Security Of Payment Options

There are some exceptions, but broadly speaking the Security Of Payment laws are intended to cover most types of construction contracts.

Is The Security Of Payments Act Legislation Available To You For Your Construction Claim ?

This is very important, because if it is, you are able to recover the money owed to you a lot cheaper than by traditional court proceedings.

How To Determine If You Can Use The Security Of Payments Act

There are only a few key requirements that you need to be able to satisfy to be able to press for payment of your progress claim under the Security Of Payments Act.

Firstly

Determining which state legislation you will use is simple : it will be the legislation of the state where the construction work was carried out. For example if the work was carried out anywhere in New South Wales it will be the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999. (NSW)

Secondly

There must be a Construction Contract within the meaning of the Security Of Payment Act. That may be an oral agreement as simple as : “will you paint my house ?” “yes I will paint your house,” “how much will you charge me to paint my house?'” “I will paint your house for $5,000.00 + GST,” “please go ahead and paint my house.” There you have “offer” and “acceptance”, the first 2 elements of a contract. And the parties clearly demonstrated that they intended to be bound by the terms of the contract by; 1) the customer allowing the claimant to paint the house, and; 2) by the painter actually painting the house, the third element of a contract; “intention to be bound by the contract”. And of course there must be consideration; “work done”. Finally, once the work is done the contract then obligates the debtor to pay for the work done.

Thirdly

Is there a Reference Date available. The Security Of Payment Act only allows for one claim per contract per month. If you agreed on a particular day of the month for making a claim then that is the Reference Date. If you haven’t agreed on a particular day for making a claim then the Security Of Payment Act says it is the last day of the month. The Security Of Payment Act says that you can serve your claim on or after a Reference Date for works completed prior to that Reference Date. It is important to note that different states have limitations for serving claims after the works are completed: New South Wales is 12 months, Victoria is 3 months, and Queensland is 6 months.

Fourthly

The works being claimed must have been completed in accordance with the contract, they must have been charged in accordance with the contract or fair market rates, and the works must be defect free.

And it is as simple as that. If you can tick all of the above boxes then you can use the Security of Payments Act to press for payment of your progress claim.

Rest assured that Security Of Payment is the best means of debt recovery and collection for monies owed that are caught up in payment disputes in the building & construction industry.

So if you are entitled to run a claim under Security of Payment start a claim now using our Online Claim Form.