Debt Recovery

Commercial Debt Recovery

Our Commercial Debt Recovery team has extensive experience in acting on the recovery of debts, issuing court proceedings and enforcing judgments in business to business disputes.   

Such disputes are usually based on unpaid invoices. Other issues are dealt with by our Dispute Resolution team outside of our debt recovery system and the details of charges below will not apply to such claims.

Pre-Court Proceedings

Prior to court proceedings being issued, we will send a communication to the debtor requesting payment of your debt. The correspondence will need to include copies of outstanding invoices and any other relevant documents.

Under the pre-action debt protocol it is necessary to request payment, or a response from your debtor, within either 7 or 30 days (if an individual) before further action can be taken.

We will pursue your debtor by letter, email and telephone in order to claim the monies due to you. We will charge at 15% plus VAT of the sum recovered. If no monies are recovered, there is no charge *

* Please note that there is a fixed fee of £75 plus VAT for all debts below £1,000.

County Court Proceedings

Once you have decided to issue court proceedings we will prepare and file the required papers with the Court and they will then be served on your debtor.

Typically, it takes around 5 days for the Court to issue proceedings, and your debtor will have 14 days from the date of service to indicate whether it intends to defend the claim.  If the debtor fails to respond to the claim within 14 days, we will apply to the Court for judgment.

If your debtor files an Acknowledgement of Service Form indicating that it will defend the claim, the debtor will have a further 14 days to file a Defence.

The Cost of Issuing Court Proceedings

Charges for court proceedings involve the court fee (paid to the Court to issue a claim), and our fee for acting on your behalf: 

Court fees for debts up to £10,000 are fixed on a sliding scale dependent on the size of your debt. 

Claim amountCourt issued fee
Up to £300£35
£301 to £500£50
£501 to £1,000£70
£1,001 to £1,500£80
£1,501 to £3,000£115
£3,000 to £,5000£205
£5,001 to £10,000£455

Debts exceeding £10,000 incur a Court fee of 5% of the value of the overall claim, up to £200,000.

Debts exceeding £200,000 attract a Court fee of £10,000.

Berry Smith Fees

Claim amountBerry Smith Fees
Up to £,3000£550 plus VAT
£3,001 to £6,000£750 plus VAT
£6,001 to £10,000£850 plus VAT
Over £10,000£950 plus VAT

These costs apply where your claim is in relation to an unpaid invoice which is not disputed. If the other party disputes your claim at any point, we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs.  

All of the above fees would be included in your claim together with interest and compensation under the Late Payment legislation (where applicable), and in successful cases are likely to be recoverable from your debtor.

Clients wishing to proceed with county court proceedings should note that:

The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor. Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher Court fee. The costs quoted above reach the point of obtaining judgment in default against your debtor and do not include costs of enforcement which are outlined below..

Cost of Enforcement Action

There are a variety of enforcement steps that can be taken and we will consult with you on the suitability of various options once judgment has been obtained:

County Court Bailiffs (for Judgment debts below £600)

Court fee: £100

Berry Smith LLP: £250 plus VAT.

High Court Enforcement Officers (for Judgment debts above £600) 

Court fee: £78 

Berry Smith LLP: £250 plus VAT

HCEO Abortive fee: £75 plus VAT (if no recovery)

Application for Attachment of Earnings Order

Court fee: £100.00

Berry Smith LLP: £350.00 plus VAT

Application for a Third Party Debt Order 

Court fee of £100.00

Berry Smith LLP: £350 plus VAT

Application for a Charging Order over your debtor’s property 

Berry Smith LLP: £850 plus VAT

Disbursements including Court fees, Land Registry fees and advocate (if required).

Insolvency

Our costs for preparing and serving a Statutory Demand are available on request.

Our costs for Winding Up proceedings / Bankruptcy proceedings are available on request.

Defended Cases

If your claim is defended, it will be allocated to a Track of the County Court which will depend on the value and complexity of the case.

At that point, your case will be referred to our Dispute Resolution team at which point a fee estimate will be provided to you for the remainder of the case.

Department: Dispute Resolution

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If you would like a no obligation discussion, please feel free to contact us either by phone on 02920 345511 or emailing us below.

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