CHASING DEBT OWED TO YOU OR YOUR BUSINESS

At Keoghs Nicholls Lindsell & Harris LLP we will utilise years of negotiation skills to find the right solutions for your legal problems. We take a professional and intelligent approach to assist in recovering any money owed to you. You can instruct us at any stage to help you in relation to the legal process and we will try to resolve your case positively saving you the time and stress. However, where court proceedings are required, we’ll fight hard to protect your interests and secure a positive result.

Debt recovery in commercial matters

Commercial debts are of different types, including unpaid invoices, loans etc.

If you are owed money by a company who is unable to repay the debt, we can assist and apply to the court to ‘wind up’ the company i.e.place the company into compulsory liquidation. This is where the company’s assets can then be sold to help repay the debt.

Unpaid invoices, also known as accounts receivable, are amounts a business owes its customers or clients for goods or services provided.

Loans and credit lines are debts obtained by a business from financial institutions or lenders. 

PERSONAL DEBT RECOVERY FOR INDIVIDUALS

Our specialist debt recovery solicitors can help resolve a dispute and recover monies for you by:

• Pre-action negotiations, by sending a ‘letter of claim’ also known as ‘a letter before action which informs the debtor that court proceedings will be commenced if the debt is not paid (usually 14 days for business debtors and 30 days for individual debtors, and it often prompts swift payment). 
• We can draft a letter before action covering:
  • The amount of the debt owed.
  • The reason 
  • Any relevant contracts and agreements, and applicable laws
  • That further legal action will be taken. 
  • The date by which the debt must be repaid. 

Negotiation and Mediation

Negotiating with the debtor over how to deal with their debt is an important process. This approach can be highly cost-effective, while allowing our clients to retain control of any agreement reached.

• Should a debtor refuse to pay the amount owed, or fail to respond to you, it may be necessary to take the matter to court.

County court and high court claims 

• A claim being dealt with under a small claim is where the value being claimed is £10,000.00 or less. A claim being dealt with under a fast track is where the claim is between £10,000 and £25,000 and multitrack claims are matters £25,000 or more.

• We can draft the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim and the following will be sought Interest at 8% per annum, the court fee, and legal costs.

• For claims under threshold, costs are usually paid by both parties themselves.
  
• The debtor must respond to the debt claim within 14 days from the date the court deems the Claim Form to have been served, unless they file an acknowledgement of service, allowing the debtor an additional 14 days to respond. The debtor at this stage of the process can: – admit the debt and pay in full or offer to pay by instalments or defend the claim. 
• Once a judgment is obtained against the debtor, payment will be ordered normally within 14 days.
• Enforcement: Once a judgment is obtained and if the debtor fails to make payment of the ordered amount. The bailiff will attend at the debtor’s property in an attempt to recover goods which can be sold at auction to satisfy the judgment debt. 
• The court fee is payable regardless of whether any money is recovered.

• Attachment of earning: This is a court order that a debtor’s employer must pay some of the debtor’s earnings into court. 
• Charging order: you may consider securing your debt against the property or asset owned by the debtor.
• Third Party Debt Orders: If you have the debtor’s bank details, you can seek an order to recover money directly from the bank account if your matter is successful in court.
• Statutory Demand: You may consider serving a statutory demand if the debt is several thousand pounds.

Court fees

When issuing proceedings, a court fee is payable in addition to our fees. The court fee is dependent on the amount you are seeking to recover. *There is no VAT payable on Court fees

Our fees

Barristers and Experts

Barristers’ fees, experts’ fees, process server fees and bailiff fees are all dependent on the nature of work required.  

We will obtain estimates and seek your approval of their fees before we formally instruct on your behalf.

LEGAL COSTS

We’re happy to discuss with you the likely cost of getting our help and advice and dealing with any standard correspondence with the debtor which can often be completed for a fixed fee.

For a free, no-obligation discussion of how we may be able to help, please get in touch.

We can be contacted via the telephone on 0161 928 9321 or via email on s.bibi@keoghssolicitors.co.uk