What makes a payment application valid?
It must follow your subcontract: sent on the right date, to the right recipient, in the required form, stating the sum and how you worked it out.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
It should name the contract and the cycle, and show the figures for this period and to date, with the records behind them. Keep the valuation date separate from the date any notice is measured from. A document marked as a forecast, for discussion or for information may not be treated as an application, depending on its wording and the circumstances. Keep the version you sent and the proof it arrived. If it is disputed whether your document counts as an application or as a default notice, that is a legal question.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor sends a document headed Application 7 to the named recipient on the contract date. It claims £48,000 for the period and attaches the measure. A second spreadsheet is marked For discussion and shows no cycle or recipient.
What happens
- The headed document is checked: named recipient, contract date, £48,000 for the period, measure attached.
- The second spreadsheet is checked: marked for discussion, no cycle, no recipient.
- The two are compared for clarity and evidence.
The outcome
The headed application has the clarity and evidence the spreadsheet lacks. That does not guarantee how an adjudicator or a court would treat either document.
To have your applications set to each subcontract's form, recipients and dates, see our Underpayment Prevention service.