A “lien” is really only a “claim of lien” until a court orders the lien to be valid

A builders lien is not itself an interest in land, but merely a claim to an interest in land:

 

[A builder’s lien is] really a claim to an interest in the land and such registrations against title have been held to have lesser authority, right, or entitlement than other charges…

(Vancouver City Savings Credit Union v. Glass, 2010 BCSC 1103 at para. 12).

 

Therefore, strictly speaking, once a lien claimant has merely filed the lien form in the Land Title Office it has only a “claim of lien”, which may later become an actual lien when a court order is made declaring the lien to be valid. Despite this, “claims of lien” are often referred to simply as “liens”.

 

Because claims of lien are not actually interests in land it has been held, in the context of a vendor’s lien, that lien claimants are not entitled to conduct of sale of the land until after there has been an order that the claim of lien is valid:

 

In the case at bar, Peel has commenced action claiming, inter alia, specific performance of the Delta Land agreement, a declaration of vendor's lien or, alternatively, rescission of the Delta Land agreement.  It is theoretically entitled to such relief.  However, until the lien has been established by a judgment of the court, I think it ought not to have conduct of sale of the lands. 

(British Columbia (Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise) v. Delta Fraser Properties Partnership, 2003 BCSC 905 at para. 43).