Debt Recovery

Various costs apply where your claim is in relation to an unpaid invoice/agreement which is not disputed and enforcement action is not needed. If however the other party disputes your claim at any point, we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs if necessary, which could be on a fixed fee (e.g. if a one off letter is required), or an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed.

Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:

• Our fixed fee depends on the value & complexity of your claim.
• If Court proceedings are issued and your claim falls within the small claims track, you are entitled to claim fixed solicitors costs as set by the Court. This amount is nominal usually around £70-£80 and if the proceedings are successful you can recover the fixed solicitors costs and any court fee that you have paid, together with the debt & any accrued interest.
• The court fee to issue your claim depends upon the value of your claim. The current issue fees can be found here Click here to see the court fees.
• The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor.
• The costs quoted above are not for matters where enforcement action, such as the bailiff, is needed to collect your debt or where the case becomes defended.

As part of our fee we will:-

• Take your instructions and review all documentation that you provide
• Undertake appropriate searches (sometimes these will incur additional charges, known as disbursements, however we will inform you of these where we can prior to incurring the cost)
• Sending a letter before action, setting out your case & remedy ie what you want to resolve the matter
• Recover payment where we can and send this onto you, or if the debt is not paid, draft and issue court proceedings
• Where no Acknowledgment of Service or Defence is received, apply to the court to enter Judgment in default
• When Judgment in default is granted by the Court, we will write to the Defendant to request payment
• If payment is not received within 14 days, we will provide you with advice on the next steps and likely costs

Matters usually take 3-6 months (depending on complexity & negotiation) from receipt of instructions, to receipt of payment from the other side. The length of time your case takes depends entirely on how or whether the Defendant responds to the claim.

If it becomes necessary to issue Court proceedings, then clearly the matter will take longer. You should note that the Courts regularly experience backlogs of work and as such these are factors out of our control and whilst we will regularly chase the Court, there is little we can do other than to await the Court’s response.