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United Kingdom

Retention on UK construction

Retention is your money held back against defects, part of it at practical completion and the balance at the end of the defects period, and both dates go by quietly unless somebody is counting them. These guides cover the mechanism, the dates, and getting the balance out.

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4 guides on this

How to run the businessWhich contract to signPick a named contract for the job in front of you, priced: JCT Home Owner at £40, Minor Works 2024 at £100, Intermediate at £178, or your own written terms. Includes the five clauses that decide whether you get paid, and the 14 day cancellation right that can turn a finished job into an invoice you cannot send.How to run the businessGetting retention releasedRetention is deducted at 5% and comes back in two halves, at practical completion and at the certificate of making good. This is how each release date works, why a subcontractor's clock runs off the main contract, and how to turn a retention application into a notified sum the payer has to pay.How to run the businessThe Retentions BanThe Commercial Payments Bill proposes to end cash retentions in construction. What clauses 11 to 16 actually say, the three dates they set running, the 50% penalty in section 113E, and how to price and paper a job while retention is still being taken.How to run the businessNo Lien, Four Routes InsteadEngland, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no construction lien, no mechanics' lien and no holdback trust. This is the four routes that do work, ranked by how fast the money moves: suspension on seven days' notice under section 112, adjudication decided in 28 days under section 108, statutory interest and the fixed sum under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, and the court routes with their real fees. Plus the three near-lien devices that exist in English law, a counted date sequence from 31 May 2026, and a decision table matching debt size, age and payer solvency to a route.

The rest of the United Kingdom library

The Construction Industry SchemeVAT for UK constructionGetting paid on UK constructionPricing construction work in the UKStarting a construction business in the UKConstruction bookkeeping in the UKCSCS cards and site ticketsFinding construction work in the UK
Every guideThe whole United Kingdom libraryHow to run the business