When must a Pay Less Notice be served?

Not later than the prescribed period before the final date for payment. That period is set by the contract, commonly five days under JCT terms. Serving it after the deadline makes it ineffective and the notified sum becomes payable in full.

What is the deadline for a payment notice?

Not later than five days after the due date. This one is statutory under section 110A(2) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and a contract cannot extend it.

Due date or final date for payment: which is which?

The due date is when the sum falls due and starts the notice clock. The final date for payment is when the money must actually be paid. Both are set by the contract, and the gap between them is where the notice deadlines sit.

Is this legal advice?

No. It is a date calculator, and it cannot read your contract. The periods it defaults to are common JCT terms rather than law, and only the payment notice cap is statutory.

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Construction Act payment date calculator

Under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 a payment application starts a timetable: the sum falls due, the payer has five days after that to serve a payment notice, and a Pay Less Notice must be served a prescribed period before the final date for payment. Serving a Pay Less Notice late makes it ineffective and the sum applied for becomes payable in full. This works the dates out, and separates the one period fixed by statute from the three your contract sets.

Last reviewed 10 September 2026 by Estimark. This page states periods and rates set by statute or by standard contract terms. Those move, and this date is when somebody last read the page against its source rather than the day the site was built.

Construction Act 1996

Work out the payment timetable

Nothing is sent anywhere. The three contract periods are editable because they are contract terms, not law.

Application or valuation date

Your contract says

Defaults are common JCT terms. Check them against the contract you signed, because the Act sets maximum periods rather than these ones.

Days to the due date

After the application or valuation date.

Days to the final date for payment

After the due date.

Pay Less Notice period

Days before the final date for payment.

Pay Less Notice served on

Optional. Checks whether it was in time.

Pay Less Notice deadline

29 Oct 2026

Served after this and it is ineffective: the notified sum becomes payable in full.

Application or valuation
20 Sept 2026
Due dateContract
20 Oct 2026
Payment notice deadlineStatutory, s110A(2)
25 Oct 2026
Pay Less Notice deadlineContract
29 Oct 2026
Final date for paymentContract
3 Nov 2026

This is a date calculator, not legal advice, and it cannot read your contract. The Act sets maximum periods; your contract sets the actual ones. How Estimark tracks these dates.

Which of these dates is set by law?

One of them. The payment notice deadline is capped by statute at five days after the due date, and a contract cannot lengthen it. The other three periods are contract terms.

Date	Set by
Due date	The contract, commonly 30 days after the application
Payment notice deadline	Statute, s110A(2): 5 days after the due date
Final date for payment	The contract, commonly 14 days after the due date
Pay Less Notice deadline	The contract, commonly 5 days before the final date

The Act sets maximum periods rather than the actual ones. Read the contract you signed before relying on any default.

What happens if a Pay Less Notice is late?

It is ineffective, and the notified sum becomes payable in full whatever the payer considers the work to be worth.

This is the position usually called a smash and grab, and it is the most common way a contractor loses money it was owed.
A notice served on the deadline is in time. Later than it is not.
Being in time is necessary and not sufficient: the notice has to specify the sum considered due and the basis on which it is calculated.

What if the payer serves no payment notice at all?

The payee’s application becomes the notified sum, and the payer must pay it unless an effective Pay Less Notice follows.

That is why the five-day cap matters: it is the payer’s one chance to state a different figure early.
A missed payment notice does not remove the Pay Less route, but it does mean the sum applied for is the one being paid less than.

Common questions

When must a Pay Less Notice be served?: Not later than the prescribed period before the final date for payment. That period is set by the contract, commonly five days under JCT terms. Serving it after the deadline makes it ineffective and the notified sum becomes payable in full.
What is the deadline for a payment notice?: Not later than five days after the due date. This one is statutory under section 110A(2) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and a contract cannot extend it.
Due date or final date for payment: which is which?: The due date is when the sum falls due and starts the notice clock. The final date for payment is when the money must actually be paid. Both are set by the contract, and the gap between them is where the notice deadlines sit.
Is this legal advice?: No. It is a date calculator, and it cannot read your contract. The periods it defaults to are common JCT terms rather than law, and only the payment notice cap is statutory.

Construction Act payment date calculator

Work out the payment timetable

Which of these dates is set by law?

What happens if a Pay Less Notice is late?

What if the payer serves no payment notice at all?

Common questions

Payment applications & retention

What is a pay less notice?

Applications against invoices

For builders & contractors

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