A voluntary lien is a property interest that a homeowner gives to a lender on a voluntary basis. When a homeowner takes out a mortgage loan, he or she will give a lender a secured interest in the property. This comes in the form of a mortgage agreement or a deed in trust agreement. The voluntary lien gives the lender the ability to foreclose on the property if the homeowner does not live up to the obligations in the mortgage. A voluntary lien should be compared to an involuntary lien in order to fully understand its importance. An involuntary lien is something like a mechanic’s lien, where the homeowner gives up an interest in his property without consent. For instance, if the homeowner fails to pay the people who worked on his home, those people might file a mechanic’s lien to claim a property interest in the individual’s home.
