Building Law: Construction Industry Security of Payments Act 1999

Running Head: Building Law 0
Building Law
Civil- Construction and Building Procurement
Student’s Name
10/1/2018

Building Law 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
How does the Act work?.............................................................................................................................2
Why the act has introduced.........................................................................................................................3
Act and Regular Court Actions....................................................................................................................5
Recent Amendments in the Act...................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................8
Books/ Journals 8
Legislation 8
Other Resources 9

Building Law 2
Introduction
The report presented hereunder is based on the topic of Building and Construction Industry
Security of Payments act 19991. Building and construction industry is one of the most significant
industries of any nation or state. Many classes of people are involved in this industry such as
builder, contractors, sub-contractors and so on. This is to inform that the act has developed to
secure the interest of contractors and subcontracts in the nation. The motivation behind preparing
this report is to address the Property Council of New South Wales on various aspects related to
this act. In this report, the aspects related to act such as the manner in which the same works, the
role of courts and tribunals, recent amendments in the act are mentioned. The prepared report is
attached herewith under the title name Annexure A and this is to hope that the same will prove
helpful to the addressee.
How does the Act work?
In this heading, the manner in which the said act works is stated. Total 38 sections are there in
this act. The act works as an authority that provides right to an innocent party in a construction
contract. Before the development of this act too, right were available to contractors and
subcontractors in against of builders and contractors, however, now the rights have a legal
ground. The act is majorly focused on the recovery of payments. According to section 5 of the
act repair, restoration and extension are also included in the category of construction works2.
1 Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 No 46
2 Andrew Burr, International Contractual and Statutory Adjudication (Taylor & Francis, 2017)

Building Law 3
Section 7 says that the act is applicable to every construction contract, no matter that whether the
same is in written mode or not. It means the act is also applicable to oral contracts. For every
possible confusion in the area of the work contract, the act provides a clarification. This can also
be stated that this act is a bundle of rules. Part 3 of the Act provides the procedure for recovery
of progress payments. Division 1 of the act is completely focused on the payment schedules and
payment claims. Section 11 of the act states the dates on which the payment of a contractor or
sub-contractor becomes due. Division 2 provides the way in that adjudications of disputes under
this act can be done. The act provided a manner in which a person can ask for his due payments.
It means a well-defined procedure is there and one cannot directly seek the final remedies. For
instance, a subcontractor first needs to ask the payment schedules and if the contractor fails to
provide the same then only the subcontractor can move to the courts for adjudication of his/her
claim.
A victim party of a construction/work contract can get the remedy under this act. The act has it is
a unique feature that the same itself provides remedies to innocent parties. It means if a
contractor fails to make the payment of a sub-contractor, then such subcontractor can serve the
payment demand notice to the contractor. He/she can also ask for the payment schedules. In
addition to this, a victim party can also knock the door of the court to enforce the remedies
granted under this act. This whole act works in this manner.
Why the act has introduced
Every act develops because of such requirements. The same was with Building and Construction
Industry Security of Payments act 1999. Before the enactment of this act, some issues were there