Adjudication: possible amendment to the 1996 act

This paper addresses proposed changes to the UK Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, as introduced by part 8 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill. Strengths of the current act are addressed, together with its weaknesses in light of the courts’ subsequent interpretation of the act. The changes proposed by the bill are evaluated in the context of the current act under the following headings: application of the act; adjudication; payment notice/withholding notice regime; suspension of works. The paper also attempts to identify difficulties in the current act that are not addressed by the proposed reforms and potential new difficulties that the reforms bring.