Getting paid in Europe: the construction payment rules of twelve jurisdictions, side by side

Published 18 October 2026 · Updated 18 October 2026 · By Oliver Stocks-Fryer

The payment rules a construction subcontractor works under in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Switzerland and nine EU countries, side by side: the default payment period and what it counts from, the ceiling on an agreed term, late payment interest, the step that costs the claim, and the security the law gives.

A UK firm finishing a fit-out in Dublin, a Swiss subcontractor working over the border in Germany, a Belfast job run from a Manchester office: each is paid under a different law, and the laws differ in far more than the number of days. Some count from the invoice and some from the work. Some cap what you can agree and some only weigh it. Some give you security before the money is late, and some give you nothing until it is.

This page sets twelve of them side by side. For each one it gives the law, the default payment period and the event it counts from, the ceiling on a payment term agreed between businesses, late payment interest, the step that costs a claim if it is missed, and the security or remedy the law gives a subcontractor. Every line comes from the statute as VariationFlow’s payment engines read it, with the section or article, so you can check it. It is the law as at 18 October 2026, and it is a map rather than advice: your contract comes first wherever the law lets it.

England, Wales and Scotland

• The law: Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, the Scheme for Construction Contracts where the contract does not comply, and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
• Default period: where the contract is silent, the Scheme makes a periodic payment due on the later of seven days after the end of the payment period and the payee’s claim, with the final date seventeen days after that. The payment notice is due within five days of the due date. Standard forms set their own periods, and they differ from the Scheme’s.
• Counting: section 116 leaves out Christmas Day, Good Friday and the region’s bank holidays, and nothing else, so a deadline can fall on a Saturday and stand.
• Interest: Bank Rate plus 8 points, using the rate in force on the 30 June or 31 December before interest starts, fixed for the life of the debt. Fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt. A substantial remedy in the contract displaces the statutory interest.
• The step that costs the claim: the payer’s pay less notice, due under the Scheme no later than seven days before the final date. Without a valid one in time, the notified sum is payable in full. A notified sum needs a payment notice, a valid application or a default payment notice behind it.

Northern Ireland

• The law: the Construction Contracts (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 and its Scheme, as amended in 2012. Part II of the 1996 Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, and which regime applies follows the site, not the office.
• Default period: every number is the same as in Great Britain, five days for the payment notice, seven for the pay less notice and seventeen to the final date.
• Counting: the Order has no reckoning provision, so section 39 of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 applies. Every day is counted, and a deadline that lands on a Sunday or a public holiday moves to the next day that is neither. A Saturday does not move it. A holiday inside a period is counted in Belfast and left out in Birmingham.
• The step that costs the claim: the same pay less mechanism as Great Britain, counted the Northern Ireland way. Run the Great Britain rule on a Northern Irish site and the deadline comes out a day late for every holiday it crosses. Construction payment in Northern Ireland has the detail.

Ireland

• The law: the Construction Contracts Act 2013, and the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 580/2012) for interest.
• Default period: everything runs from the payment claim date. Where the contract is silent the amount is due thirty days after it. On a subcontract a longer period gives way to thirty days (section 3(4)); on a main contract a longer contractual period stands.
• Notices: the claim notice is due five days after the payment claim date and the payer’s response twenty-one days after it, and only those two roll off a weekend or public holiday (section 10(3)). Good Friday is not an Irish public holiday.
• Interest: the ECB reference rate plus 8 points, set for each half-year, and fixed compensation of €40, €70 or €100 depending on the size of the debt. A term over sixty days must be express and not grossly unfair.
• The step that costs the claim: there is no notified sum. An unanswered claim opens adjudication and suspension rather than making the full amount payable. A notice to suspend must give at least seven days and cannot be given before the day after the amount fell due, and serving notice of intention to refer to adjudication bars suspension for that amount.

Switzerland

• The law: the Code of Obligations (OR), the Civil Code (ZGB) for the builder’s lien, and SIA 118 where the contract incorporates it.
• Default period: on a plain OR contract the price is due on delivery of the work, or of each part (OR Art. 372). On a SIA 118 contract, thirty days or the contract’s own period (Art. 190 Abs. 1), counted from the site management’s receipt of the payment application (Art. 148), or for the final balance from the communication of the check result (Art. 155 Abs. 1).
• Interest: a debtor is in default once warned (OR Art. 102 Abs. 1), unless a fixed date was agreed. Default interest is then 5% under OR Art. 104 Abs. 1, unless SIA 118 applies, where Art. 190 Abs. 1 replaces it and interest runs only from the reminder, at the rate that article sets.
• The step that costs the claim: the builder’s lien must be entered in the land register within four months of completing the work (ZGB Art. 839 Abs. 2). On public administrative land that cannot carry a lien, Abs. 4 gives a statutory guarantee instead, provided the owner’s liability is not contractual, and it needs a written claim to the owner within the same four months. On a SIA 118 contract an extension of time is owed only if the delay and its cause were notified immediately in writing (Art. 96 Abs. 1), and the norm gives no day count for immediately.
• Security: the lien itself, against the owner of the land even where your contract is with the main contractor.

