I Have a Question About Lien on Property

My question involves real estate located in the State of: CA

Hi I have a question about a lien that was put on a property that is owned by my parents. I am curious, but they put a lien on his property because their was some construction done to the unit. This is a condo and apparently the association insurance would do all the job etc. Fast forward things my dad gets a letter that if the debt is not paid they would be put a lien on his property. So at that point my dad contacted the association I got ahold of the person in charge of billing and explained the situation (gave her all the info of the guy incharge of the association since he said he had the funds set to do the payment).

Fast forward things my dad finds out with the county that he has a lien on his property from them. I contacted the lady in charge and said it was removed and showed me paper work (basically recently sent the paper work to remove the lien which is not a concern anymore), but this is what I want to know. How is it possible to put a lien on a property without getting some type of judgement from the judicial system?

I Have a Question About Lien on Property