege possession of a valid license, it forfeited its right to enforce the lien or seek damages. The appellate court also rejected the argument that reliance on a licensed subcontractor could cure the defect, reaffirming that subcontractor licensing does not substitute for the general contractor\u2019s own compliance. This ruling makes clear that in New York, contractors who lack the required license cannot enforce contracts or liens, even when the work has been fully performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Appellate Division, Second Department, in Nationwide HVAC Supply Corp. v. Mosby, held that an unlicensed home improvement contractor cannot recover damages for breach of contract or foreclose a mechanic\u2019s lien, and therefore dismissed the complaint. The dispute began when Andrew Mosby hired Nationwide HVAC Supply Corp. to install an HVAC system at &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/2025\/12\/04\/court-reaffirms-licensing-is-essential-for-home-improvement-contractors\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Court Reaffirms: Licensing Is Essential for Home Improvement Contractors&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88,865,862,593,134],"ppma_author":[699],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-construction-law","tag-contractor-licensing","tag-home-improvement-contract","tag-jose-a-aquino","tag-mechanics-liens"],"authors":[{"term_id":699,"user_id":66,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jaaquino","display_name":"Jose A. Aquino","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/07\/aquinojose-125x150.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}