UCC lien showing up after mortgage refinance - need advice

Actually yes, we did install some pretty expensive manufacturing equipment that's bolted to the concrete floor. I never thought about that being considered part of the real estate though.

Yeah that's definitely fixture filing territory. The UCC-1 probably has a checkbox marked for fixtures which is why it's showing up in your property records now.

Oh no, how long did it take to resolve? We're supposed to close next week and I'm getting really worried about the timeline.

it was like 6 weeks total but that was because the original lender was being difficult. if your equipment lender is cooperative it should be faster

Six weeks seems excessive. Most UCC-3 terminations process within 1-2 business days electronically. Sounds like there were other complications in your case.

I can pull the UCC-1 from the Secretary of State website, right? I have the filing number from the title search.

Yes exactly. Look for the collateral description section and see if it mentions fixtures or real estate at all. Also check if your business name matches exactly - debtor name mismatches can cause these kinds of crossover issues.

Actually had a similar issue last year and found this tool called Certana.ai that let me upload both my UCC filings and mortgage docs to check for inconsistencies. Turned out there was a debtor name mismatch that was causing the confusion - saved me tons of time versus trying to cross-reference everything manually.

The equipment loan is still active, we refinanced it last year but it's definitely not paid off. So this lien should still be there?

If the loan is still active then yes, the UCC filing should remain. But it shouldn't interfere with your mortgage refinance unless there's some kind of priority issue or cross-default clause.

Wait, if it's a fixture filing and the equipment loan is still active, your mortgage lender might be concerned about lien priority. Fixture filings can have priority over mortgages in some cases.

tell me about it. same thing happened with our restaurant equipment. nobody mentioned that the walk-in cooler would create a lien on our building

This is actually a good reminder to always review UCC filings before signing equipment financing agreements. Most people don't realize the real estate implications.

Is that something the equipment lender would typically agree to? Seems like it would put them in a worse position.

Depends on the relationship and the loan terms. If the equipment value substantially exceeds the loan balance, they might be willing to subordinate to keep you as a customer.

Subordination agreements are pretty common in these situations. The equipment lender usually wants to maintain the relationship and avoid forcing a refinance delay.

That's a good point about partial releases. You'd need to identify which specific equipment items are actually fixtures versus personal property.

Most of our equipment is moveable, it's really just the main production line that's permanently installed. A partial release might work.

That's interesting - our business name did change slightly when we converted from LLC to Corp a few years ago. Could that be causing confusion?

Definitely could be. Certana.ai's document checker would flag that kind of debtor name inconsistency immediately. Much faster than trying to manually compare all the paperwork.

Entity name changes can definitely cause UCC complications. If your UCC filing still shows the old entity name, that could explain why your mortgage company is having trouble connecting the dots.

You're absolutely right about the rate lock. We have 10 days left and I'm already seeing rates tick up this week.

THIS. i learned this the hard way when my situation dragged on. lost a great rate because everyone was moving too slow

Rate lock extensions are usually available for situations like this, but they often come with fees. Still better than losing a good rate entirely.

Will definitely update once I know more. Going to pull the UCC filing first thing tomorrow and then start making some calls.

Good plan. Having the actual filing in hand will make those conversations much more productive.

And if you need to cross-check multiple documents quickly, that Certana.ai tool I mentioned really does save time versus doing it all manually.

That's a really good point about the title company's responsibility here. If they missed an existing UCC filing that should have been caught in their search, they might be willing to expedite the resolution to avoid any potential liability issues. Definitely worth asking them some pointed questions about their search methodology.