My retention hasn't been released? Every question we answer on it, grouped by subject.
Retention is a percentage your main contractor keeps back from each payment to you, as security against defects, and pays back later in parts.
Usually in two parts, at practical completion and at the end of the defects period, but your subcontract sets the events and the dates.
Only if your subcontract says so in terms the law allows, so check the release wording first.
It is the period after practical completion in which defects must be put right, and its end often releases the rest of your retention.
Clause 2.38 is how JCT deals with defects after practical completion, and the Certificate of Making Good that closes it often releases the rest of your retention.
Find the release trigger in your subcontract, then ask in writing once it happens, citing the trigger, the sum held and the sum now due.
Each release has its own time limit, which runs from the date it fell due and is longer if your subcontract was signed as a deed.
Not yet: the Government proposed a ban in March 2026, but it will consult again first, and no new law is expected before 2027.
Yes, if you want the next jobs' retention back on time: Retention Claim gets back what was left behind, and Retention Loss Prevention stops it happening again.
Not necessarily: the way to find out is to date every release on every job before anything else is done.