What can I do if my main contractor ignores my final account?
Check what your subcontract required your main contractor to do and by when, then stop chasing and write once, formally.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Start with the subcontract's final payment terms. Did your main contractor have to respond within a set period? Does its silence have any stated effect? Which dates and notices apply to the final payment? Some subcontracts are precise and some say little. If yours says nothing, find out which payment rules apply before you rely on any date. Then write the formal letter. Set out the account you submitted and its date, and each chaser since. Give the sum you say is due and why, and a date for agreement or a reasoned reply. Attach the schedule, item by item with its evidence, so they cannot answer by asking for more detail. Keep the ordinary payment cycle running on anything already due. An open final account does not suspend the payment notices under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. If the silence goes on, you can refer the dispute to adjudication at any time under section 108, on the whole account or its largest head. Your unanswered letters are part of the record. Silence does not stop the clock on a conclusive evidence clause or on limitation, the legal time limit for bringing a claim, so check both with your solicitor.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor submitted a final account of £640,000 in January against £585,000 certified. Three chasers have gone unanswered by July, and the subcontract required a response within 3 months.
What happens
- The final payment clause and the dates are read from the subcontract.
- The submission, the three chasers and the £55,000 difference are set out, the difference as twenty items with their references.
- A formal letter asks for agreement or a reasoned reply within 21 days, and states that the largest head will otherwise be referred.
- The solicitor is asked whether any conclusive evidence or limitation date is running.
The account in figures
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Final account submitted | £640,000 |
| Certified to date | £585,000 |
| Difference, twenty items | £55,000 |
The outcome
The silence is now on the record with a date for a reply, and the next step if none comes is already named.
Our Final Account Claim rebuilds the account item by item and runs the correspondence on a timetable in your name.