Adjudication in Construction: Who Can Use It and the 7 Day Clock

Who adjudication is actually open to

Section 108 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 gives a party to a construction contract the right to refer a dispute arising under that contract for adjudication. Notice may be given at any time. This is a statutory right built into the contract whether or not the contract itself mentions it.

Section 106 of the same Act draws a hard line around who can use it. That Part does not apply to a construction contract with a residential occupier, meaning a contract which principally relates to operations on a dwelling which one of the parties occupies, or intends to occupy, as their residence.

The seven day clock most people miss

Once notice of adjudication is given, section 108 sets a tight timetable. The timetable secures the adjudicator’s appointment and the referral of the dispute within 7 days of the notice. Miss that window on the referring party’s side and the whole process can be derailed before it starts.

After referral, the adjudicator must reach a decision within 28 days, or a longer period agreed by the parties after the dispute has been referred. The adjudicator may extend the 28 days by up to 14 days with the consent of the party who referred the dispute.

The decision that comes out the other end is binding until the dispute is finally determined by legal proceedings, by arbitration, or by agreement. It is not the end of the road if either side wants to pursue the matter further through one of those routes, but it does carry weight in the meantime.

If adjudication is not available to you

Where the residential occupier exclusion applies, a dispute about workmanship still sits on ordinary consumer law rather than the adjudication regime. Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats every contract to supply a service as including a term that the trader performs it with reasonable care and skill.

Section 55 gives the consumer the right to require the service to be performed again to complete it properly, within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience, with the trader bearing any necessary cost of labour or materials. That right falls away only if completing performance in conformity with the contract is impossible.

Section 56 gives the right to a price reduction where repeat performance cannot be required, or has not happened within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience. Any refund due under this route must be paid without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days of the trader agreeing the consumer is entitled to it, by the same means the consumer used to pay, with no fee charged for making it.

Evidence, and where the small claims track comes in

Whichever route applies, a dispute is only as strong as the record behind it. A visit that photographs each defect, circles it on the photo, and attaches a spoken note explaining what is wrong gives you a dated, room by room and trade by trade account of the state of the work. SayScope exists for exactly this, and the report is useful whether the dispute ends up in adjudication, in correspondence, or in court.

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, Part 27, the small claims track generally applies to claims not exceeding £10,000 in England and Wales. Rule 27.5 means no expert may give evidence, whether written or oral, at a hearing without the court’s permission. The standard directions require each party, at least 14 days before the final hearing, to file and serve copies of all documents they intend to rely on. The strict rules of evidence do not apply and the court need not take evidence on oath.

Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 sets the backstop for any of this: an action founded on simple contract cannot be brought after six years from the date the cause of action accrued. That is a long horizon, but the evidence you would want to rely on is best gathered close to the time the defect was found, not years later.

A plain note before you act