I have a commercial tenant who signed a contract agreeing to carry property and liability insurance on the building. A few months ago someone drove through the building. I was out of town at the time. I made a call to a contractor I knew to make emergecy repairs on the building so as to prevent looting and possible rain damage. Meanwhile, before I got back to town the tenant had authorized contsruction with a company I knew nothing about.

When I got back to town the construction had begun without my permission and with out a contractor I would have chosen. The tenant confessed later on that he had not gotten the insurance as stated in his contract.

The contractor put a lien on my building even though I never gave written or oral contract to him or the tenant. The tenant's contract requires any changes made to the building had to be authorized.

The work that was done was 40% more than the contractor I would have used and he did not complete the job. There are literally holes in the building that I have paid to have patched. He billed for painting and never did it.

Question: Am I liable for work that I never authorized ?

This is what is called a "mistake in a contract." In this case, it is a mistake in who the parties of the contract are. It should either void the contract, or place the burden of payment on the tenant.

If the tenant misrepresented himself as having authority to authorize the work, he would be liable.

Was immediate work necessary to prevent more damage, or to prevent theft or damage to the tenant's property?

But there is another possibility. An unscrupulous contractor may have represented himself to the tenant as having been hired by you. We often see that around here after a storm or a property damage traffic accident involving real property. In this case, it is contractor fraud.