Payment claims under the security of payment legislation are often served during the Christmas-New Year shutdown period. Commercial contractors and domestic builders can be exposed to unnecessary difficulty simply by being out of the office.

You can protect yourself by having someone check your post, fax and emails and by having the right resources on hand to promptly respond to a payment claim. Any payment claim must be met with a payment schedule within 10 business days.

Failing to follow through with this step may mean that the claim becomes automatically due and payable. It is recommended that key staff be put on alert in order to avoid this situation.

For more information, contact Master Builders’ Legal Department at (03) 9411 4555. Be advised that Master Builders will close its offices from noon, Friday 23 December 2016 and reopen on Tuesday, 3 January 2017.