16Act capable of application to series of contractual arrangements

#### 16 Act capable of application to series of contractual arrangements 16 Act capable of application to series of contractual arrangements > > (1) If a principal fails to pay a debt assigned to an unpaid person by operation of this Act and the unpaid person takes proceedings against the principal for recovery of the debt (as provided for by section 11), this Act applies in respect of the debt as if it were a debt owed to the unpaid person by the principal for work carried out for or materials supplied to the principal by the unpaid person (instead of work carried out for or materials supplied to the principal by the defaulting contractor). > > > (2) Accordingly, the unpaid person can obtain payment of the debt in accordance with this Act out of money that is payable to the principal by some other person. > > Note— > > An example of a situation to which this section might apply is where a person engages another person (a contractor) to carry out work or supply materials and the contractor then engages someone else (a subcontractor) to carry out that work or supply those materials. If a person is engaged by the subcontractor to carry out any of the work or supply the materials and the subcontractor fails to pay the person for the work or materials, the unpaid person can seek payment of the debt in accordance with this Act from the contractor. Under this section, if the contractor fails to pay the debt, the unpaid person can then seek payment from the person who engaged the contractor. In other words, this section allows an unpaid person to pursue payment of an unpaid debt from any number of “defaulting contractors”.