When a payment is late this can cause significant disruption to your business. We can offer a dedicated service to assist you in recovering sums due to you. We may charge more than other service providers who offer bulk debt recovery services, but we can offer you a more personalised service and, importantly, we still charge less than other large (or even smaller) firms in the local area.

We would like to support you in the credit control operation in your business and work closely with you. By sending one of our Letter of Claim to your debtor you are formalising the approach and we will support you with sound commercial advice throughout. We work on a fixed fee structure where possible for standard undefended cases. On all other matters we charge on a time spent basis.

What we need from you to start the process:

1. Debtors details including trading style e.g Sole Trader, Partnership, Limited
2. Company etc. Proof of the contractual arrangement which caused the debt to occur;
3. Proof of the debt, any invoices raised, the date payment was due and any part payments that have been made payment terms; and
4. Any correspondence already with the debtor.

If we need to trace the debtor or their assets this will need to be considered separately.

Unpaid invoice

If you have not agreed a payment date as part of the payment terms, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 states the payment is late 30 days after either:

• the customer gets the invoice
• you deliver the goods or provide the service (if this is later).

Stage one: Letter of Claim

The following table provides you with our costs of the initial debt recovery Letter of Claim, the charge of which is not recoverable from the debtor:

Level of Debt	RLL Legal fee (£) Plus VAT
Less than £1,000	£150*
£1,000 to less than £10,000	£300*
£10,000 and over	£500*

*We will also charge 50% of any interest and compensation recovered under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act, where relevant) plus VAT.

Disbursements:

Disbursements are payments to third parties which we make on your behalf and for which you will be liable. The only disbursement at this stage may include trace agent fees – this is required if the debtor needs to be traced and fees generally range from £35 to £200 plus VAT, subject to the information we have and the location of the debtor.

Other Pre-action correspondence will be considered separately at our standard hourly rates.

Stage two: County Court Proceedings for Undisputed Claims

Where the Letter of Claim goes without response or we receive an admission from the debtor, we would then look to issue Court proceedings on your behalf unless payment has been forth coming. The costs of us preparing the claim form and particulars of clam together with filing these at Court and serving these is as follows, please note these are in addition to stage one if we were instructed at the stage:

Debt	Court Fee (£) no vat (Generally Recoverable)	RLL Legal fee (£) Plus VAT	Recoverable fixed costs (£)
Up to £300	£35.00	£300	£50
£300.01 – £500	£50.00	£400	£50
£500.01 – £1,000	£70.00	£550	£70
£1,000.01 – £1,500	£80.00	£600	£80
£1,500.01 – £3,000	£115.00	£750	£80
£3,000.01 – £5,000	£205.00	£800	£100
£5,000.01 – £10,000	£455.00	£1500	£100
£10,000.01 – £200,000	5% of claim	Hourly rates at £300 p.h.	£100
Greater than £200,000	£10,000.00	Hourly rates at £350 p.h.	£100

Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding with a higher cost.

Once the Court has served the claim, a debtor has 14 days in which to file a defence or enter an acknowledgement. After the 14-day period has expired (assuming an Acknowledgment and Defence was not filed) a request can be made to the Court for judgment to be entered.

If the debtor decides to defend a claim at this stage, we will advise you of the options available to you and the likely costs. At that stage, it will be taken out of the debt recovery pricing regime and fees will be charged on an hourly rate basis until such time as there is a Judgment to enforce.

Stage three: Request for Judgment

Assuming there is not a hearing and the matter remains undisputed, the following costs with apply to making a request for judgment.

Judgment Position	RLL Legal Fee (£) plus VAT	Recoverable fixed costs (£)
Default Judgment for a claim under £5,000	£150	£22
Default Judgment for a claim over £5,000	£300	£30
Requesting Judgment on admission of a claim under £5,000 and the Defendant’s offer of payment is accepted	£300	£40
Requesting Judgment on admission of a claim over £5,000 and the Defendant’s offer of payment is accepted	£400	£55
Requesting Judgment on admission of a claim under £5,000 and the Court decides on the amount of payment	£450	£55
Requesting Judgment on admission of a claim over £5,000 and the Court decides on the amount of payment	£600	£70

Please note that the charges above do not include attendances at Court, where this is necessary this is charged on an hourly basis and a disbursement will be incurred for an advocate to attend Court.

Stage four: Enforcement

If judgment is obtained but not paid then further action may be required to enforce payment. The costs involved in this will be considered separately as they will vary depending on the method of enforcement available in each case. We have set out various option below and we can advise you on the most appropriate route in your particular circumstances:

Enforcement	Disbursement (no VAT unless stated)	Our fixed fee (plus VAT)
Warrant of Control (for Judgment debts up to £600 in value)	£83	£150
Writ of Control (for Judgment debts over £600)	£71	£150
Order to Obtain Information	£59-£119 Court Fee £85-£150 plus VAT to serve Order	£600
Attachment of Earnings	£119	£600
Interim Charging Order to secure the debt (uncontested)	£119 Court fee £43 Land registry Fees	£2100
Statutory Demand	£85-150 plus VAT to serve Demand	£1500 (for debts under £100,000, if above that then we can provide a detailed assessment)
Proof of Debt	None	£300
Third Party Debt Order (uncontested)	£119	£600
Consent Orders	£119	£300
Order for Sale	Detailed assessment to be provided	Detailed assessment to be provided
Bankruptcy Petition	Detailed assessment to be provided	Detailed assessment to be provided
Winding Up Petition	Detailed assessment to be provided	Detailed assessment to be provided

Dispute claims

If the claim is disputed, then it will need to move onto our hourly rates charges as we will need to investigate the defence with you and potentially deal with defended pleadings. Our standard hourly rate is £300 plus VAT. We will provide you with our best estimate of the costs and chance of success to take the matter to Court and you will then be able to decide whether the potential success and return of the debt justifies the expense.

Please email Ruth Godfrey ruth.godfrey@rll-legal.com with the information referred to above to start the process.