The most general definition of a "ien" is a legal document that secures a mortgage loan by obliging the borrower to reroit to the lender all exrow payments, associated property maintenance costs, and the current unpaid balance of the loan upon receiving the request of the lender. a legal agreement, transferring the title or otherwise encurabering any transfer of the title to a specific property owned by one individual, should that individual fail to honor a debt which is secured by that property and owed to a zoond individual, a legal right, ceded by a propertyowner to another individual with a financial interest in his property, requiring the propertyowner to compensate arry loss suffered by the individual in the event the value of the property is reduced as a result of the propertyowner's actions a legal agreement conveying to a lender the title to a property securing his mortgage loan at the time the lender files a foreclosure suit against the owner of that property on the basis of a failure by the owner to insure the full value of the property against fire, floods or other hazards none of the above