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NSW · Security of Payment Act 1999

Everyone writes the words on the claim.
Almost nobody starts the clock.

You put “this is a payment claim made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW)” on the claim — because your software does. Then the dates start running, and nobody is counting them. Put in the day you served it and see every date the Act just gave you.

Free, no account. Nothing is sent anywhere until you ask for it.
292

Adjudication applications lodged in NSW in a whole quarter — against an industry where nearly every claim carries the endorsement.

85%

Success rate on claims under $100,000 — which are 70% of all applications. The ones who follow through get paid.

1 in 8

Applications that settle privately once lodged. Often the lodgement is the whole argument.

Your claim, on the statutory calendar

Five questions — six if something has come back. Every date below is counted in business days as s 4 defines them — weekends out, NSW public holidays out, and 27 to 31 December out. That last one catches people every January.

This changes the due date rules more than people expect, and it is the question nobody asks.

    The words, if you ever need to check them

    This is a payment claim made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW).

    Mandatory again since 21 October 2019. Without it, the document is not a payment claim — and none of the dates above exist.

    Before you rely on this

    They are counted from the date you entered, in business days as the Act defines them — weekends, NSW public holidays and 27–31 December excluded.

    Three things this cannot know.

    When the claim was actually served. Day zero is the day it reached the other party — not the day it was written, dated or sent. If that is in doubt, every date above moves with it.

    What your contract says. A contract can shorten the payment schedule window and can bring the due date forward. It cannot push payment out beyond the Act — except on an owner-occupied home, where it can.

    Whether the claim is valid at all. Licensing and insurance can remove the entitlement to payment entirely, and that is not a date question.

    These deadlines are unforgiving: miss one and the right is usually gone, not merely weaker. This is general information about NSW law, not advice about your matter. If a date above is close, get advice before you rely on it.

    The step that kills most claims: silence is not a green light

    The instinct is that if they ignore your claim entirely, you go straight to an adjudicator. It is the opposite. Where no payment schedule comes back, you cannot apply for adjudication until you have served a notice telling them you intend to — and that notice hands them a fresh 5 business days to serve the schedule they never sent.

    So the party who ignored you gets a second chance, and you are the one who has to give it to them. Miss the window to serve that notice and the claim is finished — not arguable, finished.

    Nobody invents this step on their own. It is the single most common reason a properly endorsed claim goes nowhere.