Building disputes - Security of payment

If you work in the building industry and have a client who is not paying the debt that they owe you, the following steps can be taken:

1. Serve a Claim for Payment upon the person or business
2. The person must respond within 10 days for commercial building work, or 20 days for residential building work with a payment schedule
3. If a Payment Schedule is not received the Builder can get an adjudicator for a ruling
4. If the adjudicator decides the amount needs to be paid then the debtor must pay it within 5 days unless another date is set by the adjudicator
5. If the amount is not paid by the due date then the builder can ask the named authority for an adjudication certificate
6. The builder takes the adjudication certificate to a court registry to be enforced as a judgement debt
7. The builder can also serve notice on the debtor to say they are stopping work on the building work.

Related information

• Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009
• Application for authorisation as a nominating authority  (PDF, 213.2 KB)
• Nominating authorities - conditions of authorisation (PDF, 404.4 KB)
• Security of payment - Ministerial guidelines (PDF, 149.4 KB)