Debt recovery for businesses

(up to £100,000)

This information is intended to inform businesses about our fees for debt recovery.

Full details of the specific qualifications of each of our fee earners can be found on the team page.

The key members of the immigration team working with private individuals are:

Saudul Haq – £250 per hour (Senior Solicitor with 10 years+ experience)

Lorenzo Alfano – £250 per hour (Solicitor with 10 years+ experience)

Adrian Sandulescu – £200 per hour (Solicitor with 2 years experience)

Sadiq Uddin – £150 per hour (Paralegal with 2 years experience)

As each matter will involve work by a Senior Solicitor or Solicitor and a Paralegal/Trainee Solicitor, the estimate of hours is based on an average hourly rate of £250 to reflect the involvement of lawyers at different levels.

Your matter will always be supervised by Mr Saudul Haq. Work will be completed by lawyers of varying experience. The estimated fee quotes are premised on the work being completed by lawyers across a range of levels, with time estimates using an average hourly rate to reflect the involvement of different lawyers. The time spent by lawyers at different levels will vary depending on a number of factors including the complexity and nature of the matter. The quotes assume that each stage of the work is conducted by an appropriate level of lawyer, if client preference dictates work be completed at a higher level, this will of course impact fee estimates.

In accordance with the price transparency rules, we have presented our prices in a clear and easy to understand format.

We charge a fixed agreed fee for the majority of debt recovery related matters. Our debt recovery team regularly work with clients to recover debts they are owed. Our fees for such matters vary depending on the complexities of the case as well as the volume of work we receive from a client.

Pricing for one-off matters can be found below.

The majority of commercial debt recovery cases are undisputed. In these cases, we can offer a competitive fee structure based on fixed fees which provides you with clarity and certainty as to the level of costs you are likely to incur. If for any reason additional work is required you would be provided with a detailed estimate based on your specific case.

Undisputed Court Claims

Pre-issue

Pre-issue

In all cases we offer a pre-action review of your paperwork, advising you how we think you ought to proceed and sending a letter of claim to your debtor – a fixed fee of £500 (plus VAT at 20%).

If the matter is complex, our service fee will range from £500 up to £1,000 plus VAT at 20%.

Details of the key stages are as follows (including likely timescales):

Taking instructions from you and reviewing any relevant documentation: 30 minutes
Undertaking solvency searches in respect of your debtor to establish whether they are subject to any formal insolvency processes: 30 minutes
Preparing and sending a letter of claim to your debtor: 1 hour

Our fixed fee does not include:

Settlement negotiations
Dealing with any disputes or correspondence received in response from your debtor; and
Issuing court proceedings, obtaining Judgment or undertaking enforcement action.

Issue of proceedings

Issue of proceedings

To issue a claim in the county court, we will charge you a fixed fee as set out below. In addition, you will have to pay the applicable court fee. The amount of the court fee is set by the government and is subject to change from time to time. The fees as set out below, are correct as of August 2020.

As you can see, the total amount you will have to pay is dependent upon the size of the debt you want to collect. These fees and costs are in addition to our pre-issue costs described above.

Details of the key stages are as follows (likely timescales are included in the table below):

Taking instructions and providing advice.
Carrying out up-to-date solvency and asset searches.
Drafting the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim.
Presenting the claim at court for issue and service.
Receiving payment and sending on to you.

Amount of debt	Our fee (VAT is applicable at 20%)	Court fee (not liable to VAT)	Total (excl. VAT at 20%)	Likely timescales for key stages 1-5 as set out above
£5,000.01 to £10,000	£250	£455	£655	1: 15 minutes 2: 5 minutes 3: 25 minutes 4: 10 minutes 5: 5 minutes
£10,000.01 to £15,000	£500	5% of the value of the claim	Variable dependent upon value of the claim	1: 40 minutes 2: 5 minutes 3: 1 hour 4: 10 minutes 5: 5 minutes
£15,000.01 to £200,000	£750	5% of the value of the claim	Variable dependent upon value of the claim	1: 40 minutes 2: 5 minutes 3: 2 hours 4: 10 minutes 5: 5 minutes
Over £200,000	£1,000	£10,000	£11,000	1: 1 hour 2: 5 minutes 3: 2 hours 40 mins 4: 10 minutes 5: 5 minutes

