Following its passage through Victoria’s Parliament in September 2025, the Building Legislation Amendment (Fairer Payments on Jobsites and Other Matters) Act 2025 (the Act) came into effect on 15 April 2026. As we reported at the time of the Bill’s second reading (see here), the Act introduces a number of significant changes to the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic).

The amendments apply retrospectively to contracts predating 15 April 2026, except in respect of payment claims already served under the Act prior to that date.

Key changes now in force include:

• Excluded amounts abolished: adjudication claims may now encompass time-related costs, latent conditions and disputed variations;
• Reference dates removed: replaced with a right to serve one payment claim per month, on and from the last day of the month in which work was carried out;
• Payment terms capped: progress payments must now be made within 20 business days of a payment claim being served;
• Performance security: claimants now have a statutory right to include claims for the release of performance security (including retention money and performance bonds) in an adjudication, with a five business day written notice requirement before any party has recourse to security;
• Notice-based time bars: adjudicators, courts, arbitrators and expert determiners may now declare notice-based time bar provisions unfair and void where compliance would be unreasonably onerous or not reasonably possible;
• Christmas blackout: the period from 22 December to 10 January is now excluded from the definition of ‘business day’; and
• New reasons prohibited: respondents may no longer raise reasons for withholding payment in an adjudication response that were not included in their payment schedule.

Contractors and principals alike should review their existing contracts and practices considering these changes.