Our Debt Recovery Solicitors Promise

Debt recovery is the process of pursuing payments of unpaid debts owed by an individual or a business.

In England and Wales, the debt recovery procedure is usually conducted through the courts. Depending on the size of the debt, your debt recovery case will be issued a ‘track’ by a judge. There are three types of track:

1. Small track – for claims below £10,000
2. Fast track – for claims between £10,001 to £25,000
3. Multi-track – for claims from £25,001 and above

If debt claims are particularly complex, they can be assigned a different track than expected. For example, a particularly complex claim below £10,000 can be assigned to the fast track if the judge thinks it necessary.

The debt recovery process is broken up into four stages:

1. Pre-action. The claimant sends a pre-action letter or letter before action. Letters before action require the debtor to pay within 14 days if they are a business, or 30 days if they are an individual.

2. Issuing the claim. If the individual hasn’t paid the debt within the time outlined in the pre-action letter, you will need to issue the claim formally. Depending on how much your claim is for, you will need to issue it in the county court or high court. 

3. Acknowledgement. Once the court has processed your claim and served it on the debtor, the debtor will have 14 days to file an acknowledgement with the court. Once acknowledged the debtor has 28 days from the date the claim form was served on them by the court (not from the date it was acknowledged) to send a defence.

4. Enforcement. If the debtor still hasn’t paid, you will have to bring enforcement proceedings. There are numerous proceedings which you can use to enforce proceedings. Some examples of enforcement proceedings include a writ of control, warrant of execution and bankruptcy proceedings. A debt recovery will identify which set of proceedings you’ll need to bring to recover your unpaid debt.

If a debt is paid after acknowledgement, you won’t need to enforce the judgement.

We are currently unable to offer legal aid in any capacity as we lack the necessary legal aid certificate. We also don’t offer pro bono property law work at present.

The debt recovery fees below are split into court fees and our professional fees. We don’t offer fixed fees on debt recovery matters and the actual fee incurred for your matter may differ significantly from the fees below if your case is not straightforward.

In many cases, it may not be worth paying professional fees to recover smaller sized debts. Our debt recovery solicitors will always advise you on the risks of doing so at any consultation.

Issuing the claim:

*Please note court fees are pro-rated based upon the value of your claim. Claims below £5,000 will incur fees between £35 and £205.

The fees quoted exclude enforcement and are exclusive of bailiff fees or equivalent services.

Enforcement:

*Should a hearing be required, additional fees will be payable.

Depending on who is working on your case, our hourly rates are as follows:

Senior solicitors                    £400 plus VAT per hour
Solicitors                                £275 plus VAT per hour
Trainees and paralegals      £175 plus VAT per hour
Administration                      £150 plus VAT per hour

Charges are made in increments of 1/10 of an hour, or for every 6 minutes spent on your matter, rounded up.

There are several disbursements payable during debt recovery, which range from £25 to £10,000 depending on the size of your claim.

Please see the ‘Average Costs’ section above for a full outline of all applicable court fees.

The length of time a case takes will depend on the complexity of your matter. For straightforward cases that settle after a letter before action, it may only take 1-2 weeks.

However, for cases that proceed to the County or High Court, the time frame for your case could be anything from 6 months to 2 years from start to end.