Liens on Personal Property

All mechanics of every sort shall have a special lien on personal property for work done and material furnished in manufacturing or repairing the personal property and for storage of the personal property after its manufacture or repair, which storage begins accruing after 30 days' written notice to the owner of the fact that storage is accruing and of the daily dollar amount thereof; and said notice shall be mailed to the owner by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery addressed to the owner at his last known address. Such special liens may be asserted by the retention of the personal property or the mechanic may surrender the personal property and give credit when the lien is enforced; and if such special liens are asserted by retention of the personal property, the mechanic shall not be required to surrender the property to the holder of a subordinate security interest or lien. Such liens shall be superior to all liens except liens for taxes and such other liens as the mechanic may have had actual notice of before the work was done or material furnished. When possession of the property is surrendered to the debtor, the mechanic shall record his or her claim of lien within 90 days after the work is done and the material is furnished or, in the case of repairs made on or to farm machinery, within 180 days after the work is done and the material is furnished. The claim of lien shall be recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county where the owner of the property resides. (Ga. Code Ann., § 44-14-363)

Although the statute providing for a mechanics' lien upon personal property gives such lien priority over other liens, such lien does not have priority over legal title in another. See Manchester Motors v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Manchester, 91 Ga. App. 811, 87 S.E. 2d 342 (1955). See also Nations Bank of Tennessee, N.A. v. Hardwick Carpets Intern Inc., 233 Ga. App. 894, 506 S.E. 2d 174 (1998), where the Georgia Court of Appeals held that the bank's perfected security interest in inventory of a carpet manufacturer had priority over a third party's later-acquired mechanics' lien.