01752 690770
What Kings Solicitors can do for you
We offer an initial free 30 minute consultation either in person or over the telephone, to discuss your Debt Recovery matter with you and how to proceed.
(N.B In addition to Debt Recovery we also offer advice on Possession Claims (Landlord & Tenant and Mortgages), disputes between co-owners and many more contentious property issues).
Matter Set-up Fee
Should you decide, after the initial consultation, that you would like us to act for you, we shall ask you for an initial payment in the sum of £80.00 plus VAT at 20% (so a total of £96.00). This is to allow for the work required in conducting the initial risk assessment, opening the file and setting the matter up on our Case Management System, carrying out the required due diligence and anti-money laundering checks, preparing and sending you the client care pack.
This sum is in addition to the costs information set out below and is non-refundable.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
We are registered for VAT under VAT Registration No: 400 604 555. Our fees are therefore subject to VAT at the current rate of 20%.
A full breakdown of any other fees and expenses incurring VAT at the current rate will be given in our client care letter and during the course of your matter once this information became available.
Main Stages of Debt Recovery
There are three main stages to the debt recovery process:
- Letter before Action
- Court Proceedings
- Enforcement
Letter before Action
Once you have provided us with copies of unpaid invoices, we shall send a letter to your debtor letting them know that you have asked us to assist you in the recovery of the monies owing. The debtor will be given a reasonable time to respond, usually 14 days.
Sometimes this “solicitor’s letter” is all that is required for the debtor to pay what is owed and that is the end of the matter.
We charge the following Fees for the Letter before Action:
£50.00 plus VAT for debts up to £2500;
£75.00 plus VAT for debts up to £5000;
£100.00 plus VAT for debts up to £10,000;
Letters for debts in excess of £10,000 may cost more according to their complexity
This service includes:
- Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
- Drafting the Letter before Action for your approval
- Sending the Letter before Action to the debtor
If the debtor pays in full, we will charge a further £50.00 plus VAT for recovering the debt and accounting to you.
It is often the case for the debtor to offer to settle the debt by way of regular instalments. We can advise you on this and, if you agree to a payment plan, we can collect the monthly payments in order to monitor that regular payments are being made.
We shall charge £50.00 plus VAT on the first instalment, followed by £20.00 plus VAT per instalment for the remainder of the term of the plan to receive the payments and forward them to you.
If the debt remains unpaid, or instalments dry up we shall advise you as to the next steps should you wish to proceed to a claim through the Court.
Claiming Interest and Late Payment Charges
For a business-to-business debt, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act means that you may be able to recover statutory interest for late payment of debts, with the rate of interest set at 8% above the Bank of England Base Rate.
This legislation also allows us to apply to recover a sum to compensate you for the late payment. The charges are fixed as follows:
| Debt Amount | Sum |
| Up to £1,000.00 | £40.00 |
| From £1,001.00 to £10,000.00 | £70.00 |
| Over £10,000.00 | £100.00 |
Court Proceedings
If the debtor does not respond to the Letter before Action within the time limit, it may be necessary to start Court proceedings.
There are various things to consider at this stage, for example:
- Legal Fees are what we charge for doing the work
- Court Fees/Court Costs are what we have to pay the Court at various stages on your behalf
- Other Fees/Costs can be payable to Third Parties such as Enquiry Agents, Search Fees and Barristers (these are also known as “Disbursements”).
- It is assumed throughout that the Debtor and its assets are based in England & Wales. If based in Scotland or Ireland or abroad, other Legal Fees may apply to work in other jurisdictions.
Where is the debtor?
In order to commence Court proceedings, we need to know the debtor’s whereabouts. If you do not know, you may wish us to instruct a private investigator to seek out information on your debtor.
Does the debtor have sufficient funds to repay the debt?
If you do not know your debtor’s financial circumstances there are certain steps we can take to find out. We can check at the Land Registry to see if they own any property or we can instruct a tracing agent to locate them. In addition to our Legal Fees, the tracing agent will also charge a finder’s fee.
If you instruct us to begin Court proceedings without knowing the financial status of your debtor you should bear in mind that they may not be able to satisfy any judgement you get from the Court.
Claim Form
Once you have instructed us to issue Court proceedings, we shall draft a claim form on your behalf. We will send this to you for approval and signature and then onto the Court with the relevant Court fee. Court fees are payable by you in advance on all matters.
The Court will issue the claim and the claim form will be served on the debtor (who is now referred to as the Defendant), who will have 14 days in which to file an Acknowledgement of Service or a Defence. If the Defendant files an Acknowledgement of Service they will have a further 28 days from the service of the Claim Form in which to file a Defence.
If the Defendant files a Defence we shall advise you on how to proceed from this point onward. This may include instructing a Barrister, especially if the claim is complex. We will advise you should this become necessary. There will be additional fees payable to the Barrister.
If the Defendant fails to respond within the time limit, we can apply to the Court for a Judgement in Default. This means the Court will order a Judgement without the need for a trial.
