Debt Recovery

For unpaid invoices worth up to £50,000 issued through the County Court Business Centre, we charge on a fixed fee basis.  Complex or higher value claims require a bespoke approach, and we will provide you with an estimate of our fees and other information specific to your needs. We offer discounts for volume, so please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Where fixed fees apply, our work will include:

• Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation;
• Sending a Letter before Action;
• Receiving payment and sending on to you or, if the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing the Court claim;
• When no acknowledgment 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;
• Accounting to you if payment is received or providing you with advice on the next steps and likely costs.

Note about VAT

Please note that wherever we indicate that VAT is payable, this will be at the standard rate from time to time, currently 20%.

Where it becomes necessary to issue legal proceedings, the following fees will apply:

Our costs:

For debts up to the sum of £10,000.00, we will charge a fixed fee of £600.00 plus VAT.

For debts between £10,001.00 to £50,000.00 we will charge a fixed fee of £3,500.00 plus VAT.

For business to business debts, the above fees will include the Letter of Claim fixed fee together with preparation of proceedings, service and obtaining Judgment in default, if no defence is filed.

For individual debtors, the above fees will be in addition to the Letter of Claim fixed fee but will include preparation of proceedings, service and obtaining Judgment in default, if no defence is filed.

If a defence is filed, or any interim applications are made, then our hourly rates will apply.

Once your claim is issued, we will no longer charge a percentage on any sums recovered.

Please be aware that, for debts up to £10,000.00 only an element of our costs will be recoverable from your debtor – this is dependent on the value of the debt. If your terms and conditions of business allow for recovery of legal fees, then further costs may be recoverable depending on the terms of the clause.

For debts over £10,000.00, our costs will be recoverable from the debtor – subject to assessment by the Court.

Court fees:

In addition, you will incur a Court fee which is payable upon issue.

In respect of debts under £10,000.00, the Court fee will vary from between £25.00 up to £410.00 depending on the value of your claim.

For debts over £10,000.00 but less than £200,000.00, the Court fee will be 5% of the value of your claim, or 4.5% of the value of your claim, if issued via Money Claims OnLine, if your claim is suitable for online issue.

For debts over £200,000.00 the court fee will be £10,000.00.

The Court fees are recoverable from your debtor

Other expenses:

In some cases, additional disbursements may be payable such as barristers’ fees for attending Court hearings or advising (ranging from £500 to over £5000 depending on the work needed, plus VAT).  We will advise you about this should the need for a barrister arise and we will discuss their likely fees with you.

Other expenses might include fees payable to process servers to serve Court papers on the debtor, or tracing fees to find the debtor.  Such fees range from around £200 to £1000 plus VAT).  We will always advise you about the need to incur these expenses and how much they are likely to be.

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