How to issue a Pay Less Notice

Deadline first, calculation second, drafting third, service last. A Pay Less Notice is the notice a payer uses to pay less than the sum otherwise due, so start by finding the Final Date For Payment for the round, the last day the money can lawfully arrive, count back the period the contract requires, and treat the date you land on as fixed. Build the figure from the top down: gross valuation, the full price of the work to date, then every deduction underneath with its own amount and reason. State the sum you consider due as at the day of service, head the document a Pay Less Notice, and cite the contract, the round and the notice or application it responds to. Serve it by the exact method and to the exact address the contract lays down, and keep proof of when it arrived. If the deadline is tomorrow, a short but valid notice served today beats a thorough one served too late.

Take a contractor's surveyor withholding from a joinery subcontractor. Deadline: the Final Date For Payment is Friday the 28th and the contract says 5 days, so the notice must be in by Sunday the 23rd, which she treats as immovable. Calculation: gross work to date £45,000, less £3,000 for an incomplete staircase and £1,500 for a chargeable repair, giving £40,500, each deduction with its own line and reason. Drafting: she heads it Pay Less Notice, states £40,500 as due at today's date, and cites the contract, round and application. Service: she sends it by the recorded method the contract names and keeps the receipt. If the 23rd were tomorrow, she would send this today rather than polish it and miss the date.