Security of Payment Legislation

The 'Security of Payment Act' allows for the rapid determination of progress claims under a building contract to ensure that any person who undertakes to carry out construction work or supplies related goods and services is entitled to receive and recovery progress payments.

IHS has extensive and in-depth experience with the legislation in NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS, ACT and SA.  As fully trained adjudicators and experienced preparers of adjudication submissions, IHS has a detailed knowledge and complete understanding of the various Acts and how to best manage each issue.

The various state Acts contain very strict guidelines and timing requirements.  If you miss your timeframes you may not be in a position to recover your money through the legislation thus leading to court proceedings which can consume significant cost and time.  Some important questions for your consideration are:

• Do you have a written contract;
• How long after the work is complete can I make a claim for payment;
• When should a payment claim be served;
• When should a payment schedule be received;
• What happens if a payment schedule is not received;
• What happens if payment is not received by the due date;
• What is an adjudication application and who prepares the documents.

IHS provides the following services -

Preparation & Submission of Claims: Client involvement can be much reduced and the chances of success increased significantly by having the claim/submission prepared by professional preparers.  The understanding and interpretation of contract terms and conditions under the various Acts is paramount to a successful submission.

Managing the Dispute Process: A client normally considers this task their responsibility. This can be a very time consuming process and be be a source of constant frustration.  This task can be ‘outsourced’ to IHS who has custom-built software to manage the timing and process issues associated with SOPA.  IHS provide a FREE initial consultation including managing the various critical time constraints.

Payment Schedules

Be aware that a payment schedule is the trigger for initiating the adjudication process.  A Respondent who is served a payment claim may reply to the claim by giving a payment schedule to the Claimant.  Providing a payment schedule must be carefully considered and should not simply form part of a process. 

Adjudication Application

As part of the management of security of payment disputes a comprehensive adjudication application may need to be prepared.  IHS is an experienced preparer of adjudication applications and IHS comes with a very high success rate.

Adjudication Response

The Respondent may give an adjudicator a response to the Claimant’s adjudication application if the Respondent has served a payment schedule.  The Respondent is prevented from including any  reasons in the adjudication response for withholding payment that were not included in the payment schedule.

Payment Withholding Request

This is a document that requires a principal contractor to retain sufficient money to cover the adjudicated amount from money that is or becomes payable by the principal contractor to the Respondent.  Care must be taken with this document as it must be in the prescribed form and supported with a statutory declaration.