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Security of Payment in Queensland: the deadlines a subcontractor works to

Every date below comes from the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (QLD), and each one shows the section it comes from so you can check it. The contract can set an earlier date than the Act in places, and the Act wins where the contract is later than it allows.

For the actual dates on your claim, put the day you served it into the deadline calculator.

How long does the builder have to answer a payment claim in Queensland?

Payment schedule must be served15 business days

From service of the payment claim.

Miss this and the respondent becomes liable for the FULL claimed amount on the due date, recoverable as a debt or via adjudication, with no contract defences in debt proceedings.

QLD s 76(1)

When does a subcontractor's payment fall due in Queensland?

Payment due (statutory default, contract silent)10 business days

From service of the payment claim. Contract may set an earlier date; statutory default shown.

QLD s 73(1)(b)

What can a subcontractor do in Queensland if no payment schedule comes back?

The Act has no second-chance notice. Go straight to the adjudication windows below that run from the due date.

How long does a subcontractor have to apply for adjudication in Queensland?

Adjudication application (schedule disputes amount)30 business days

From receipt of the payment schedule.

Apply late and the adjudication right for this claim is lost.

QLD s 79(2)(b)(iii)

Adjudication application (scheduled amount unpaid)20 business days

From the due date for payment.

Apply late and the adjudication right for this claim is lost.

QLD s 79(2)(b)(ii)

Adjudication application (no schedule given)30 business days

From the due date for payment. No second-chance notice required in QLD. The Act runs this window from the later of the due date and the last day your contract allowed for a payment schedule (never more than 15 business days). That schedule period is not read, so the window is counted from the due date, the earliest it can run from.

Apply late and the adjudication right for this claim is lost.

QLD s 79(2)(b)(i)

Which days are not business days under the Security of Payment Act in Queensland?

Weekends and public holidays, and the Act itself takes out 22 December to 24 December (QLD Sch 2 (Dictionary)), 27 December to 31 December (QLD Sch 2 (Dictionary)), 2 January to 10 January (QLD Sch 2 (Dictionary)).

Not legal advice. These are statutory defaults. Verify every date against the relevant Security of Payment Act and your contract.

Business-day counting excludes weekends, the Act-specific December/January shutdown, New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, plus the substitute weekday where New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Christmas Day or Boxing Day falls on a weekend. Anzac Day is substituted in Queensland when 25 April falls on a Sunday, as it is in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, and in Western Australia when it falls on either a Saturday or a Sunday. State and territory public holidays are modelled for New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. State public holidays counted here: Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Labour Day, King’s Birthday, Anzac Day (observed). Not counted: the Royal Queensland Show holiday, which is a public holiday in the Brisbane area only. Queensland counts a business day by reference to a public holiday "in the relevant place" (Schedule 2), and we do not know the locality of your site. A deadline near it can fall a day later than shown.

On a real job, you do not type any of this

YourCA reads your head contract, works out the dates it puts on you and warns you before each one closes: claim day three days out, a variation notice window two days before it shuts, their payment schedule the day it is late. Every figure shows the clause it came from.

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