Unpaid debts can have various unpleasant consequences ranging from cash flow difficulties; refusal of prompt payment discounts, and banks not recognising long term debts as collateral.

Read our top tips on Commercial Debt Recovery.

We are experienced in debt recovery and have an efficient debt recovery collection service, staffed by experienced solicitors, it is a cost effective way to recover money owed to you.

For £200 + VAT plus disbursements (e.g. a court fee), we will take care of the following:

• Free initial telephone advice
• Economic recovery of any size of debts
• Serving a Notice of Intention to Issue a County Court Claim
• Court proceedings issued and judgments enforced
• Interest claimed
• Majority of costs recovered from the debtor, if the case is successful
• Enquiry Agents instructed to trace a debtor

On recovering all or part of the debt, our fees are:

Amount Recovered	Fee
Up to £1000.00	25% plus VAT
Then any part of the debt over and above £1000.00	20% plus VAT

For example, if we recover £1500.00 then our fees will be 25% plus VAT of £1000.00 recovered and then 20% plus VAT for the remaining £500.00.

If the recovery of the debt hasn’t been resolved following judgment, we can enforce the debt by:

• Instructing the High Court Sheriff to seize goods – Court fee of £83.00,
  Sheriff’s fee of £90.00 and Wrigley Claydon’s charges of £150.00 plus VAT
• Questioning the debtor at court to ascertain his assets- Court fee of £119.00, Process Server’s fee of £88.00 and Wrigley Claydon’s charges of £250.00 plus VAT.
• Obtaining an attachment of the debtor’s salary- Court fee of £119.00 and Wrigley Claydon’s charges of £250.00 plus VAT.
• Obtaining a charge on the debtor’s property – Court fee of £119.00, Office Copies of £12.00, Land Registry fee of £60.00 and Wrigley Claydon’s charges of £350.00 plus VAT.
• Third Party Debt Order – Court fee of £119.00 and Wrigley Claydon’s charges of £250.00 plus VAT.

Limitation Period

The limitation period for nearly all debt claims is six years from the date that the debt became outstanding.

The six-year clock will also restart from the date that the debt is acknowledged in writing (including by email) or a part payment is received against that debt.

This means that if any payment is received against the debt at any time, then the six-year clock starts from the date of the last payment.

Before you can bring a claim in court, you are required to follow the Debt Recovery Pre-Action Protocol. The protocol is aimed at encouraging negotiation and avoiding unnecessary court time and costs.

Failure to follow the protocol will not stop a claim being brought, but any non-compliance is likely to have an impact on your ability to recover your legal costs later.

 

Letter of Claim

A Letter of Claim needs to be sent to the debtor before you issue a claim. If they do not reply within 30 days, then you can start court proceedings. If the debtor is a limited company then they should reply within 7 days. However, if the debtor replies to say that they are taking advice, or want more information from you, or want time to reach agreement on instalments, you must give them reasonable time to do this.

 

If agreement is not reached, then you still must give at least 14 days’ notice of your intention to start court proceedings, unless the limitation period is about to expire.

 

Court Proceedings

Once a debt claim has been issued in court, the debtor will be served with the Claim Form.

Stage	Timescale
Service of the claim on the debtor	5 days
Deadline for the debtor to file an acknowledgment of service.	14 days
In absence of the acknowledgment of service, the date of which we can apply for default judgment.	15 days
If an acknowledgment of service has been filed, the deadline for the debtor to file a formal defence	14 days

 

The above timescales are approximations of the timescales involved for each stage. However, there are a number of factors which can impact upon timescales such as how quickly the Court can process the paperwork and whether the parties require more time for negotiation.

 

If the debtor files a defence to the Claim Form, then then deadlines for the additional stages are set by the court. However, it is estimated the possible timescales may apply subject to how quickly the Court can process the paperwork:-

Stage	Timescale
Up to and including issuing proceedings	4-8 weeks
Up to and including Costs and Case Management Conference	8 weeks
Up to including of Disclosure and Inspection	8 weeks
Up to Service of Witness Statements and Expert Reports	10 weeks
Up to and including Pre-Trial Review (PTR)	8 weeks
Up to Trial	8 weeks

Our well established team of solicitors have in-depth knowledge and experience in this area of law, so please call us for more information:
Manchester Office: 0161 914 9881
Oldham Office: 0161 624 6811
Todmorden Office: 01706 815712

Team: Vijay Srivastava and Shalish Mehta