Notes · November 2026
SOPO one year on: no adjudications yet, and why that will change.
The Security of Payment Ordinance came into force on 28 August 2025. Ten months later, the government told the Legislative Council that no adjudication had yet been started over a payment dispute. That is not a sign the law does not matter. It is a sign of how it was phased in.
What the government said
In a written reply to the Legislative Council on 24 June 2026, the government confirmed that no adjudication cases had been initiated under the Ordinance in relation to payment disputes, so there were no statistics to report. It also listed the adjudicators now available through the nominating bodies, with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre alone accounting for around a hundred.
Why the first year was quiet
- It only applies to new contracts. The Ordinance covers qualifying contracts entered into on or after 28 August 2025. Most work on site in the first year was still running under contracts signed before that date.
- Disputes take time to arise. A new contract has to be let, work done, a payment claim made and a response missed or disputed before the 28-day window to start adjudication even opens.
- Thresholds. It applies to construction contracts of HK$5 million or more and supply contracts of HK$500,000 or more, so smaller work sits outside it.
Why that will change
Every month, a larger share of live work sits under contracts the Ordinance covers. The first adjudications will come, and when they do they will run to a short, documentary timetable: the side that can produce its payment claims, instructions, variations and correspondence quickly will be in a much stronger position than the side that has to go looking.
The quiet year is the time to get the records in order, not a reason to assume it will never be tested.
What to check now
- Can you produce every payment claim and response on a post-August 2025 contract within a day?
- Are site instructions registered, or sitting in someone’s messages?
- Do variations live in a register the business owns, or one person’s spreadsheet?
- Is correspondence with the other side filed against the job, with dates you can rely on?
Not legal advice. For the position on any specific contract, take advice from a qualified construction lawyer.
Source: Hong Kong Government, LCQ22 “Implementation of Construction Industry Security of Payment Ordinance”, 24 June 2026.
Could you produce that record in a day?
If the honest answer is no, a quick call is worth more than waiting for the first adjudication.