Recent amendments to the
Builder's Lien Act and new Builders Lien Regulations,
effective June 30, 2017, allow for early release of holdbacks to
subcontractors and alter how finishing holdbacks are calculated.
These changes are particularly helpful to subcontractors who finish
their work at an earlier stage of a project.
Early Holdback Release
When a subcontractor completes their work on a project, they can
request their contract be certified complete by the Project
Consultant (or the owner and general contractor if there is no
Project Consultant). When the subcontract is certified complete,
the owner has 10 days to post a notice of subcontract completion on
the public portion of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia
website and in a prominent location in the job site office, if such
office exists. The notice must include the name and address of the
owner, contractor, subcontractor, and person on whose certificate
payments are to be made, as well as a
