Payment claims – The important basics When a payment claim is received, if the payer does not intend to pay the full amount of the claim, it must respond with a payment schedule within the time required by the relevant construction contract; or if the contract does not provide for the matter, 20 working days after the payment claim is served. It is not uncommon for the contractual period within which a payer must respond to a payment claim to be very short – in some cases as little as 3-5 working days. A payment claim must be accompanied by a written notice (in form 1 of the Regulations) outlining the process for responding to the claim and explaining the consequences of not responding if payment of the claimed amount in full is not made by the due date for payment. A payment claim is sufficiently served whether it is delivered to the payer personally, left at that person’s usual or last known place of residence or business in New Zealand; posted in a letter addressed to the person at that person’s place of residence or business in New Zealand; or the document is sent in the manner (if any) prescribed in regulations made under the Act, which may include by email where the parties have used email as a regular means of communication. The time limit for responding with a payment schedule will commence when the payment claim is served.
Adjudication Time, tide, and now adjudication, wait for no man. The Act provides: • 5 working days as the mandated period within which an adjudication claim must be served following service of the adjudicator’s notice of acceptance; • a default period of 5 working days for filing a response to an adjudication claim in order to meet the objectives and purpose of the Act. There must be a compelling case to justify extending that time period - going to the beach on holiday with the family is just not one of them; • a mandated 5 working day period following service of the response during which the claimant may serve a reply; and • subject to the adjudicator’s prior approval, a mandated period of 2 working days following service of the reply within which the respondent may serve a rejoinder. There is no power for an adjudicator to extend the time for service of the claim, even if the parties agree otherwise. Accordingly, if a notice of acceptance was served by an adjudicator on any day in the week of 18 - 22 December 2017, the claimant must serve its adjudication claim on the relevant 5th working day during the week of 8 -12 January 2018. Unless the parties agree to extend the time for service of the response, a respondent will be required to serve its response within 5 working days of service of the claim. Accordingly, if a claim was served on any day in the week of 18 - 22 December 2017, the claimant must serve its adjudication claim on the relevant 5th working day during the week of 8 -12 January 2018.