Under the Housing Grants Act, payment notices and adjudication can decide an unpaid application faster than a court claim.
Before treating an unpaid application as an ordinary debt, check whether the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 applies to the contract.
Under the statutory payment regime a payer who fails to serve a valid payment notice or pay-less notice in time can become liable to pay the notified sum in full, whatever the merits of the underlying valuation.
We start with the dates: what was applied for, when, what notice came back, and when.
A party to a construction contract generally has the right to refer a dispute to adjudication at any time, with a decision in a short statutory timetable. It is temporarily binding and enforceable, and for unpaid applications it can be faster and cheaper than litigation.
Adjudication is not a reserved legal activity, and parties are represented by consultants and surveyors as well as lawyers. Where adjudication is the right route for your debt, we will recommend it.
Retention is a debt like any other once it falls due. The release date depends on practical completion or the end of the defects period, so diarise both.
Where you supplied materials, a retention of title clause incorporated into the contract can let you recover them if the payer fails. The goods must still be identifiable and must not have been built into the works.
For an unpaid application under a construction contract it can be: the timetable is short and the decision is enforceable. On small sums the adjudicator's fee can be disproportionate to the debt.
Pay-when-paid clauses are largely ineffective in construction contracts by statute, so 'we have not been paid' is generally not an answer to your application. There are narrow exceptions, so send us the contract to check.
Not necessarily. A pay-less notice must be valid, in time, and specify the basis of the sum. Notices that are late, unsigned, sent to the wrong address or silent on the basis of calculation can be found ineffective. If the notice fails, the notified sum may be payable in full.
Then it is an ordinary debt that fell due two years ago, with statutory interest attached to it since. A simple contract debt stays enforceable for 6 years, so it is likely still recoverable.
We email you the letter before action checklist, the interest and compensation rules, and the cost of each recovery stage.
Tell us what you are owed and who owes it. We reply with the total once interest and compensation are added, the first step we recommend, and its fixed fee.