Germany

• The law: the Civil Code (BGB), and VOB/B only where the contract incorporates it.
• Default period: under § 650g Abs. 4 the price falls due on acceptance and a checkable final account, whichever comes later, and the debtor is in default at the latest thirty days after it fell due and the invoice arrived (§ 286 Abs. 3).
• Interest: the base rate plus 9 points between businesses (§ 288 Abs. 2), and a €40 lump sum (§ 288 Abs. 5).
• The step that costs the claim: running for you, the client has thirty days from receiving the final account to raise reasoned objections to whether it can be checked, after which it counts as checkable (§ 650g Abs. 4). On a VOB/B contract, accepting the final payment without a reservation excludes later claims (§ 16 Abs. 3).
• Security: you may demand security for the unpaid price plus 10% (§ 650f). If it is not given within a reasonable period you may refuse to work or terminate. It does not run against a public-law body or on a consumer building contract.

Austria

• The law: the Civil Code (ABGB) and the Commercial Code (UGB).
• Default period: there is no thirty-day default. The price is due on completion (§ 1170 ABGB), and where nothing else was agreed § 1334 asks for payment without undue delay after performance, or after acceptance or inspection where one was agreed, and after the invoice only where the amount was not yet fixed.
• Agreed period: no hard cap. Up to sixty days is never grossly disadvantageous (§ 459 Abs. 3 UGB), and an inspection procedure may take at most thirty days (§ 457 UGB).
• Interest: the base rate on the first day of the half-year plus 9.2 points (§ 456 UGB). The €40 lump sum (§ 458 UGB) is a floor, with costs above it recoverable.
• Security: you may demand security of up to a fifth of the agreed price, two fifths where the agreed performance period is three months or less, capped at what is outstanding (§ 1170b ABGB). It cannot be contracted out of, and it does not run against a public body or a consumer.

The Netherlands

• The law: articles 6:119a and 6:119b of the Civil Code (BW), and the UAV 2012 where the contract is on it.
• Default period: where no payment date was agreed, thirty days from receipt of the invoice, or from receipt of the work where the invoice date is uncertain or the invoice arrived first, or from acceptance where an acceptance period applies. On a UAV 2012 contract, four weeks from a declaration in good order.
• Agreed period: up to sixty days; longer only if express and not manifestly unfair. A large debtor paying a small or medium creditor over thirty days is void, and thirty applies. A public body: thirty, longer only where expressly agreed and objectively justified, and never over sixty.
• Interest: the statutory commercial rate, the ECB rate plus 8 points, compounded each year. On a UAV contract, simple interest from the due day itself. Collection costs follow a statutory scale with a €40 minimum.
• The step that costs the claim: a price increase for extra work is claimable only if the client was warned in time, unless the client should have seen the need without being told (article 7:755). On a UAV contract, a reminder counts only if sent more than two weeks after the due day, and the right to suspend exists only if that reminder announced it.

Belgium

• The law: the Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions.
• Default period: where no date was agreed, thirty days from receipt of the invoice, or from receipt of the work where the invoice date is uncertain or the invoice arrived first. A verification period sits inside the term, and the invoice receipt date may never be fixed by contract.
• Agreed period: sixty days is a hard ceiling; a longer clause is treated as unwritten and thirty applies. A public authority: thirty, and longer only where the contract’s nature objectively justifies it, never over sixty.
• Interest: the reference rate plus 8 points, rounded up to the next half point, running automatically from the day after the due date with no demand needed. €40, plus reasonable compensation for recovery costs above it.
• Remedy: a direct action against the employer for what it still owes the main contractor. There is no deadline, but the balance shrinks with every payment the employer makes, and a registered letter freezes it from the day it is sent.

France

• The law: article L441-10 of the Commercial Code, articles 1793 and 1799-1 of the Civil Code, the 1971 law on retention and the 1975 law on subcontracting. The version of L441-10 described here is in force until 1 January 2027, when a new one takes over.
• Default period: thirty days from performance where no term was agreed. An agreed term runs from the invoice and may not exceed sixty days, or forty-five days end of month where that is expressly stipulated.
• Verification: at most thirty days, and it may not lengthen the payment period or move its start unless that is expressly stipulated and not abusive.
• Interest: the ECB rate plus 10 points, taking the rate in force on 1 January for the first half of the year and on 1 July for the second, due without any reminder. The €40 indemnity is a floor, and it is barred where insolvency proceedings stop payment.
• The step that costs the claim: on a fixed-price contract, no increase unless the change was authorised in writing and the price agreed with the owner (article 1793). Both conditions.
• Security and remedy: where no guarantee was given and you are unpaid, you may suspend fifteen days after an unanswered formal notice to the employer (article 1799-1), though not against a non-professional client. Retention is capped at 5% of interim payments and released a year after handover unless opposed by registered letter. The 1975 direct action lets you claim from the employer a month after formal notice to the main contractor, copied to the employer.