Our fixed fee does not include:

Attending to service of the Claim where it is not possible for the court to do so, for example, if the debtor is residing outside of England and Wales;
Dealing with any Acknowledgement of Service or Defence that is filed by the debtor;
Settlement negotiations; and
Dealing with any disputes and/or additional correspondence received from the debtor.

Should you wish to proceed with a claim please note the following key information:

The applicable VAT element is not recoverable through court proceedings;
In addition to your debt, you might be able to add interest and compensation to the amount claimed from the debtor. Any interest and compensation you charge may take the debt into a higher banding and may attract higher costs; and
The above costs only relate to the cost of commencing court proceedings, further costs may be required to enter Judgment and commence enforcement action, for example, to instruct a bailiff or obtain a charging order.

Entering Judgment

Entering Judgment

Once you have issued a claim, if the debtor does not respond we can ask the Court to enter judgment without the need for a hearing to take place.

Details of the key stages are as follows (likely timescales are included in the table below):

Completing the judgment request form
Liaising with you as to payment made since the Claim was issued
Submitting the judgment request to court and monitoring receipt
Providing you with a copy of the judgment upon receipt and advising you and seeking your instructions as to whether (and how) you wish to enforce the judgment
Receiving payment and sending onto you

In these circumstances, judgment can usually be obtained within 3-6 weeks of the proceedings being issued (though the timing is dependent on the Court). We will charge you a fixed fee for entering judgment. The amount we will charge you depends on the size of the debt. Details of the fees we charge you are set out below. These fees are in addition to the costs described above for sending the debtor a letter before action and for issuing proceedings at Court.

Amount of debt

Our fee (VAT is applicable at 20%)

Total (excl. applicable VAT at 20%)

Likely timescales for key stages 1-5 as set out above

Over £5,000

£250

1: 40 minutes

2: 5 minutes

3: 5 minutes

4: 5 minutes

5: 5 minutes

Our fees do not include:

Settlement negotiations;
Dealing with any application made by the debtor to set aside Judgment; and
Dealing with disputes and/or any additional correspondence received from the

Should you wish to proceed with Judgment please note the following key information:

The VAT element of our fee is not recoverable through court proceedings; and
The above costs only relate to obtaining Judgment from the Court, further costs may be required to commence enforcement action, for example, to instruct a bailiff or obtain a charging order

Enforcement proceedings

Enforcement proceedings

Once we have obtained judgment against the debtor, you might want to take steps to enforce the judgment if the debtor still does not pay.

Details of the key stages are as follows (likely timescales included in the table below):

Making enquiries/searches in relation to what assets you debtor owns and what their income is.
Advising you as to viability of enforcement action and which method may result in the best prospect of recovery.
Completing the enforcement application request.
Liaising with HM Land Registry, if so required.
Liaising with the court as necessary.
Liaising with you as to payment made.
Submitting the enforcement application to court and monitoring receipt of the initial order.
Dealing with service of the court order, if so required.
Registration at HM Land Registry, if so required.
Providing you with a copy of the court order and providing regular updates.
Receiving payment and sending onto you.

