What (SOPA claims) are you getting for Christmas?

The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (Act) provides a mechanism for making claims for payment and quickly determining disputes about payment, on an interim basis, by adjudication. Disputes can be determined through to payment in as little as 45 days.

With the object of keeping payments flowing in the construction industry, the framework of the Act requires various steps to be taken in the payment claim and adjudication processes within five or 10 business days. Those time periods are not extendable.

In the early years of the Act, claimants were known to ambush respondents with payment claims at Christmas, hoping they would be overlooked during the holiday break and become payable as a debt, regardless of merit.