Can my main contractor re-issue or withdraw its Pay Less Notice?
A replacement only counts if it was allowed and arrived before the deadline, so keep the original and check the dates.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Any replacement should show the date it was actually sent and say which notice it replaces. It must come from the right person, contain what a Pay Less Notice must contain and be sent the way your subcontract requires. It cannot be backdated. If your main contractor withdraws a deduction and pays you more, that does not by itself change the status of the notice. Once the deadline has passed, write down your commercial and legal options separately, and take advice on the actual documents.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
Your main contractor's Pay Less Notice, sent on 10 July, includes a £5,000 item it later withdraws. The deadline for the notice was 15 July. It sends a corrected notice.
What happens
- You keep the 10 July notice and the record of when it arrived.
- You check whether a replacement was allowed, and record the corrected notice on the date it actually arrived.
- If it arrived after 15 July, you record the payment and notice questions as open, without rewriting history.
The outcome
The original notice and the corrected one sit on the file with their real dates, and nothing is backdated.
To have a corrected or withdrawn Pay Less Notice tested against the deadline it had to meet, see our Underpayment Claim service.