The price of not fixing a final date for payment

In Deerns UK Ltd v VDC LHR11 Ltd [2026] EWHC 1509 (TCC) Eyre J held that the parties had failed to provide in their contract for a final date for payment as required by section 110(1)(b) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. As a result, the Scheme for Construction Contracts was applicable and the effect of its application was to render the defendants' pay less notices out of time and so ineffective. The claimant was therefore entitled to succeed with its application for payment. The present case acts as a reminder of the need to ensure that the date for final payment is fixed in the contract and of the risks that are created by introducing flexibility to enable the date to be adjusted in the event of the late submission of a payment application. The price of the introduction of such flexibility on the present facts was that the parties were found to have failed to provide a final date for payment as required by the Act.