The cost involved in doing that varies depending on the method of enforcement:

Method of enforcement	Our fee (VAT is applicable at 20%)	Court fees/ other disbursements (not liable to VAT unless specifically stated)	Total (excl. applicable VAT at 20%)	Likely timescales for stages 1-11 as set out above
Warrant of execution	£250	£110 court fee	£360	1: 5 minutes 2: 5 minutes 3: 20 minutes 4: 5 minutes 5: 5 minutes 4-8: 5 minutes 9: 5 minutes 10: 5 minutes 11: 5 minutes
Writ of execution	£250	£66 court fee (there may also be a termination fee of £75 plus VAT (£15.00) to pay should the case be withdrawn for any reason)	Up to £391.00	1: 5 minutes 2: 5 minutes 3: 20 minutes 4: 5 minutes 5: 5 minutes 4-8: 5 minutes 9: 5 minutes 10: 5 minutes 11: 5 minutes
Order to obtain information	£250	£55 court fee	£305	1: 5 minutes 2: 5 minutes 3: 20 minutes 4: 5 minutes 5: 5 minutes 4-8: 5 minutes 9: 5 minutes 10: 5 minutes 11: 5 minutes
Charging order	£500	£110 court fee. A Land registration fee of £43 will usually be incurred to obtain information about the property and to deal with registration formalities.	£653	1: 10 minutes 2: 10 minutes 3: 40 minutes 4: 10 minutes 5: 10 minutes 4-8: 10 minutes 9: 10 minutes 10: 10 minutes 11: 10 minutes
Attachment of earnings	£500	£110 court fee	£610	1: 10 minutes 2: 10 minutes 3: 40 minutes 4: 10 minutes 5: 10 minutes 4-8: 10 minutes 9: 10 minutes 10: 10 minutes 11: 10 minutes

Our fixed fees do not include:

Settlement negotiations;
Dealing with any applications made by the debtor to set aside Judgment and/or to stay enforcement; and
Dealing with disputes, any additional correspondence raised by the debtor and/or contested applications.

Should you wish to proceed with enforcement please note the following key information:

The VAT element of our fee is not recoverable through enforcement proceedings; and
Only part of the main element of our fees are recoverable from the debtor (that is, forms part of the court order that the debtor has to pay in addition to the debt). The recoverable element is listed The remainder of the costs cannot be recovered from you the debtor. However, as we have explained below, you will remain liable for all of our costs regardless of whether those costs are recoverable from the debtor.

How long will it take?

The Court process will vary in length depending upon the mode of enforcement you use. Typically, however, with a standard, non-disputed claim the duration of the process will be between 6-15 weeks.

Defended/Disputed cases

The costs set out above are what it will cost you to bring county court proceedings where the debtor does not dispute your claim.

If a matter is disputed at the outset (or it becomes disputed as the case progresses), we will not charge you all of the fixed fees set out above. The fixed fees will apply up to the point your claim becomes disputed and for the remainder of the work we will instead charge you an hourly rate. The hourly rate we charge you will depend on who is dealing with the case and their experience. The applicable hourly rates are set out below:

Saudul Haq – £250 per hour (Senior Solicitor with 10 years+ experience)

Lorenzo Alfano – £250 per hour (Solicitor with 10 years+ experience)

Adrian Sandulescu – £200 per hour (Solicitor with 2 years experience)

Sadiq Uddin – £150 per hour (Paralegal with 2 years experience)

As each defended case will vary according to the issues raised, upon a case being defended or disputed, a member of the team will provide you with a detailed estimate based on the hourly rate charges and the time that we anticipate it will take for your case to reach trial.

Information to note

VAT is charged at the standard rate which is currently 20%.

The costs set out above all assume that the debtor is based in England and Wales and that the claim you have is subject to English law.

Please note that our fixed fee service for undisputed claims only applies to straightforward debts such as outstanding invoices for goods that you have supplied.

If your case is not a straightforward debt claim, your case may require a more detailed set of proceedings to be prepared and will be charged at the applicable hourly rate set out above.

Fee £150-£250 per hour* plus VAT at 20%

*Fee earner rates

Saudul Haq – £250 per hour plus VAT at 20% (Senior Solicitor with 10 years+ experience)

Lorenzo Alfano – £250 per hour plus VAT at 20% (Solicitor with 10 years+ experience)

Adrian Sandulescu – £200 per hour plus VAT at 20% (Solicitor with 2 years experience)

Sadiq Uddin – £150 per hour plus VAT at 20% (Paralegal with 2 years experience)