Italy

• The law: Legislative Decree 231/2002.
• Default period: thirty days from receipt of the invoice, or from the work where the invoice date is uncertain or the invoice arrived before the work, or from acceptance or verification where one is provided for (article 4, paragraph 2).
• Agreed period: between businesses, over sixty days only if expressly agreed, proved in writing and not grossly unfair, and presumed grossly unfair where the creditor is a small or medium business, unless every party is. Against a public administration, sixty days at most.
• Interest: the ECB rate plus 8 points, taking the rate in force on 1 January or 1 July of the half-year the delay falls in. The €40 is a floor, and the law names recovery costs in terms.
• The step that costs the claim: on public works, a reservation must be entered in the accounts register when signing and explained and quantified within fifteen days, or the claim is extinguished.

Spain

• The law: Ley 3/2004 on combating late payment in commercial transactions.
• Default period: thirty calendar days from performance, even where the invoice arrived earlier (article 4.1). A verification procedure may take thirty days, and the payment period then runs from the acceptance, so the two add up (article 4.2).
• Agreed period: sixty days is mandatory. A longer term is void and thirty applies.
• Interest: the ECB rate plus 8 points. The €40 is owed only once the debtor is in default, and duly evidenced costs above it can be claimed too.
• Your own duty: the invoice must reach the client within fifteen days of performance. Missing it does not move the due date.
• Remedy: a direct action against the developer under article 1597 of the Civil Code, capped at what it still owes the contractor when you claim. Its value falls with every payment it makes, so claim early.

Poland

• The law: the Act of 8 March 2013 on counteracting excessive delays in commercial transactions, and the Civil Code for security and direct liability.
• Default period: with no agreed term, interest after thirty days from your performance (article 6(1)). An agreed term runs from delivery of the invoice, unless the invoice delivery date cannot be established or the invoice arrived before the work, in which case it runs from receipt of the work (article 7(4)).
• Agreed period: sixty days from the invoice. Hard where a large debtor pays a small or medium creditor; otherwise longer only if the debtor proves it was express and not grossly unfair. A public debtor: thirty days, sixty for a public medical entity.
• Interest: the NBP reference rate plus 10 points, plus 8 against a public medical entity, taking the rate in force on 1 January or 1 July for each half of the year. A lump sum of €40, €70 or €100 depending on the size of the claim, as a floor.
• The step that costs the claim: tell the investor in writing before you start (article 647¹ of the Civil Code). If it does not object in writing within thirty days, it becomes jointly liable for your pay. Notifying after the start protects nothing already built.
• Security: you may demand a payment guarantee at any time, including from the main contractor, and it cannot be excluded (articles 649¹ to 649⁵). The period you set may not be shorter than forty-five days; if no guarantee arrives, you may withdraw and keep your right to be paid.

What does the map show?

• The anchor matters more than the number. The Late Payment Directive’s fallback runs through the EU laws here: in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Poland, where the invoice arrives before the work or its arrival cannot be proved, the period runs from the work, and Austria puts the invoice last of all. The anchor problem explains why that catches people.
• Sixty days is the common ceiling on an agreed term, but how hard it bites varies: void beyond it in Spain and Belgium, a fairness test or a presumption in the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Poland, and tied to the invoice in France.
• The interest rate is fixed in two different ways. In the UK the rate set on the half-year date before interest starts holds for the whole debt. In France, Italy and Poland each half of the year takes its own rate, so a debt across 30 June is on two.
• Four of these laws give a subcontractor security before the money is late: Germany, Austria and Poland by demand, and Switzerland through the lien. France lets you suspend where no guarantee was given.
• Four give a direct claim against the employer or investor in some form: Belgium, France, Spain and Poland. In Belgium and Spain the claim shrinks with every payment made up the chain.

VariationFlow works out these dates for subcontractors on their own jobs, from the law of the place where the work is, and where a fact it needs is missing it says so rather than guessing. It is open in the UK and Switzerland today; the engines for the other countries here are written and waiting for those markets to open.

This page is general information, not legal advice. It describes the statutes as read on 18 October 2026, and the periods that apply to a job are the ones in your own contract, read with the law of the country the work is in.