Section 8: Debts; interest; liens; priority
Section 8. Any liability to the commonwealth under this chapter shall constitute a debt to the commonwealth. Any such debt, together with interest thereon at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date such debt becomes due, shall constitute a lien on all property owned by persons liable under this chapter when a statement of claim naming such persons is recorded, registered or filed. If a fiduciary or secured lender has title to or possession of the property and is not a person liable under this chapter when a statement of claim is recorded, registered or filed, such debt and interest thereon at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date the debt becomes due, shall constitute a lien on the property in question when a statement of claim describing the property is duly recorded, registered or filed. Any lien on real property shall be effective when duly recorded at the registry of deeds or registered in the registry district of the land court in the county or district wherein the land lies. Any lien for personal property, tangible or intangible, shall require a statement to be filed in accordance with the provisions of chapter 106. Any such statement shall be approved by the department. A lien recorded, registered or filed pursuant to this section shall have priority over any encumbrance theretofore recorded, registered or filed with respect to any site, other than real property principally used as residential housing, described in such statement of claim. All other personal property shall be subject to the priority rules of said chapter 106. Such lien shall continue in force with respect to any real or personal property until a release signed by the department is recorded, registered or filed in the place where the statement of claim as to such property affected by the lien was recorded, registered or filed. The department shall forthwith issue such a release in any case where the debt for which such lien attached, together with interests and costs thereon, has been paid or legally abated. If no action to enforce or foreclose the lien is brought by the deadline prescribed in subsection (b) of section 7, the lien shall be discharged after such deadline. This section shall not apply in any manner to a public utility.