Debt Recovery Pricing
These costs apply in relation to a business to business debt where your claim is in relation to an unpaid invoice which is not disputed, a claim is issued and enforcement action is not needed. If the other party disputes your claim at any point, or if we agree to adopt a procedure such as insolvency proceedings then we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs if necessary, which could be on a fixed fee (e.g. if a one off letter is required), or an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed. Our hourly headline rates range from £115 to £275 per hour (plus VAT charged at 20%), depending on whom will be dealing with your matter.
| Debt value | Our range of fees (plus VAT charged at 20%) | Court fee (not subject to VAT) |
| Up to £5,000 | £50.00 – £225.00 (plus VAT charged at 20%) | £35.00-£205.00 |
| £5,001 – £10,000 | £225.00 – £450.00 (plus VAT charged at 20%) | £455 |
| £10,000+ | £450.00 – £750.00 (plus VAT charged at 20%) | 5% value of the claim |
Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:
- The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor. VAT is charged at 20%.
- Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.
- The costs quoted above are not for matters where enforcement action, such as the bailiff, is needed to collect your debt.
Disbursements
You will be informed of any disbursements that will be payable by you in order to deal with your matter, as well as whether they attract VAT (charged at 20%), prior to the cost being incurred. Disbursements are expenses related to your matter that are payable to third parties; the most common of which are court fees, and which are set out above.
The following are other disbursements which we might have to incur on your behalf:
| Disbursement | Range of Fees | Is VAT Payable? |
|
Barrister’s fees To draft the claim in appropriate circumstances. The Barrister’s fee will depend on their level of experience. |
£750.00 – £2500.00 | Plus VAT charged at 20% |
|
Enquiry Agent’s Fees To trace a debtor and/or conduct a report into a debtor’s assets. The range of fees is based upon the amount of time undertaken by the enquiry agent. |
£100.00 – £500.00 | Plus VAT charged at 20% |
| Land Registry Fees (office copies of any relevant title at the Land Registry) | £3.00 – £20.00 | Yes |
Our fee includes:
- Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
- Undertaking appropriate searches
- Sending a pre-action letter of claim
- Receiving payment and sending onto you, or if the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing claim
- Where no Acknowledgment of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgment in default
- When Judgment in default is received, write to the other side to request payment
- If payment is not received within the time stipulated, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs
Matters usually take 3-15 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly on receipt of Judgment in default. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.
Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA)
Depending on the circumstances of your case, we are also able to act on a conditional fee agreement in certain debt matters. A conditional fee agreement is sometimes referred to as a “no win, no fee” agreement.
Under a CFA legal costs are not immediately payable but are instead paid at an increased rate (“a success fee”) dependent upon the successful outcome of the case.
We will assess your debt claim at the outset and if it satisfies our review for this purpose we may act for you upon a CFA. This initial assessment is at no cost to you and should take a period of 2-3 weeks, depending upon the information you provide to us. If we take your case on under a CFA we will provide you with a CFA agreement which will contain comprehensive details of the CFA arrangement. If we are not successful in recovering your debt for you, we will not charge you in respect of our fees, but you will still be liable to pay our disbursements (for example Court fees or barrister’s fees). If you lose, you may be liable to pay some or all of your opponent’s costs.
If we offer you a conditional fee based debt recovery service and if your claim is successful you will be liable to pay our legal costs, calculated on an hourly rate of the individual dealing with your case (i.e. between £110 to £275 per hour (plus VAT charged at 20%)) plus the success fee (to reward our firm for the risk we take when we make our fees conditional upon the success of your claim). You will usually be able to recover part or all of our costs and disbursements from your opponent but you cannot recover our success fee, this must be paid by you.
The success fee will never be more than 100% of our costs (i.e. you might pay twice the amount of our fees if you are successful) and cannot be equal to more than 25% of the debt sum recovered (as specified by law) that you are awarded.
Team Experience
Our team has over 50 years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to debt recovery. They have particular expertise in asset finance debt recovery and dedicate 75% – 100% of their time to cases in this area.
We have four core members of the team who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Ian Robertson, Partner and Head of Litigation and Debt Recovery.
Our solicitors have experience in all aspects of law relating to debt recovery and we dedicate ourselves to ensuring our knowledge stays up to date, in order to give you the best service possible. We always make sure that junior solicitors and members of staff are supported and supervised appropriately so that the quality of advice is not affected, regardless of who is working on your case.
We also have a team of 4/5 paralegals, trainee solicitors and trainee legal executives who assist with the day to day work on cases. They are working towards legal qualification and have collectively 5 years experience, have received appropriate training within our firm and work under the direct supervision of a solicitor with at least 5 years post qualification experience.