By Geoff Hardy - 20 Jan 2019
Have you ever been put off trying to recover a debt
because of the legal costs involved? The payment claims and payment
schedules regime under the Construction Contracts Act
(CCA) may just have the answer for
you.
A payment claim is a special kind of invoice. The CCA has rules
around what is required for a valid payment claim. A payment
schedule is the only way to contest it. The CCA also has rules
which explain what a valid payment schedule requires.
If a payment claim is valid and no payment schedule has been
issued in time, the amount claimed in that payment claim becomes a
"due debt". This debt can then be enforced in court or by
adjudication under the CCA very easily.
The only defences to the issue of a valid payment claim are the
issue of a valid payment schedule as defined by the CCA, or payment
of the amount claimed, within a defined period.
The CCA allows for claiming back actual and reasonable legal
costs for recovery of a payment claim. This means that you lose no
money in enforcing it.
In terms of enforcement via adjudication, given that the
defences are low, the costs of enforcement via adjudication are low
as well.
Contact us if you believe you have a valid payment claim that
you would like to enforce. We are also able to ensure your invoices
have the power of payment claims so you can benefit from their full
power.
Contact
Geoff
Hardy