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BIF Act QLD Amendments Came Into Force 17 December 2018

The Queensland Security Of Payment Act legislation is known as the Building Industry Fairness (Security Of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act)

Changes to the Security of Payments Act In Queensland and How it Affects You

Changes to the Building Industry Fairness (Security Of Payment) Act 2017 commenced on 17 December 2018.

The amendments seek to make changes in the way claimants file their adjudications and for respondents to have more time in filing their response.

What the amendments mean to you as a claimant: Adjudication applications will no longer be lodged to ANA: the Authorised Nominating Authorities (ANA) will be abolished. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) will be established as the adjudication registry.

QBCC will be responsible for: referring claimants to adjudicators and making appointments based on skills, knowledge, and experience appropriate to the case at hand; and monitoring the performance of adjudicators to ensure qualification

Shorter claim time: payment claims can no longer be made 6 months after construction work has been finished

Three week’s response time: claimants will have three weeks to respond to any matter raised by the respondent

What amendments mean to respondents: Longer timeframes for “complex” claims: respondents are now given 15 business days to respond to claims exceeding $750,000 or claims that have high time-related costs; standard claims are given the same response time of 10 business days

Business days close to Holidays not included: the definition of “business day” will no longer include the three business days leading up to Christmas and the 10 business days after New Year’s Day

More opportunity to raise reasons for withholding payment: under current law, respondents are not allowed to raise reasons for not not providing payment if such reasons are not included in the payment schedule. But with the amendment, respondents are now allowed to raise additional information and reasons even if those are not cited in the payment schedule. These new changes are set to take effect on 17 December 2018. The aim of such change is to strike a better balance between respondents and claimants. Previously, the BCIPA has been criticized for favoring claimants. Moreover, ANA adjudicators have been criticized for favoring claimants and causing losses to respondents. While the pending amendments may favor construction firms and head contractors, claimants may face new challenges. If you are a sub-contractor, supplier, or consultant, you may encounter some difficulties when the laws take effect in September. The pending amendments are set to affect all players in the construction industry. If you want to recover the debt owed to you, best consult our experts at Recoup.

For more information about the Queensland Security Of Payment Act known as the Building Industry Fairness (Security Of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act), please click BCIPA Information.

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