Collateral Warranties And The Construction Contracts Act, 2013

The Construction Contracts Act, 2013 (the "Act") came into force on 25 July 2016. The Act constitutes a welcome effort to regulate payments and disputes resolution in certain contractual arrangements in the construction industry.

Where the Act applies to a construction contract (whether written or oral) it will confer certain rights on the parties to the contract whilst also imposing certain default provisions into the contract which can be summarised as follows:

1. The contract shall provide for:
   • the amount of each interim payment;
   • the amount of the final payment (or an adequate mechanism for determining those amounts);
   • payment claim dates; and
   • the period between payment claim dates.