VIC Security of Payment Changed in April - Most Subbies Missed It
Victoria's Security of Payment Act had its biggest overhaul in two decades from 15 April 2026. The excluded amounts regime is gone - damages and disputed variations can now generally be pursued at adjudication - and reference dates are gone too. If your knowledge of the Act is older than April, it is out of date, and many subbies are still writing off amounts they can now recover.
Transcript
Not being paid on a Victorian job? There is a law built for exactly this. And it just had its biggest overhaul in twenty years.
The Security of Payment Act. Reformed from the fifteenth of April, twenty twenty six. If your knowledge is older than that, it is out of date.
The old excluded amounts regime is gone. Damages and disputed variations can now generally be pursued at adjudication.
Reference dates are gone too. Entitlement to progress claims now runs on the Act's own timing.
Step one. A valid payment claim. The work identified. The amount claimed. Served on time.
The builder then has ten business days to respond with a payment schedule.
Silence makes the claimed amount payable. And constrains the builder at adjudication.
Adjudication runs through private nominating authorities. The reforms are recent, and practice is still settling. Verify the mechanics before filing.
Many subbies are still writing off amounts they have been able to recover since April. Because nobody told them the rules changed.
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General information about Australian subcontracts, not legal advice. Get advice on your own contract and facts.