Allen

Defendant appeals from a summary judgment for plaintiff in an action to foreclose a mechanic’s lien. The judgment decreed that defendant was personally liable to plaintiff for the value of the labor and materials it supplied and impressed the improved property with mechanic’s liens.

*376 The part of the judgment that defendant is personally liable to plaintiff is clearly erroneous. In the absence of a contract between a lien claimant and the property owner, the right to enforce a mechanic’s lien against real property does not give rise to personal liability of the owner. (Golden Gate Bldg. Materials Co. v. Fireman (1928) 205 Cal. 174, 177-178 [ 270 P. 214 ] ; Roberts v. Security Trust & Sav. Bank (1925) 196 Cal. 557, 573-584 [ 238 P. 673 ].) Although the complaint states that plaintiff performed its work at the request of defendant, it appears from plaintiff’s own affidavits that the request came, not from defendant directly, but from his prime contractor.

The complaint alleged that plaintiff supplied lathing materials and performed labor, for which it had not been paid, in the construction of houses on 18 separate lots owned by defendant. In an amended answer defendant denied…