Payment Schedule
Who is the respondent?
The respondent is the person who is served a payment claim under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004 (the Act) and is the party who has gained the benefit of construction work or has received related goods and services under a construction contract.
What is a payment schedule?
The respondent provides a payment schedule as a response to a payment claim. It must:
- Be in writing
- Be addressed to the claimant.
- Identify the payment claim to which it relates
- State the amount (if any) that the respondent proposes to pay even if no amount is proposed
- Provide detailed reasons for withholding payment if the proposed amount is less than the claimed amount
- Be served on the claimant.
A sample of a payment schedule can be found on page 9 of the BCIPA Information Kit on: http://www.bcipa.qld.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/Publications/BCIPAAdjudicationInformationKit.pdf
When can I serve my payment schedule?
A respondent has a limited number of days within which to provide a payment schedule to the claimant either:
- 10 business days after the payment claim is served, or
- the time stated in the construction contract
whichever is the earlier period.
nb: Once served with a payment claim, the respondent becomes liable to pay the entire claimed amount to the claimant on the due date for payment, unless the respondent serves a payment schedule within the above time limits.
Failure to provide a payment schedule within the prescribed time can also mean that a respondent is barred from providing an adjudication response.
How do I serve my payment schedule on the claimant?
The respondent can serve a payment schedule on the claimant in the following ways:
- Delivering to the claimant personally
- Post to the claimant’s last known place of business or residential address
- Fax to the claimant’s last known place of business or residential address
- If the claimant is a company or body corporate, the payment schedule can be delivered, posted or faxed to its head office, registered office or principal office
- Emails may not be deemed to be proper service unless the contract states that email can be used or there is a detailed history of email communication between the parties.
It is important that evidence of service is kept, such as fax transmission reports or notes of time, date and place of delivery. You must satisfy the adjudicator that all documents are served correctly.
What happens if a payment schedule is received?
The claimant has 10 business days from when they receive the payment schedule to apply for adjudication.
What happens if no payment or payment schedule is received?
Once the 10 business days have expired, the claimant must within 20 business days from the due date for payment issue a notice to the respondent under section 21(2) of the Act.
What is a s21(2) notice?
A s21(2) notice states:
- The claimant intends to apply for adjudication for the claimed amount
- That the respondent has 5 business days after receiving this notice to provide a payment schedule to the claimant. nb: this means that the respondent gets another chance to provide a payment schedule
- Must be served on the respondent in the same way as a payment claim.
If the respondent fails to provide a payment schedule, they will be barred from lodging an adjudication response once the adjudication process commences.
What happens if no payment or payment schedule is received within 5 business days of issuing a 21(2) notice?
Once the 5 business days following the service of the 21(2) notice have expired, the claimant has 10 business days within which to bring forward an adjudication application to an Authorised Nominating Authority (ANA), such as the Queensland Law Society ANA.
