This material is for information purposes and is not intended to provide legal advice in relation to any particular fact situation. Readers who have concerns about any particular circumstance are encouraged to seek independent legal advice in that regard.
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September 11, 2019
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Are You Ready for Prompt Payment and Adjudication? Free Seminars, Guides and Cheat Sheets!
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As of October 1st, the prompt payment and adjudication provisions of the Construction Act come into effect and you need to be ready. Contractors will have 28 day payment terms from owners, while subcontractors will have 35 days, sub-sub-contractors will have 42 days, and so on. Everyone in the ladder has to make the payments unless they give a ‘notice of non-payment’ on the tight timelines set out in the Act. Owners, for example, have a mere 14 days to review a contractor’s proper invoice and decide if it should be paid, in whole or in part. If anyone misses a notice deadline, they have to pay – even if they have not been paid by those above.
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The adjudication provisions are also substantial. These allow virtually any construction dispute over payments, changes, back-charges or the value of the work to be submitted to adjudication on terms that will result in a binding decision in as quickly as 46 days (and sometimes less). If you use the processes wisely, they will help you resolve disputes in a fair and timely fashion. If you are not ready to effectively set out your position on a dispute on very short notice, however, a binding decision may go against you from which there is no right of appeal. The consequences could be devastating.
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The processes can be difficult to follow on a reading of the Act. Also, the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the processes are just now emerging from the Attorney General’s office. You should have questions. You need to know how this works; how to protect your rights, how to meet your obligations and what you can do to be prepared (from contract drafting, to changing your field and home office practices).
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We are hosting two seminars to review and update the prompt payment and adjudication provisions and discuss practical strategies for dealing with same. We’ve crystallized the Act’s changes into a number of brief issue specific guides and "cheat sheets" in relation to prompt payment, adjudication, the new lien time-frames, new holdback processes, new bonding requirements on public projects, new rights to request vital information, new document publishing obligations and new rules for liens against leasehold interests. These will be available as part of a package we will hand out at the seminars, and are also available on our website, www.kennaley.ca.
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The (free) seminars are scheduled as follows, please click one of the below links to register:
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September 23rd, 2019 in Vaughan (near the 400 and 407); and
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September 25th, 2019 in Paris (off the 403).
Doors will open for a light breakfast at 7:30 am. We will start promptly at 8:00 am and we will have you out by 11:00 am (unless you stick around for Q&A).
If the above links do not work for you please send us an email at inquiries@kennaley.ca to request a spot. Space is limited, so please do not delay!
