Payment and pay less notices

Placefirst Construction Ltd v CAR Construction (North East) Ltd [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC)

In Placefirst Construction Ltd v CAR Construction (North East) Ltd [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC) Judge Stephen Davies held that an adjudicator had erred in concluding that a contractor had failed to serve either a payment notice or an effective pay less notice. He held that, on an objective analysis of the facts, the contractor had served what was intended and understood to be a payment notice. He also held that the contractor's pay less notice was not invalid on the ground that it had been served in advance of the date when it could properly have been served. In many ways, the case illustrates the complexities which arise out of the rather convoluted processes to be found in sections 110A, 110B and 111 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.