The Construction Act 1996 introduced statutory adjudication and most commercial construction contracts contain an adjudication clause.

The process provides a speedy mechanism for the parties to resolve disputes and CooperBurnett LLP is experienced in acting for both the referring party and the responding party.

The procedure is a specialist one, with frequently very short time limits to comply with the adjudicator’s direction. The adjudicator has to make a decision within 28 days of their appointment, unless the parties agree to extend for two weeks. The responding party normally has only two weeks to put all of their evidence in and there is normally toing and froing, with final submissions by both parties at the end of the process.

Although not finally binding, because the parties can still go to a final dispute resolution procedures that will be either arbitration or court action, the adjudicator’s decision is normally enforceable, unless it can be shown that they have breached the rules of natural justice, they did not have jurisdiction to hear the dispute or they acted out of their jurisdiction.

Adjudication was originally introduced to quickly resolve payment issues but it is also used for other disputes. Due to the very short time frames, it is known as something of a ‘rough and ready justice’.

The mantra in commercial construction payment disputes is ‘pay now and argue later’.

Some homeowner contracts have adjudication clauses and their own scheme, but the Construction Act adjudication process does not automatically apply to residential contracts, unless both parties agree.  For commercial contracts, it is not possible to opt out.