Construction Contracts Act comes into law

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel today congratulated the construction industry for its commitment to the Construction Contracts Act which came into force today.

"I want to acknowledge the New Zealand Building Subcontractors Federation and Peter Degerholm for the work they have done over the past few months to educate the industry ahead of the Act coming into effect," Lianne Dalziel said.

The Act, designed to tackle systemic payment problems in the industry, will have a major impact on payment practices which will now mean regular and timely payments.

"There have been some bad practices in the industry, with a some developers and contractors taking advantage of various devices to delay payment of money owed. This has caused great hardship to those who have ended up waiting for their money or did not get paid at all.

"This Act will make it harder for insolvent developers and contractors to stay in business by indefinitely delaying payment of their debts and in effect making the "subbies" carry the financial risk of a development

"The legislation itself is the result of hard work and co-operative efforts from different sectors of the industry and it is an excellent example of how government and industry can work together to produce sensible law," Lianne Dalziel said.

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