I have recently become telepathic. A contractor called me the other day saying that he was engaged on a large M&E contract and that one of his sub-contractors had gone into administration. He wanted advice on terminating the sub-contract and getting someone else to finish the work. I asked whether any of the sub-contractor’s suppliers were claiming that they still owned various items that they had supplied because of a retention of title (RoT) clause, despite the fact that the contractor had paid the sub-contractor for them. “That was going to be my second question” he said. “How did you know that? You must be telepathic.” The truth is that it’s not telepathy but more like Bill Murray’s experience in Groundhog Day, as the situation keeps repeating itself.
