If you have obtained an adjudicator’s award in your favour, the unsuccessful party is technically bound to comply with it. Such compliance, however, does not always materialise and you may well find the unsuccessful party refusing to abide by the decision.
To uphold the effectiveness of the adjudication process, successful parties in an adjudication may commence court proceedings to obtain judgment from the court, ordering the non-compliant party to comply with the adjudicator’s decision.
Approach of the Technology and Construction Court
Whilst the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 does not specifically deal with the enforcement of adjudicator’s decisions, the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) has developed a procedure relating to enforcement, with section 9 of the Technology and Construction Court Guide (TCC Guide) [insert link] confirming that the TCC will ordinarily deal with the enforcement of adjudicator’s decisions.
The TCC’s approach is to try to uphold adjudicators’ decisions unless it can be proved that the adjudicator had no jurisdiction or where there was a serious breach of natural justice. Proceedings to enforce an adjudicator’s decision are therefore usually a success for those wishing to enforce, with the TCC being reluctant to interfere with an adjudicator’s decision unless the adjudicator did not have the appropriate jurisdiction to decide on the dispute referred, or the adjudicator has made a significant error in law, fact or procedure, such as amounts to a breach of natural justice.
It is recommended that parties to adjudications familiarise themselves with the TCC Guide before commencing enforcement proceedings, as the Guide sets out the way in which a party can make an application to enforce an adjudicator’s decision as well as how to resolve issues which may arise during the adjudication or enforcement process.
Enforcement Proceedings
Enforcement proceedings themselves generally take the form of a claim brought pursuant to CPR Part 7 (albeit CPR Part 8 proceedings can be used if there is no substantial dispute as to fact and no monetary judgment is sought).
The process involves an application for summary judgment on the Part 7 claim, to provide a court judgment for the amount awarded by the adjudicator. The court will produce an order normally confirming an abridgment of time for the acknowledgement of service by the defending party, dates for service of evidence in response and a date for hearing of the summary judgment application.
An enforcement hearing should be scheduled by the court within 6 to 8 weeks of the application being made.
Judgment
If the Court grants summary judgment in accordance with the application, the claimant will have a Court judgment which can be enforced in any of the usual ways (e.g. charging order, bailiffs, threat of winding up proceedings etc.).
