The name of the legislation in Queensland has been changed from the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act (BCIPA) to the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payments) Act 2017 and you may be wondering what the impact has been for the industry since the law went live on 17 December 2018.
Under the previous law, your invoices, if you wanted them to be valid payment claims under the law, needed to have the correct words on the front of the claim or invoice. This requirement has been removed in the new law to try and simplify matters and to avoid legal arguments about whether or not a claim had been properly made.
You still have to be sure that you properly identify the work you're claiming for and the amounts and dates to which the work applies, but hopefully, without the need for the previous formalities, payments should be easier or positive adjudication outcomes more frequent for you.
If you are on the Gold Coast and you want a review of your processes to make sure your payment claims are valid, drop us an email or telephone call so we can help you out.
Also, if you receive an invoice or payment claim from a builder and you want to query aspects of the work, make sure you respond quickly as the time limits under the law are still very short and, if you miss the response date, an adjudicator may decide you have to pay, even if the works are defective or not described correctly.
For detailed information about the new security of payment laws for builders or consumers, you can check out the QBCC website https://www.qbcc.qld.gov.au/new-laws/security-payment-laws or give us a call to assess your situation.
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