A judge has granted a lien on the Haven Health Center of Cape Elizabeth property on Scott Dyer Road to a former owner of the property, endorsing her concern that the property might be sold or foreclosed upon before she could be paid her share of the sale price.

But the nursing home’s Connecticut-based parent company, Haven Health Care, and the property’s mortgage holder, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, deny any prospect of foreclosure.

According to Anthony Scierka, spokesman for Haven Health Care, the company is “exploring some options” for the facility following the closing of their 60-bed skilled nursing section in July, when the company faced penalties from the state and possible loss of Medicare payments for its residents. He said Haven is now looking at a plan to expand the remaining 60-bed assisted living section into the rest of the building.

Christine Foye, spokeswoman for the federal housing department, said Haven was “not in default” and had never missed a mortgage payment. There is no plan to foreclose on the property, she said. “They’re paid right up through September 2005.”

In documents filed in Cumberland County Superior Court on Sept. 21, Scarborough resident Dawn Chamberlain asked a judge to place a lien on the Haven property at 126 Scott Dyer Road. The lien would guarantee she be paid $250,000 plus interest, her share of the May 2004 sale to Haven of the former Viking Nursing Facility.

Chamberlain, a part owner of the Viking, claimed in her suit that Haven had been making payments to her from September 2004 through July 29, 2005, but had not paid since. Chamberlain could not be reached for comment on this story.

She asked that the lien be for $270,839, the principal amount plus interest and a late charge, and said in the documents that she was afraid she would not be able to collect anything, because Haven had no other assets with which to pay her and was looking to sell the property before it could be foreclosed upon.

She said she had learned that the federal housing department had a mortgage on the Scott Dyer Road property and “is preparing to foreclose upon that property.” She also said Haven was looking to sell the property and “has engaged in discussions with potential buyers, including my husband Elliott Chamberlain.”

In his affidavit, Elliott Chamberlain said he had learned in a conversation with Haven Health Care in late August about buying the property that “Haven no longer had any interest in conducting business through the Viking facility in the State of Maine” and “that if Haven did not find a buyer quickly that HUD would foreclose.”

“Because of this information,” Dawn Chamberlain stated in her affidavit, “I am concerned that either HUD will soon foreclose on the mortgage or that the Scott Dyer Road property will be sold to a third party and I will not be able to collect on any judgment against the Defendants.”

Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Delahanty II ordered her request for a lien on the Scott Dyer Road property on the same day Chamberlain filed her request with the court.

Delahanty agreed there “is a clear danger” that Haven, if notified in advance of the suit, would “dissipate and/or withdraw assets” to avoid having to pay Chamberlain.

Scierka, spokesman for Haven Health Care, said he had no knowledge of the court case and refused to comment until the case made its way to him “through the proper channels.”

He said Chamberlain was one of the former owners of Viking Partnership, from whom Haven bought the Scott Dyer Road property last year, but did not know any specific terms of the sale or about the cessation of payments to her.