§ 756-c. Retention. By mutual agreement of the relevant parties an owner may retain no more than five per centum of the contract sum as retainage. A contractor or subcontractor may also retain no more than five per centum for retainage and in no case shall retainage exceed the actual percentage retained by the owner. Retainage shall be released by the owner to the contractor no later than thirty days after the final approval of the work under a construction contract. In the event that an owner fails to release retainage as required by this article, or the contractor or subcontractor fails to release a proportionate amount of retainage to the relevant parties after receipt of retainage from the owner, the owner, contractor, or subcontractor, as the case may be, shall be subject to the payment of interest at the rate of one percent per month on the date retention was due and owing.

Terms Used In N.Y. General Business Law 756-C

  • Construction contract: means a written or oral agreement for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance, moving or demolition of any building, structure or improvement, or relating to the excavation of or other development or improvement to land, and where the aggregate cost of the construction project including all labor, services, materials and equipment to be furnished, equals or exceeds one hundred fifty thousand dollars. See N.Y. General Business Law 756
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contractor: means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, association, company, organization or other entity, including a construction manager, or any combination thereof, which enters into a construction contract with an owner. See N.Y. General Business Law 756
  • Owner: means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association or other organization or other entity, or a combination of any thereof, (with an ownership interest, whether the interest or estate is in fee, as vendee under a contract to purchase, as lessee or another interest or estate less than fee) that causes a building, structure or improvement, new or existing, to be constructed, altered, repaired, maintained, moved or demolished or that causes land to be excavated or otherwise developed or improved. See N.Y. General Business Law 756
  • Subcontractor: means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, organization or other entity, or any combination thereof, which is a party to a contract with a contractor or another subcontractor to perform a portion of work pursuant to a construction contract. See N.Y. General Business Law 756
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