Commercial

Cash flow is important to all business for clients who find themselves having to chase customers for payment on a regular basis we offer a bulk debt recovery service.

 Our charges for new instructions each month are as follows:

Letter before action

1-10 Letters before action £20.00 each plus VAT

11 – 20 Letters before action £18.00 each plus VAT

21 and over Letters before action £16.00 each plus VAT

If there is no response to these letters, we will discuss with you the costs versus benefits of issuing proceedings.

We generally allow 7-14 days from a letter before action before moving on to the next stage.

Issue of proceedings where no response is received to Letter before action

Issue of proceedings on claims up to £25,000.00 – £200.00 plus VAT and disbursements per case. The Court fee is a disbursement, the amount of which is dependent on the value of your claim.

For claims of £25,001.00 – £225 plus VAT and disbursements per case. The Court fee is a disbursement, the amount of which is dependent on the value of your claim.

Court fees start at £35 for a claim of up to £300, and go up to £10,000 for a claim of more than £200,000. VAT is not charged on court fees.

Your claim will also include a claim for interest which may be either, contractual or statutory.

This stage usually takes between 2 and 4 weeks after the time has elapsed for a response to the letter before action.

Entry of judgment where no Defence has been received to the Court proceedings

£30.00 plus VAT

This stage usually takes about a further 6 weeks after proceedings have been issued.

By way of example of possible total fees - where five letters before action are sent, and five cases are issued for claims of less than £300 each, with judgement being entered in each, the total payable is likely to be £1250 plus VAT of £250 for our fees, and £175 for court fees, with no VAT thereon.

Contested Debts

Where debts are contested after a letter before action is sent, or a defence is filed to Court proceedings, an hourly rate of £270.00 plus VAT will be chargeable for all work undertaken, which will include (where proceedings have been issued):

• completing allocation questionnaire – 30 mins (this stage usually takes between 1 and 2 months)

• preparation of standard disclosure of documents and exchanging these – 3 – 5 hours (this stage usually takes between 1 and 2 months)

• preparing and exchanging of witness statements – 2 -3 hours work per statement (this stage usually takes between 2 and 4 months)

• Preparation of bundles for hearing – 2-3 hours work (this stage usually takes about 4 weeks)

For a straightforward case the above stages are likely to cost between £2025 (plus VAT of £405) and £3105 (plus VAT of £620). This is in addition to: (1) the costs set out above for the letters before action and issuing of proceedings, and (2) the court fees payable.

We will usually instruct a barrister to represent you at the final hearing, and the barrister's charges are likely to be in the region of £1750 (plus VAT of £350) to £3000 (plus VAT of £600).

The time taken for a case to reach its final hearing will depend on various factors, including the resources of the court. Generally we would expect a debt recovery case to take between 6 and 12 months from the date of issue of proceedings to the date of the final hearing.

If the claim is contested then additional court fees will be payable. These will depend on the total value of the claim and will include fees for the hearing. Hearing fees range from £25 in a case where the claim is worth less than £300, to £1090 for a hearing in a multi-track claim.

There may be other disbursements payable when court cases are in progress, such as court fees for interim applications, and we will advise you about any further disbursements payable in advance as the case progresses.

VAT (where payable) is charged at a standard rate of 20%.