New South Wales Consolidated Acts

BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY SECURITY OF PAYMENT ACT 1999 - SECT 26D

26D Protections for principal contractor

(1) An obligation under this Division to retain money owed by a principal contractor to the respondent operates (while the obligation continues) as a defence against recovery of the money by the respondent from the principal contractor.

(2) Any period for which a principal contractor retains money pursuant to an obligation under this Division is not to be taken into account for the purposes of reckoning any period for which money owed by the principal contractor to the respondent has been unpaid.

(3) A claimant who has served a payment withholding request on a principal contractor in connection with an adjudication application must, if the adjudication application is withdrawn, give the principal contractor written notice of the withdrawal of the application within 5 business days after it is withdrawn.

: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units in the case of a corporation or 10 penalty units in the case of an individual.

(4) The principal contractor is entitled to rely in good faith on a statement in writing by the respondent in the form of a statutory declaration that--

(a) a specified amount claimed to be due under an adjudication application has been paid, or

(b) an adjudication application has been withdrawn.