Gordon Brown confirms Construction Act will be amended

May 2008

Whilst outlining the future legislative programme for Parliament, Gordon Brown today confirmed that the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 would be amended in the next parliamentary term.  The amendments will be included in an entirely new Act covering housing and community regeneration.

There has been much debate and consultation in recent years as to what those amendments should be.  The main proposals suggested were

• Extending the right to adjudicate to oral and partly oral agreements
• Enhancing the current payment notice regime
• Prohibiting the use of "pay when certified" clauses
• Prohibiting the use of so called 'Tolent' clauses which require the referring party to bear all the costs of the adjudication including the responding party's costs

It will still be some considerable time before we have a final draft of these amendments and the Act becomes law but if the proposals are included it will mark a significant widening of the right to adjudicate and more powerful rights for subcontractors chasing payments.