If you are owed money by a business or individual and your requests for payment are being ignored, our specialist lawyers can help you instruct an agent to trace the debtor, if appropriate, and issue a court claim for the debt.
Debt recovery
Debt recovery is the process of recovering money owed to you and is vital to aid cash flow of any business no matter it’s size. Our services are comprehensive and include all steps from initial advice on the merits of your claim to the issuing of proceedings through to trial. If you are awarded a judgment in your favour, we also offer a full service in enforcement proceedings which may include the seizing of assets located abroad under foreign process proceedings.
Our debt recovery department is headed by Madeline Broddley FCILEx, who has over 30 years’ experience in both defended and undefended debt recovery and insolvency actions. She was nominated for Legal Expert in the 2019 CILEX Awards.
What our clients says about Madeline
‘We have worked with Madeline for several years, she is professional, honest and highly experienced in debt recovery, we 100% trust her advice. Madeline has recovered debts we did not think were recoverable, we wouldn’t use anyone else’……..Local Authority client
Most cases start with a LBA ‘letter before action’ which sets out your claim and often results in the debtor making contact to discuss payment. Our fixed fee packages give clear pricing on types of LBA required.
If the LBA does not provoke a response then legal proceedings are the last resort.
Costs involved for undisputed claims and certain types of enforcement are detailed {insert hyperlink here to transparency paras below}. Costs of disputed/defended proceedings and certain types of enforcement, are charged on an hourly basis on 6 minute time units.
Debt Recovery & Insolvency Pricing
OUR CHARGES
Stage 1. Pre Legal Debt Recovery – sending a letter before action ‘LBA’
Starting the debt recovery process normally involves the sending of a LBA ‘letter before action’ to the debtor.
- If the debtor is an individual or sole trader, you will be required to send a ‘Pre-Action Protocol’ letter and will be required to wait at least 30 days before any legal claim can be issued. The cost of this is included at the section marked – Pre legal advice on the merits of your claim
- If you are a business seeking payment from another business and other cases not caught by the Pre-Action Protocol definition, you do not need to wait the 30 days before proceedings can be issued. You would still be required to comply with Pre-Action conduct, which states that 14 days must be given in order for the debtor to respond before proceedings can be issued. The cost of this is included at the section marked – Pre legal advice on the merits of your claim
- Our costs for sending a LBA only for non-payment of an undisputed invoice, which does not require advice or a review of the client file will be 100% of the amount of the compensation that we can claim on your behalf under the Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act 1998 plus £50, as follows:
| Value of claim | Compensation entitlement | Our fee (plus VAT) |
| Less than £1,000 | £40 | £100 |
| £1,000 – £9,999.99 | £70 | £150 |
| £10,000 or more | £100 | £200 |
Pre legal advice on the merits of your claim
| Value of claim | Our fee (plus VAT) |
| Less than £10,000 | £400 |
| £10,000 or more | £700 |
Work includes;
Review of client file, risk assessment, file set up & sending of LBA and considering any reply from the debtor or their legal advisor and providing you advice on how to proceed
Stage 2. Legal/contentious Debt Recovery
This section governs the charges we make for matters whereby legal proceedings have been issued including any work done in preparation of any such proceedings. Any work described below is;
- subject to payment of all disbursements
- subject to the addition of VAT
Issue fees – to issue a claim for money, the following fees will be payable on the amount claimed
| Value of claim | Court fee payable (£) | Our fees (£) |
| Up to £300 | 35 | 200 |
| £300.01 – £500 | 50 | 200 |
| £500.01 – £1,000 | 70 | 200 |
| £1,000.01 – £1,500 | 80 | 300 |
| £1,500.01 – £3,000 | 115 | 300 |
| £3,000.01 – £5,000 | 205 | 350 |
| £5,000.01 – £10,000 | 455 | 500 |
| £10,000.01 – £25,000 | 5% of the claim | 600 |
| £25,000.01 – £50,000 | 5% of the claim | 700 |
| £50,000.01 – £200,000 | 5% of the claim | 1500 |
| £200,000+ | 10,000 | 2000 |
Once the Court has issued and served your claim, the Defendant will have 14 days from service to file a defence, acknowledge the claim or they may do nothing.
If the debtor does nothing, default Judgment can be obtained. The costs to enter default Judgment are;
| Value of claim | Recoverable costs (£) | Our fees (£) Plus VAT |
| Judgment does not exceed £5,000 | 22 | 50 |
| Judgment exceeds £5,000 | 30 | 60 |
Judgment is usually granted within 14 days from the request being received, if it is sent by mail to the Court.
If the debtor defends the claim then work done on the file will be charged on an hourly rate basis and an estimate of likely costs will be given at that stage.
Fee earners who may work on your case are:
Madeline Broddley Chartered Legal Executive hourly rate £260 plus VAT
Simon Davies Solicitor and Head of the Civil department hourly rate £260 plus VAT
Debt recovery assistant hourly rate £146 plus VAT
Application to Enforce an Award
This is the process whereby you can apply to enforce an award as if payable under a Court order, such as a liability order for the none payment of council tax
| Value of claim | Recoverable costs (£) | Our fees(£) (plus VAT) |
| exceeds £25 but does not exceed £250 | 30.75 | 70 |
| exceeds £250 but does not exceed £600 | 41.00 | 80 |
| exceeds £600 but does not exceed £2,000 | 69.50 | 120 |
| exceeds £2,000 | 75.50 | 150 |
Stage 3. Enforcement & Recovery
Once a Judgment has been obtained and if the debtor does not pay the sum ordered to be paid, you may choose to enforce the Judgment by using a variety of methods. Our charges are detailed below. Fixed costs allowable by the Court, which are recoverable from the debtor, are listed for your information. Our fee is the amount charged to you if instructed to carry out any enforcement on your behalf.
