July 2011
The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (SOP Act) has always imposed very tight time frames on Builders and Clients when a Payment Claim is made.
Recently, the NSW Court of Appeal in Downer v Parson Brinckerhoff Australia (2011) involved a challenge by the Client as to whether a Payment Claim had been properly and validly served under the SOP Act. The SOP Act does allow service by facsimile to “the persons ordinary place of business”.
In this case, the Client had a number of business offices both in NSW and Victoria. The Court of Appeal held that the SOP Act did not confine the meaning of the words “ordinary place of business” to “the place of business with the closest connection to the building works”.
This legislation is extremely technical. Any Builder, Sub Contractor, Property Owner or Developer involved in building construction should assume that the SOP Act may be used in their dealings. For that reason, prompt legal advice should be obtained if either served with a Payment Claim or you are intending to serve one on another party.
Advice is available from Matt Howlin and Jodie Jamieson.