The table below sets out the costs involved where your claim is in relation to an unpaid invoice which is not disputed and enforcement action is not needed.
| Value of your claim | Court Fee | **Our Fee (incl VAT) | ||||
| Court issued claim | *Filed via SDT/MCOL | |||||
| Up to | £300 | £35 | £25 | 15% of the value of the claim | ||
| Greater than | £300 | but no more than | £500 | £50 | £35 | |
| Greater than | £500 | but no more than | £1,000 | £70 | £60 | |
| Greater than | £1,000 | but no more than | £1,500 | £80 | £70 | |
| Greater than | £1,500 | but no more than | £3,000 | £115 | £105 | |
| Greater than | £3,000 | but no more than | £5,000 | £205 | £185 | |
| Greater than | £5,000 | but no more than | £10,000 | £455 | £410 | 20% of the value of the claim |
| Greater than | £10,000 | but no more than | £15,000 | 5% of the value of the claim | 4.5% of the value of the claim | 15% of the value of the claim |
| Greater than | £15,000 | but no more than | £50,000 | |||
| Greater than | £50,000 | but no more than | £100,000 | 10% of the value of the claim | ||
| Greater than | £100,000 | but no more than | £150,000 | N/a | ||
| Greater than | £150,000 | but no more than | £200,000 | N/a | ||
| Greater than | £200,000 | £10,000 | N/a | |||
* Maximum amount for Secure Data Transfer (SDT) or Money Claims Online (MCOL) £99,999.99. Where possible we shall use the MCOL service as the Court fees are lower.
** We will charge these Legal Fees whether or not the debt is recovered but credit will be given for all costs actually recovered from the debtor, up to this amount.
Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:
- The VAT element of our Legal Fees cannot be reclaimed from your debtor.
- Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.
- The Legal Fees quoted above are not for matters where enforcement action, such as the bailiff, is needed to collect your debt.
- The Legal Fees do not include work done on hearings of any kind.
Our fee for issuing Court proceedings includes:
- Undertaking appropriate searches (N.B. tracing agents, search fees and the like will be charged for in addition)
- Drafting and issuing the claim
- Where no Acknowledgement of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgement in default
- When Judgement in default in received, writing to the debtor or their legal representative to request payment
- If payment is not received within 28 days, providing you with advice on the next steps and likely costs
Matters usually take from 6 – 12 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the debtor, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the debtor pays promptly on receipt of Judgement in default.
Enforcement
Once Judgement has been granted by the Court, it will be registered. This is a County Court Judgment (CCJ) and will have an effect upon the Defendant’s credit record if the Defendant fails to pay what is owed within 28 days.
If the Defendant still refuses to pay, you may need to instruct us to take further steps to enforce the Judgment. There are various methods of enforcement and these are detailed in the table below. We can advise you as to which action is likely to be successful in each individual case, but if the debtor is insolvent, there may be nothing to show for all the work and expense.
If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve and there will be additional Legal Fees and court fees to pay as set out in the table below.
| Options | Court fee | Our Fee |
| Enforcement through a High Court Enforcement officer | £66.00. | £50.00 plus VAT |
| Enforcement through County Court Bailiff | £77.00 | £70.00 plus VAT |
| Service of a Statutory Demand | £100.00 (Process Server Fee) | £250.00 plus VAT |
| Attachment of Earnings | £110.00 and a potential advocacy charge TBA | £150.00 plus VAT per Payer |
| Charging Order | £110.00 – plus potential other fees TBA | £500.00 plus VAT for not more than 2 property/assets charged |
| Bankruptcy Petition | We will provide a full estimate if you wish to take this step to include the court fees | Where possible we will deal with this on a fixed fee basis and provide you with an estimate |
| Winding up Petition | We will provide a full estimate if you wish to take this step to include the court fees | Where possible we will deal with this on a fixed fee basis and provide you with an estimate |
Disputed Claims
If the other party disputes your claim at any point, we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs, which could be on a fixed fee basis or an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed. Please see the table below for our hourly rates which are based upon the Law Society’s guidelines for National Band 2.
| Hourly Rate (plus VAT) | |
| Grade A: Solicitors qualified for 8 years or more | £250.00 |
| Grade B: Solicitors qualified for more than 4 years but less than 8 years | £195.00 |
| Grade C: Solicitors qualified for less than 4 years | £175.00 |
| Grade D: Trainee Solicitors/Paralegals and other staff of equivalent experience | £125.00 |
Defending Debt Recovery
We can also help you if you or your company are being chased for payment of a debt where you do not agree that you owe some or all of the money, or you do agree but are unable to pay the full amount at once and wish set up a payment plan.
We offer an initial 30-minute free consultation during which we will give you an estimate of our Legal Fees together with all other costs and disbursements (expenses payable to third parties, such as the Court fee).
You only have a certain amount of time to act if you are served with a Court Claim form or a Statutory Demand so please use our Contact Us page to get in touch with us.
Alternatively please call to make a free initial appointment with our Debt Recovery specialist Simon Browner. Simon is a Solicitor who qualified in 1987. Like all our Solicitors, he is a Grade A banding with many years experience in dealing with Debt Recovery and Civil Litigation matters.
Please note that the fees set out above may vary but we will always aim to provide you with the best possible information regarding our Legal Fees at the start of every matter and which will based upon the information you initially provide to us. We cannot foresee every eventuality therefore anything outside the scope of the services listed will be charged at our standard hourly rate (currently £250.00 plus VAT).