| Description | Court fee (£) | Recoverable Costs (£) | Our fee (£) (plus VAT) |
| Writ of Control (fifa) & Writ of Execution (High Court) | 71 (plus £90 for HCEO if unsuccessful) |
51.75 | 250 |
| Warrant of Execution (control) | 83 | 2.25 | 250 |
| Attachment of Earnings | 119 | 8.503 | 350 |
| Information Order | 59 | 15 per ½ hour | 350 |
| Third Party Debt Order | 119 | 98.50 | 750 |
| Application to re-issue Warrant/fi fa | 0-33 | 50 | 200 |
| Application for a Charging Order | 119 | 110 (plus Land Registry costs) | 750 |
PLEASE NOTE: the above fees and costs are fixed by parliament and can be changed at any time and during the term of your claim. You are liable for any increase in court fee in this regard.
Writ of Control (fifa) & Writ of Execution (High Court) – This is a process which can be productive if you are aware of any assets of the debtor. The High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO) will attempt to seize asset to the value of your claim and costs incurred by the HCEO. The HCEO may agree a repayment programme if the debtor has insufficient assets to pay the debt. Typically this type of enforcement can take between 6-12 weeks from receiving instructions from you.
Warrant of Execution– This process and timescale is the same as a Writ of control but carried out by a County Court Bailiff.
Attachment of Earnings – This is a process whereby the Court can order an employer of the debtor to make deductions out of the debtor’s salary at source. The process can take between 4-10 weeks depending on whether the debtor co-operates with the Court in providing information requested or whether the debtor changes his employment during the process of the application.
Information Order – This is a process whereby a debtor is ordered to attend court for questioning on his assets and liabilities and ability to pay the debt. The debtor may evade service of the documentation which means that a process server may be required to effect service. This will incur a further fee for service.
Third Party Debt Order – If you are aware that the debtor is owed money by another, or has money in a bank account, you can ask the Court to Order that the payment comes to you instead of the debtor. Typically, this process takes between 2 – 6 weeks upon issue.
Charging order – You can ask the Court to place a charge upon a property owned by the debtor which property is not limited to land, but also includes pensions or stocks and shares. The application is made without notice and if the Court is satisfied the property is to be charged, the Court will grant and interim order which is then registered against the property. The fees charged are as follows
Order for Sale – This process is the enforcement of the Charging Order over land obtained. If a debtor does not pay the debt, you can apply to the Court for an Order that the property charged is sold to pay the debt. An initial investigation fee of £450 plus VAT is charged. Once you decide to pursue this application our fee is charged at the hourly rate of £260 plus VAT. We always seek to obtain an order that the debtor pays all of the costs incurred which are payable out of the proceeds of any sale, but the Courts has discretion whether to order these costs. The likely cost of obtaining an Order for Sale, on an undisputed claim, is usually £1,800.00 The disbursements incurred in pursuing this claim are as follows
| Description | Disbursements (£) |
| Issue Fee | 332 |
| Office Copies & Plan | 6 (plus VAT) |
| Registration fee at HMLR | 20 |
| Drive by valuation | 50 (plus VAT) |
| Agents fee for attending the hearing | 135 (plus VAT) |
| Warrant of Possession | 130 |
Insolvency
This section governs our charges for standard work involved in each of the following processes, on the basis that the claim is undefended and only 1 court hearing is required on the petition.
Our fees on insolvency processes
| Process | Our fee (plus VAT) | |
| Drafting Statutory Demands | £750 | |
| Drafting Bankruptcy Petitions | £1000 | |
| Drafting Winding-up/Insolvent Partnership Petitions | £1250 | |
If the claim becomes defended, which includes an application to set aside a statutory demand, an hourly rate will be charged at a rate of £260 plus VAT per hour. If a hearing is adjourned, we will charge a further fee for preparing for the adjourned hearing, including any increase in advocacy fees. A fee estimate will be provided at the time.
Disbursements on insolvency processes
| Statutory Demand | Bankruptcy Petition | Winding-up/Insolvent Partnership Petitions | |
| Court fee | £302 | £302 | |
| Official Receivers Deposit | £990 | £1,600 | |
| Process servers fee | £100-£200 (plus VAT) | £100-£200 (plus VAT) | £100-£200 (plus VAT) |
| Advertising | various | ||
| Advocates fee (per hearing) | £100 (plus VAT) | £150-£250 (plus VAT) | |
| Bankruptcy search | £11 | ||
| Company search | £11 |
Proceeding with a statutory demand is usually only done if the debt is undisputed or a Judgment has already been granted by the Court. Service of the demand usually takes place between 2-3 weeks of the demand being given to a process server for serving. Once served the debtor has 21 days to pay the debt or 18 days to apply to the Court to set aside the demand. A bankruptcy Order is usually obtained within 6-12 weeks of a petition being issued.
Winding-Up/Insolvent Partnership Petitions
More details on charges for insolvency proceedings can be provided upon request.
In the event your dispute progresses to court, we will prepare all court paperwork and arrange for an experienced advocate, whether it be a solicitor or barrister, to attend all hearings with you and put representations to the judge on your behalf.
If you have a County Court Judgment which remains unpaid, our lawyers can assist you with enforcing the judgement, which may lead to:
- The debtor attending a financial assessment at the court
- The instruction of bailiffs to collect the debt
- The deduction of money from the debtor’s wages
- A charge being placed on the debtor’s property
Contact us today for a no obligation discussion.