Who can issue a Payment Notice?
Whoever your subcontract says: usually your main contractor or a person it names, and under some subcontracts, you.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Section 110A of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 allows the notice to come from the payer, a person the contract names, or the payee. So read your own subcontract for who sends it, including any written delegation. A job title is not enough. Someone's role under the main contract does not give them a role under your subcontract. If a notice comes from someone your subcontract does not name, record that and get it checked before the final date for payment.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A Payment Notice for your cycle arrives from the architect. The architect certifies payments under the main contract, between the client and your main contractor.
What happens
- You map the two contracts separately: client to main contractor, and main contractor to you.
- You read your subcontract for who must send your Payment Notice and who receives it.
- You record the sender question and have it checked before the final date for payment.
The outcome
Each contract has its own sender and recipient. The architect's role under the main contract is not taken as authority to send a notice under your subcontract.
To have the sender and every other part of a notice you have received tested before the final date for payment, see our Underpayment Claim service.