The Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004 (the ‘Act’) can be an effective tool for eliciting payment due under a construction contract, in a time and cost effective way, if used correctly. Depending on the amount of the claim and how the adjudication progresses, the process between payment claim and adjudication decision is capable of taking as little as 8 weeks.
Starting the process is as simple as issuing your invoice as a ‘payment claim’ pursuant to the Act.
Generally, the adjudication process is as follows:
Applicant serves Payment Claim⇓Respondent serves Payment Schedule⇓Applicant lodges Adjudication Application⇓Respondent serves Adjudication Response⇓Applicant serves Reply (only in some circumstances)⇓Adjudication Decision⇓Filing of decision as a judgment for a debt⇓Enforcement of Judgment
We note there are factors which may alter the above process. For example, if a payment schedule is not received a notice must be served on the respondent before lodging an adjudication application.
Whilst the Act is capable of streamlining the process for recovering unpaid invoices, it contains specific requirements and time frames for every step of the process and should these not be strictly adhered to the adjudicator is unable to award payment to you.
Further, before lodging an adjudication application, you should consider whether a charge pursuant to the Subcontractors Charges Act 1974 would be a more effective way to secure payment. If the dispute has already gone to adjudication you may be precluded from exercising your rights by way of charge.
To discuss further, please contact Alexandria Geokas on 07 3009 6555.