On 21 November 2018, the New South Wales Parliament passed the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Amendment Bill 2018 (the SOP Amendment Act).
As its name suggests, the SOP Amendment Act details a host of changes to the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (the SOP Act). Many of the changes are derived from the recommendations in John Murray’s December 2017 Review of Security of Payment Laws (the Murray Report) which considered the laws from each Australian jurisdiction.
Subject to anything to the contrary in the regulations, the changes imposed by the SOP Amendment Act will only apply to construction contracts entered into after the commencement of the amendments. 1 That date has not yet occurred and will be set by proclamation.
While the SOP Amendment Act will introduce a raft of changes to the operation and effect of the construction industry “pay now argue later” legislation, a summary of the more important changes are set out below.
