Construction contracts and resolving disputes

Under Northern Territory law, you can apply to have a registered adjudicator resolve your construction contract dispute.

If your dispute is worth less than $30,000 monetary units, you can apply to the Community Justice Centre to appoint someone to adjudicate the dispute.

Find out how to calculate the value of monetary units.

Before you apply

You have 65 working days from the date that the payment dispute arose to apply.

If you apply through the Community Justice Centre for an adjudicator for a dispute worth less than $30,000 monetary units, the adjudicator may be a person with alternative dispute resolution training rather than a registered adjudicator.

An adjudicator will:

• not run mediation or conciliation between the parties
• make a decision based on the evidence presented by both parties in their application and response.

Find a registered adjudicator.

Read how to become an adjudicator.

Apply for a small claim

To make a claim for less than $30,000 monetary units, follow these steps:

Step 1. Fill in an application for adjudication DOCX (64.7 KB).

You must include:

• the full details of the dispute, why are you owned the unpaid amount of your payment claim.
• all documents and materials to support your application

Step 2. Pay the application fee of $500 including GST.

Your application then follows the same process outlined for applying to a registered adjudicator below, with the same time limits and outcomes applied.

Step 3. Submit your application by email, mail or in person.

Email
cjc@nt.gov.au

Postal
PO Box 41964
Casuarina NT 0801
(you must call prior to posting)

In person
Building 2B1
13-17 Scaturchio Street
Casuarina NT 0810

For more information, call the Community Justice Centre on 1800 000 473 or read more about the Community Justice Centre and mediation.

Responding to an application

If you're not the party that initiated the application, you have 15 working days to respond once you've been served the application for adjudication.

Your response must be in writing and include all of the following:

• your name and contact details
• the applicant’s name and contact details
• the name and contact details of the appointed adjudicator or prescribed appointer (the Director of the Community Justice Centre)
• names and contact details for each party to the contract
• details of the construction contract and payment claims that have led to the dispute
• details of any notice of dispute given by you to the applicant in response toa payment claim
• any other documents or information you want to rely on in support of your response
• challenges to any statements or claims made by the applicant that you believe are inaccurate
• a clear statement about why you have not paid the amount claimed, or why you are disputing the amount
• details of your actions in relation to your rights and obligations under the contract.

You must give copies of your response to all of the following:

• the adjudicator, or the Director the Community Justice Centre if no adjudicator has been appointed
• the applicant
• any other party named in the application.

The adjudication process

The adjudicator has 10 working days to make a decision from:

• the date that they were served with a response, or if no response was served
• the expiry of the 15 working day deadline for service of a response.

To ensure procedural fairness, the adjudicator can:

• add 5 more working days to the decision-making process
• apply to the Construction Contracts Registrar for an extension of time. 

The adjudicator's determination must include:

• names of the parties in dispute
• the amount to be paid or security to be returned to a party
• dates of when the amounts are to be paid or returned
• reasons for the decision.

The Construction Contracts Registrar keeps an anonymous public record of all decisions made by adjudicators. See the list of construction dispute determinations.

If your application is successful

You can file a signed copy of the adjudicator’s determination in the registry of the Local Court or Supreme Court.

The copy must be certified by the Construction Contracts Registrar as a genuine copy of the determination made by the registered adjudicator.

The determination can then be enforced as if it were a judgement of the court.

Read more about types of courts and their roles to find out about filing a copy of your determination.

If your application is dismissed

The adjudicator may dismiss your application without making a decision on its merits if:

• the dispute is not about a construction contract
• you failed to make your application within the 65 day time limit
• the dispute has already been resolved by a court or other arbitrator.

If the adjudicator fails to dismiss or determine your application within the allowed time, the application is deemed to be dismissed. You can reapply within 28 days to have a dismissed matter determined.

If your adjudicator has a conflict of interest

If you believe your adjudicator has a conflict of interest you can apply to have them disqualified.

Contact the Construction Contracts Registrar before the adjudicator delivers a determination about the dispute.

You can also approach your adjudicator directly about your concerns. They may choose to self-disqualify.

If an adjudicator is disqualified, the party that applied to have the dispute adjudicated can reapply.

The time lost through the disqualification is not counted in the 65 working day limit for submitting a second application.

If money is not paid after a decision

If an adjudicator determines that money must be paid to a contractor and it is not paid when required, the contractor can legally stop providing their work or services.

The contractor must first serve a notice on the other party, giving at least three days' notice, telling them that their services or obligations will be suspended.