AnswersWhen a client won't pay
Can I stop work if a client doesn't pay?
The short answer
Yes, in construction. Anywhere else, including work on a home the client lives in4, stopping without a clause that lets you pause can put you in breach; if the client has plainly refused to pay, have a solicitor who does contract disputes read the contract first. For construction work, the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 lets you suspend work for non-payment after at least 7 days' notice1, and your contract doesn't have to say so. Either way, warn them in writing first, with a date.
England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.
What you can add
A £3,200 stage payment, 20 days late
Say you are fitting out a shop for another business: an £8,000 job, paid in stages. The £3,200 second stage was notified under the contract, with 15 September 2026 as its final date for payment. On 5 October it is still unpaid, and they sent no pay-less notice (the formal notice that they will pay less): 20 days late. Interest is 8% over the Bank of England base rate10: 11.75% a year11 for anything that went late between 1 July and 31 December 2026.
Then it grows by £1.03 a day until they pay. Give notice on 5 October: the seven days run from 6 to 12 October6, with no bank holiday in them, so 13 October is the earliest stop date the Act allows. If the £3,200 is still unpaid that day, you can stop, and they become liable for your reasonable costs of stopping1.
The road ahead
Six steps. All free, with one wait.
Step 1: Check whether it is construction work
Step 2: Check the right has opened, or find your clause
Construction work: the right opens when a sum notified under the contract is unpaid after its final date for payment2, and a valid pay-less notice cuts that sum to the one it names. With no date in the contract, the default rules7 make it 17 days after the payment falls due.
Other work: find the clause that lets you pause for non-payment, and the notice it asks for. With no clause and no refusal, chase instead of stopping. If they have refused, have a solicitor who does contract disputes read the contract first.
Step 3: Warn them in writing, with a date
Send the email below: the amount, the day you will pause, and what restarts the work. Any reply, even a no, gives you something dated to act on.
Step 4: Give the notice the right needs
Construction work: give at least 7 days' notice1, saying why you are suspending. Any written communication counts, and any effective means of serving it will do5, unless the contract says how notices are served. Pick one that leaves a dated record.
Count the seven days without bank holidays, Christmas Day and Good Friday: the Act leaves them out6. Name a stop date at least a day past the seventh. If your right is a clause, give the notice the clause asks for.
Step 5: Stop that job only, and leave their things alone
Stop the work named in the notice and no other job: the right covers the contract the unpaid sum is owed under1. You may stop some of the work or all of it. Don't remove or lock anything they have paid for, and don't damage anything.
Step 6: Keep a record of the cost, and restart when they pay
The right ends when they pay the sum in full1. In construction work they also owe your reasonable costs of stopping1, and any deadline for the work the pause touches moves by the length of the pause. Keep a dated list of the costs and the days stopped.
Add the interest and the fixed sum from the sum above, unless your contract sets its own real remedy for late payment12.
A letter you can copy
Warning email before you pause work
Send it when a payment is late and you have a right to pause: the Act for construction work, or a clause in your contract.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Send it by email so it is dated, and keep a copy with the invoice and the contract. Construction work: this email warns. The formal notice under section 112 is separate: it must say you intend to suspend work, give the ground (the unpaid invoice) and allow at least 7 days. Choose the pause date to sit after it. Other work: use it only if your contract has a clause that lets you pause, and follow the clause's own notice period, which may be longer than this email gives.
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- It is a few days late and they have paid on time before. One email asking for the date costs nothing and keeps the job moving. A pause costs you days of work and some goodwill.
- Stopping would cost you more than the invoice. Add up the crew, the hire and the slot you cannot refill. If a week of pausing costs more than the sum owed, a letter and interest are the better tool.
- You have no right to stop and they have not refused. Late is not refused, and stopping can put you in breach. Chase instead. If the job is big or the contract is unclear, a solicitor who does construction or commercial contract disputes can read it first.
- They have disputed part of it. In construction work, a valid pay-less notice2 cuts the sum your right rests on to what it leaves. Get the undisputed part paid first.
- The client is a consumer. Sales to consumers follow different rules, and these pages cover business customers.
The Wolf's note
Late and refused look the same on a bank statement. Outside construction they carry different rights. Put a date in writing and see what comes back: the reply tells you which one you have.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
On a building job
What is a pay less notice, and what happens if the client didn't send one?
In full. Without a valid pay less notice in time, a construction client must pay the whole notified sum by the final date, whatever the work was worth.
7 min read · Letter included
If they push back
Can I hold back files, or switch off a website, until I'm paid?
You can usually hold back files you have not delivered.
7 min read · Letter included
My client hasn't paid my invoice. What do I do first?
Check the invoice, then ask once, in writing, for a date.
6 min read · Letter included
Don't want to do this yourself?
The Wolf does every step for you. He works out the sums, writes the letters and keeps track of every date. Nothing goes without your yes.