Security of payment in Queensland

Who can serve a payment claim in Queensland?

Anyone who has carried out construction work, or supplied related goods and services, under a construction contract, from each reference date (s 70): subcontractors, head contractors, suppliers and consultants. The main exclusion is domestic building work for a resident owner who lives or intends to live in the building (s 61(2)(b)).

Queensland kept reference dates when NSW and Victoria abolished them (s 67): the date the contract fixes or, if silent, the last day of each named month, with the termination date as a final reference date (s 67(2)).

When can I serve a payment claim in Queensland?

One claim per reference date (s 75(4)). Progress claims must be served before the longer of the contract period and 6 months after the work was last carried out (s 75(2)). Final claims get the longest of the contract period, 28 days after the last defects liability period ends, and 6 months after completion (s 75(3)).

No endorsement is needed: a written document bearing the word "invoice" is taken to be a request for payment (s 68(3)), so an ordinary invoice can be a valid payment claim.

A head contractor claiming on the principal must attach a supporting statement declaring subcontractors have been paid, or detailing what is unpaid and why (s 75(7), (9)). The penalty is up to 100 penalty units, but the claim itself stays valid (s 75(8)).

How long do I have to serve a payment schedule in Queensland?

Fifteen business days after the payment claim, or the shorter time the contract requires (s 76(1)). Failing to give one is itself an offence carrying up to 100 penalty units, on top of becoming liable for the full claimed amount (s 77). There is no NSW-style second-chance notice, and a respondent who gave no schedule cannot lodge an adjudication response at all (s 82(2)).

When is a progress payment due under the BIF Act?

On the date your contract provides or, if it is silent, 10 business days after the claim (s 73(1)). The caps live in the QBCC Act 1991: a commercial building contract term allowing payment later than 15 business days is void (s 67W), and a subcontract term later than 25 business days is void (s 67U).

When can I apply for adjudication in Queensland?

Within 30 business days after receiving a payment schedule that offers less than you claimed, 20 business days after the due date if a scheduled amount is not paid, or 30 business days after the later of the due date and the last day a schedule could have been given where there was no schedule and no payment (s 79(2)(b)).

• Applications go to the Adjudication Registrar at the QBCC in the approved form, with a copy to the respondent within 4 business days (s 79(4)); the registrar refers it to an adjudicator within 4 business days (s 79(5)).
• Responses run 10 business days for standard claims and 15 for complex ones, with extensions available for complex claims (s 83). Decisions follow within 10 or 15 business days of the response date (s 85).
• The respondent must pay the adjudicated amount within 5 business days of the decision, on pain of up to 200 penalty units (s 90), and the claimant can register a charge over the respondent’s property to secure it (ss 100B to 100G).

What catches people out under the QLD Act?

• Any invoice can be a payment claim (s 68(3)). Respondents who wait for a formally endorsed claim before scheduling get caught every month.
• There is no second chance: no notice-of-intention regime revives a missed schedule, and without a schedule you cannot even lodge an adjudication response (s 82(2)).
• Missing the schedule deadline is an offence (up to 100 penalty units) and grounds for QBCC disciplinary action, separate from the debt (s 76).
• Not paying an adjudicated amount within 5 business days is an offence carrying up to 200 penalty units (s 90), and the registrar must be notified with evidence of payment.
• A "business day" excludes 22 to 24 December, 27 to 31 December and 2 to 10 January, plus holidays in the place where the act is to be done (Sch 2).
• Head contractors need a supporting statement on claims to the principal (s 75(7)); unlike NSW, forgetting it does not invalidate the claim, but it is still an offence.

Frequently asked questions

Primary sources

• Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld), legislation.qld.gov.au
• Adjudication registry, Queensland Building and Construction Commission

General information, not legal advice. Deadlines depend on your contract and the current Act, and amendments move them. Verify against the Act and your executed contract, or get advice, before relying on any date here.