Statutory endorsement (SOPA payment claim)

Statutory endorsement is the specific statement that, by force of statute, must appear on a Security of Payment Act payment claim for the claim to be a valid claim under the Act and trigger the SOPA recovery pathway (payment schedule, adjudication, judgment debt). Without the endorsement, the document may still be a contractual progress claim or an ordinary invoice, but it is not a statutory payment claim and the SOPA adjudication route is not available; the claimant is back to ordinary debt recovery through the courts.

In NSW, section 13(9) of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 requires the endorsement (verified 2026-05-15). The conventional form of words is:

This payment claim is made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW).

Exact verbatim is not required, but the claim must clearly signal that it is made under the Act. A claim that simply says “invoice” or “progress claim” without the SOPA reference fails the endorsement requirement.

Other states. Each state’s SOP Act has its own endorsement rule. Victoria requires the endorsement on the claim. Queensland’s Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) follows the same pattern. WA’s 2021 Act requires endorsement. Always read the relevant state Act before lodging a payment claim.

Common failure mode. A builder rolls out a contractual progress claim template, the template predates the endorsement requirement, and SOPA rights vanish from every claim made on that template until someone notices. Fix: every SOPA-relevant template carries the endorsement by default, with the state name parameterised so multi-state operators do not mis-cite.

Also known as: magic words; SOPA statement; payment claim endorsement; section 13(9) statement (NSW).

Category: Contracts & commercial.

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