We will provide prompt, practical advice, tailored to your specific requirements.
Stages of the process
Generally speaking there are three stages to a non-disputed straightforward debt recovery action and we offer fixed fees for each of these stages:
- Letter Before Action - £50 plus VAT
- Issue of your claim in the County Court Money Claims Centre - £200 plus VAT
- Entry of Judgment - £100 plus VAT
If the debtor does not pay following the issue of a judgment you will need to take enforcement action to recover the sums due to you. Should you instruct us to take such action on your behalf this will not be on a fixed fee basis and our costs will be charged on a time spent basis at the rate of £200 plus vat per hour. We will provide you with an estimate of the work required and fees involved at that time.
Item 2 will be subject to a Court fee which we have detailed below.
Timescales to achieve resolution depend hugely upon the approach adopted by the debtor however, by way of a guide; a Letter before Action will usually demand payment within 7- 30 days depending on whether it is a company to company or company to individual debt. Once Court proceedings are served a debtor will normally have 14 days within which to acknowledge the claim and indicate whether it intends to defend the claim and if so, it then has a further 14 days in the first instance to file any defence to the Court proceedings. If the debtor fails to file an acknowledgement of service or defence, then it should be possible to obtain a judgment in default and it usually takes the court 2-3 weeks to deal with the application for this.
If the debtor does not defend the claim and judgment in default is obtained, the expectation is that the debtor will be ordered to pay a small percentage of your costs. We have detailed the Statutory costs usually awarded by the Court below. However, you will remain liable for our costs and charges in full irrespective of whether the debtor pays the contribution to your costs.
We understand the commercial aspect involved in dealing with unpaid debts. The work we will carry out will involve:
- Ascertaining the position in relation to the debt from receipt of your instructions and satisfaction of ID requirements (2 to 3 days)
- Letter before action to your debtor (2 to 3 days from receipt of your instructions)
- On receipt of your instructions to issue proceedings, filing documentation at Court (1 week)
- Receiving your instructions to enter Judgment (2 to 3 days from receipt of your instructions)
Disbursements
Courts fees payable to the Court to issue proceedings are based on a scale dependent upon the band into which the amount you are claiming falls. Please note that interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding which will result in a higher Court fee being payable.
| Claim amount | Court fee |
|
Up to £300.00 |
£35.00 |
|
£300.00 - £500.00 |
£50.00 |
|
£500.00 - £1,000.00 |
£70.00 |
|
£1,000.00 - £1,500.00 |
£80.00 |
|
£1,500.00 - £3,000.00 |
£115.00 |
|
£3,000.00 - £5,000.00 |
£205.00 |
|
£5,000.00 - £10,000.00 |
£455.00 |
|
£10,000.00 - £200,000.00 |
5% of the claim |
|
Greater than £200,000.00 |
£10,000.00 |
There may be other expenses which we will incur on your behalf such as, but not limited to, Counsel’s fees, Land Registry fees, tracing agents fees etc. It is this firm’s practice to ask for those fees to be paid in advance.
Statutory costs awarded by the Court
| Fixed costs on commencement of claim | |
|
Between £25.00 - £500.00 |
£50.00 |
|
Between £500.00 - £1,000.00 |
£70.00 |
|
Between £1,000.00 - £5,000.00 |
£80.00 |
|
Where the value of the claim exceeds £5,000 |
£100.00 |
| Judgment | |
|
Between £25.00 - £5,000.00 |
£22.00 |
|
For £5,000.00 or more |
£30.00 |
| Issue of Warrant | |
| Issue of Warrant |
£2.25 |
Disputed Debts
If at any stage, following the issue of the letter before action, the claim becomes disputed by the debtor, the above fixed fees will not apply (save for the cost of the letter before action) and all work undertaken from that stage will be at charged at our hourly rates set out below. We will provide you with an estimate of such fees at that time.
Our dedicated Debt Recovery team
Clifton Ingram has a dedicated team that handles Debt Recovery matters within the Dispute Resolution Department and your dedicated lead will be involved with the collection of debts prior to issue, the preparation and lodgement of Claims at Court, obtaining Judgments and issuing enforcement for individuals, companies, firms and sole traders. They are also active in resolving disputes and negotiating settlements by assisting the client with the preparation of self-representation at Court or with the assistance of the Small Claims Mediation Service.
Occasionally a Partner in the Dispute Resolution department may become involved in the work on your case if it requires a particular type of expertise, which would be agreed with you in advance. This partner would be either Robert Cherry or David Goddard whose hourly rates are both £330 plus VAT per hour.