Repudiation

Repudiation is conduct showing a party is unwilling or unable to perform its contract - and it is the label a court gives a subcontractor who walks off site over non-payment without following the lawful suspension process.

Repudiation entitles the innocent party to terminate and claim damages. That is why downing tools in frustration is so dangerous: done outside the statutory suspension machinery, the unpaid subcontractor can hand the builder a lawful termination and a claim for the cost of replacement.

Why it matters to subbies

The law gives you a protected path to stop work for non-payment - valid claim, due amount, written notice under the Act, statutory period expired. The sequence is everything; one step wrong converts protection into repudiation.

General information for Australian subcontractors, not legal advice - contract drafting and state legislation vary and change; your document and your state's Act govern. Written by Mat Kennedy at The Construction Contracts Co.