NZ Construction Contracts Act: Payment Claims That Stick

Section 20: it must be in writing, identify the construction contract and the work, state the claimed amount and its due date, show how the amount was calculated, and state that it is made under the Construction Contracts Act 2002 — with the prescribed outline of the payer's obligations attached where required. Getting the formalities right matters because the whole enforcement engine (full liability absent a schedule, debt recovery, suspension) hangs off a valid claim.

The payer becomes liable for the full claimed amount. If no payment schedule arrives within the contract's response period — or 20 working days by default — the claimed sum is recoverable as a debt due in any court, together with your actual and reasonable costs of recovery, and you gain the right to suspend work after notice. The payer's arguments about valuation were due in the schedule; without one, they wait until later proceedings while the debt is paid.

Yes — strongly, since October 2023. Retention money on commercial construction contracts is trust property by operation of law from the moment it's withheld: held in a compliant bank account with per-subcontractor ledgers, protected in the payer's insolvency (the receiver or liquidator becomes trustee), and shielded by s 18I, which voids clauses conditioning release on anything besides your own performance and bans charging you retention-administration fees.

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