This chapter contains section titled:

• What is the difference between liquidated damages and a penalty?

• If the employer suffers no loss as a result of a contractor's delay to completion, is he still entitled to deduct liquidated damages?

• If a delay is caused by the employer for which there is no specific entitlement to an extension of time expressed in the extension of time clause, will this result in the employer losing his right to levy liquidated damages?

• Are liquidated damages based on a percentage of the contract sum enforceable?

• Where liquidated damages are expressed as so much per week or part thereof, and the contractor overruns by part of a week only but is charged a full week'xss liquidated damages, are the courts likely to consider this is a penalty and therefore unenforceable?

• If the architect or engineer fails to grant an extension of time within a timescale laid down in the contract, will this prevent the employer from levying liquidated damages?

• If the contractor delays completion but no effective non-completion certificate is issued by the architect/engineer under a JCT contract, will this mean that the employer loses his right to deduct liquidated damages?

• Can a subcontractor who finishes late have passed down to him liquidated damages fixed under the main contract which are completely out of proportion to the subcontract value?

• What is meant by ‘time at large’? How does it affect the employer's entitlement to levy liquidated damages for late completion?

• Can a contractor challenge the liquidated damages figure included in a contract as being a penalty and unenforceable after the contract is signed? If so, will it be a matter for the employer to prove the figure to be a reasonable pre-estimate of anticipated loss?

• If liquidated damages to be enforceable must be a reasonable pre-estimate of loss, how can public bodies or organisations financed out of the public purse be capable of suffering loss?

• If liquidated damages become enforceable and hence an entitlement to unliquidated damages arises, can the unliquidated damages be greater than the liquidated damages?

• Where a contract includes a single liquidated damages amount for failing to complete the whole of the works by the completion date, what entitlement does the employer have to claim from the contractor who has failed to complete parts of the work by the milestone dates written into the contract?

• Is it possible to include in a subcontract an all embracing sum for liquidated and ascertained damages for delay to completion?