Business to Business – Debt Recovery of an Undisputed Invoice
If you are owed a sum of money in relation to an undisputed invoice, we can offer the following fixed fee debt recovery service in order to assist you in securing the money owed to you.
Our Legal Fees and Disbursements
Letters Before Action
We will take your instructions and send an initial demand letter to the debtor for the cost of £150 + VAT @ 20%. If further correspondence is required prior to us issuing court proceedings (for example to respond to queries raised by the debtor) each additional letter will be charged at £26.00 +VAT @ 20%.
Issue of Proceedings
The fixed costs payable upon issuing court proceedings will be tracked according to the fixed costs that the court will allow you to recover from the debtor, + VAT @ 20% (please note that the VAT element is not recoverable from the debtor). Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
These costs and disbursements are as follows:
| Value of Debt | Fixed Costs (plus VAT at 20%) | Court Fee |
Up to £300 Greater than £300 but no more than £500 Greater than £500 but no more than £1000 Greater than £1,000 but no more than £1,500 Greater than £1,500 but no more than £3,000 Greater than £3,000 but no more than £5,000 Greater than £5,000 but no more than £10,000 Greater than £10,000 but no more than £200,000 Over £200,000 | £50
£50
£70
£80
£80
£80
£100
£100 £100
| £35
£50
£70
£80
£115
£205
£455
5% of the value of your claim £10,000
|
Defended Proceedings
Work undertaken on any claims that are defended shall, from the point that the defence is filed, be charged at an hourly charging rate. Our hourly charging rates vary between £140 – £260 +VAT @ 20%.
In the event that a Defence is filed we will provide you with costs estimates at that point in time. Our costs estimates will be based upon the value and level of complexity of your case.
Judgment
In the event that your opponent does not respond to the claim or respond by admitting the claim, we will obtain judgment on your behalf.
If the debtor makes any applications within the proceedings (for example, to set aside or vary a judgment), our fees will again be charged by applying the above hourly rates and an estimate of our costs for dealing with this stage will be provided to you.
Enforcement Proceedings
In the event that we obtain judgment on your behalf and the debtor fails to make payment, there are a number of ways that we can assist you in enforcing the judgment. The various options and our fixed costs and disbursements will be discussed with you at this stage if necessary.
Timescales for your claim
We have outlined the key stages of a typical case above and here is a rough guide to the likely timescales involved:
Letter Before Action – following our initial meeting we will prepare a client care letter the same or next day for you. Once this is signed and returned and we have the information we need from you to prepare the Letter Before Claim we will issue it the same day or next day if the information is received after 3pm.
Issue of Legal Proceedings – once a Letter Before Claim has been sent to a company debtor they will have 14 days to respond after which we can issue your claim. The debtor then has 14 days to either acknowledge the claim or file a defence – if they do neither then we can request judgment against them. Entering judgment will take the court around 10 days after which we can instruct bailiffs. It will typically take bailiffs 8-12 to obtain the writ, contact the debtor, arrange a visit and start collecting money. If full payment is made immediately that will be the end of the matter, but where a debtor requests a payment plan, claims hardship or goes to great lengths to avoid the bailiffs then the process will take longer.
Our Team
Debt Recovery is handled by our experienced Dispute Resolution team which includes:
Head of Department, Solicitor and Partner, Maria Calvy
For expert advice and assistance please use our contact page, call us on 01376 513 491 or email hello@bawtrees.co.uk.
