All fees quoted are exclusive of VAT charged at 20%.

Debt recovery ranges from a letter before action and issuing court proceedings to insolvency proceedings for high-value corporate debts.

If litigation is necessary, we can help you pursue your case through the courts. If successful litigation produces a court judgement, this is often just the first step. The hard work often starts to convert the judgement into cash. Many solicitors advise that instructing bailiffs or enforcement officers is the natural progression, but we can advise on alternatives, such as:

• Statutory Demands both for Individuals and Companies
• Winding Up Petition for Corporate Debt
• Individual Bankruptcy
• Attachment of Earnings
• Third Party Debt Orders
• Charging Orders

Undisputed Debts

If your clients or customers do not pay your invoices and do not provide you with any reason for non-payment (other than that they simply don’t have the funds to pay), we would consider your invoice to be an undisputed debt and could carry out the following debt recovery procedure:

1. You send us the details of the debtor, including all invoices and correspondence with the debtor.
2. We will send a Letter before Action. We will specify in our letter that if payment is not received within 14 days, we will issue court proceedings. Our fees for the Letter before Action are £50.00 plus VAT at 20%.
3. If the debt is owed by an individual the law requires us to send a debt protocol letter which gives them 30 days to pay up to avoid court proceedings.
4. After 14 or 30 days whichever is applicable, unless you have notified us that the debt has been paid or you do not want us to take any further steps, we will draft and issue court proceedings, provided you have paid into our client account the appropriate court fee (disbursement) which ranges from £35.00 to £10,000.00 depending on the amount you are claiming. Disbursements are costs relating to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. Please note that court fees do not attract VAT. Our fees for drafting the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim and forwarding these to Court for issuing will vary between £250.00 – £500.00 plus VAT.
5. If the debtor fails to file a Defence, we can draft an Application for Judgement in Default for between £150.00 to £250.00.

Disputed Debts

If the debtor files a Defence, you will need to decide whether you wish to instruct us to continue to pursue the claim, potentially to trial. We will advise you of our estimate of costs to litigate at that stage. If, for example, your claim is for less than £10,000.00, it may be more cost-effective for you to represent yourself, as it is likely that your claim would be allocated to the County Court small claims track because generally solicitors cannot recover the costs involved, save court fees.

If your claim is between £10,000.00 and £100,000.00, the average legal cost will be between £10,000.00 and £15,000.00 plus VAT. Costs are incurred at our hourly rates as set out below:

• Mr. Kevin Conroy – Director/Solicitor with over 8 years’ experience: £250.00 plus VAT.
• Miss Raleigh Fox – Paralegal with over 2 years’ experience: £175.00 plus VAT.
• Miss Zara Hussain – Paralegal with 1 years’ experience: £150.00 plus VAT.

Our fees include:

• Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
• Undertaking appropriate searches
• Sending a letter before action
• Considering any response received from the debtor
• Receiving payment and sending it onto you, or if the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing a claim if appropriate
• Where no Acknowledgement of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgement in default.
• When Judgement in default is received, writing to the other side to demand payment
• If payment is not received within 14 days or a Defence to the claim is filed, providing you with advice on next steps regarding enforcement and likely costs
• If a Defence is served, advising on whether you can apply for Summary Judgement without having to go to the trouble of a contested trial.

Once instructed, it usually takes 6-8 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly following a letter before action or upon receipt of judgement in default. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.

It is difficult for us to provide a timescale on these matters, but the average defended debt claim can take over 9 months. If you are successful in your claim and obtain judgement, the debtor will usually have 14 days to pay you the sum ordered by the Court. If the debtor fails to make payment, we can advise you at that stage of the enforcement options available to you and the likely costs of each option.

(Where applicable, VAT is charged at 20%. Court fees do not attract VAT.)

Please contact Mr. Kevin Conroy on 0121 212 1575 or email [email protected].