Payment application review checklist

Use it before you pay, serve a notice or accept a reduced sum. Free, one page.

The application

• Submitted by the date the contract sets (or, with no agreed terms, the date the payment provisions imply).
• States the sum the payee considers due.
• States the basis on which that sum is calculated: work valued, materials, variations, sums already paid.
• Covers the right period or valuation date.
• Sent to the person and address, and by the method, the contract names.

The payer's payment notice

• Given within the period the contract sets after the due date.
• States the sum the payer considers due at the payment due date, even if that sum is zero.
• States the basis on which that sum is calculated.
• Given by the payer or the person the contract names to give it.

A pay less notice

• States the sum the payer considers due on the date the notice is served.
• States the basis on which that sum is calculated, not just a total.
• Served no later than the period the contract sets before the final date for payment.
• Not served earlier than the contract allows (some terms bar a notice before the application).
• Served by the payer or the named person, by a method the contract permits.

Dates and evidence

• Due date and final date for payment worked out from the contract, not assumed.
• Proof of when each document was sent and received.
• Every figure traceable to a document you hold.
• No reliance on documents dated after the date you are checking.

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