We set out below the likely fees involved where your claim is in relation to an unpaid invoice which is not disputed and enforcement action is not needed. If 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 or at an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed. The fees below presume that all your documentation is in order and provided to us at the outset and that you do not also require any advice on recoverability of the debt (which would be subject to a further charge at our hourly rates).
Where the debtor is a limited company or other form of business, we can either send a Letter Before Action to the debtor requesting payment within seven days or, alternatively, a Late Payment Demand under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 where both parties were acting in the course of business. Where the debtor is an individual, we will need to use the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims which will give the debtor up to 30 days to respond.
The fee for producing and sending the relevant pre-action letter will be £500 plus VAT.
Our fee includes:
- Taking your instructions and reviewing your documentation
- Sending a Letter Before Action
- Receiving payment and sending on to you
If payment is not made and Court proceedings are required, this will involve not only our further fee but also payment of the current Court Issue Fee which you will need to pay us in advance.
The current Court Issue Fees (as at January 2022) can be found at https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees
Our fee for dealing with the Court proceedings will be £500 – £750 plus VAT depending upon how many invoices are to be included in the claim.
Our fee includes:
- Drafting and issuing claim
- Where no Acknowledgement of Service or Defence is received, applying to the Court to enter Judgment in Default
- When Judgment in Default is received, writing to the other side to request payment
- If payment is not received within seven days, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs
Please note that:
- The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor
- Interest and compensation may result in a higher Court Issue Fee
- The fees set out above are not for matters where enforcement action, such as the bailiff, is needed to collect your debt.
Matters usually take 2-12 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether the debtor is another business or an individual and also depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly on receipt of the Pre-Action Letter or, alternatively, the Judgment in Default. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.
We have an experienced team of solicitors who can assist you with any outstanding debt(s) to include also considering alternatives to Court action where appropriate, such as negotiating a settlement or issuing a Statutory Demand (which advice is subject to a separate charge based upon our hourly rates). You can find out more about each of our solicitors by viewing their profile from the links below. They are each supervised by one of the firm’s Partners or Heads of Department who have all been qualified as a solicitor for at least 14 years.
To find out more about our debt recovery service, please call us on 020 8464 4242 or contact one of our team.
To find out more, please contact:
| Joe Reeves | London | 020 7481 6383 |
| Craig Batko | Surrey | 01372 750 109 |
| Jonathan Tyler | Sevenoaks | 01732 446361 |
| Priyanka Kumar | Sevenoaks | 01732 457 575 |