06 December 2017
Retainer we offer:
We will then send a Letter Before Action to the Debtor demanding payment of the outstanding debt within 14 days. The letter is sent free of charge. There is only a charge for this work on a staged fixed fee or hourly rate retainer.
The Letter Before Action will claim the full debt amount due to you together with applicable late payment interest, fixed compensation and reasonable recovery costs (‘the additional recoverable sum’).
No win, no fee:
If the payment is made within 14 days and the debt is settled, then our fees will either be:
… whichever is the higher of the two amounts*.
Example:
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
*Please note, if your business is based outside the UK then we will apply a deduction of 18% of the principle debt sum (inclusive of VAT) and ALSO charge the additional recoverable sum as our fees.
The cost of dealing with your case on an hourly rate basis will depend on a number of factors such as the complexity of the case, the attitude and responsiveness from the debtor and so on. Broadly speaking, pre-action work can range from anywhere between 5 and 10 hours for routine or less complex matters and for work which becomes litigated, anywhere from 10 hours above. Our hourly rates range from £140-£250 plus VAT depending on the value and complexity of the case.
Should the Debtor not respond then we will look to issue County Court Proceedings (subject to a pre-issue risk assessment) and will draft the Claim Form & Particulars of Claim.
If we are acting under a deduction-only retainer, we will endeavour to continue doing so. However, should the prospects of success change upon completion of our pre-issue risk assessment then the following fixed-fee amounts apply for this work depending on the size of the debt and what Court track it falls into.
Small Track Debts Fixed Fee (Up to £10,000.00)
Stage |
Up to £4999.00 |
From £5000.00 - £9999.00 |
Claim Form & Particulars |
£200.00 |
£300.00 |
Reply to Defence (If needed) |
£150.00 |
£150.00 |
Defence to Counter-claim |
£150.00 |
£150.00 |
DQ and Directions |
£75.00 |
£75.00 |
Witness Evidence (per statement) |
£150.00 |
£150.00 |
Disclosure |
£150.00 |
£150.00 |
Trial Bundle |
£300.00 |
£300.00 |
Deduction from overall amount of debt recovered |
10% |
10% |
Court Issue Fee
|
£25.00 - £205.00 |
£455.00 |
*please note the above amounts and % deductions exclude VAT
Fast-track claims £10,000 - £25,000
We will seek to recover our standard costs from the losing party upon successful conclusion of a case. Depending on the retainer entered into we may require a payment on account to start the matter and may raise interim bills throughout the life of the case. Any monies paid on account for legal costs will be offset from the paying party upon successful conclusion of a case.
Multi-track debts £25,000 +
We will seek to recover their standard costs from the losing party upon successful conclusion of a case. However, there will be an hourly rate charge for this work and interim bill(s) will be raised at certain points throughout the life of the case. Any monies paid on account for legal costs will be offset from the paying party upon successful conclusion of a case.
Disbursements
All disbursements are to be funded by the client and we will seek recovery of the same upon successful conclusion of the case. All disbursements paid for in advance and recovered will be paid back to you. These will be for court fees, Barristers’ fees etc.
Example Disbursements:
Tracing Agent Fee approx. £50-£60 + VAT
Process Server Fee approx. £100-£120 + VAT
Court Issue Fee Range from £25-£205 for claim values up to £4999; £455 for claim values between £5000-£9999; For all claims with a value of more than £10000 the issue fee is calculated at 5% of damages, up to a maximum of £10000.
Cost Budget Fee (for Multi Track matters) approx. £500-£1000 + VAT
Court Hearing Fee: £332-£1090
Barrister’s Fee approx. £500-£700 + VAT for Small Track Hearing; £1000-£1500 + VAT for Fast Track Hearing; £2000-£3000 + VAT per day for Multi Track Hearing”
Counterclaims
All counterclaims across fast and multi-track will be billed at an hourly rate. We will seek to request the Court to move all small track matters were counterclaims have been raised to the fast track due to complexity.
Set-aside Applications
All set aside applications carry a fee of £500.00 + VAT plus the £255.00 court fee and another related disbursement(s).
Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:
Our fees include:
It is not possible to give a definitive timescale on how quickly the debt recovery process may take, you know your debtor better than us! However, ordinarily, matters usually take 14 days to 6 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly and the debt is not disputed. Where the debt is disputed, or where the debtor simply fails to respond, then the process understandably takes longer and may require additional correspondence and telephone calls to be made before issuing County Court proceedings. If we issue County Court proceedings and we are able to obtain an early Judgment in default, i.e. due to a failure of the debtor to lodge a formal Defence, then we can take enforcement steps. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.
Example:
Letter Before Action 14 days
Reminder letter 7 days
Court Proceedings if no response or denial 7 days
Total time from instructions to issuing court proceedings 28 days
If the debtor does lodge a formal Defence and shows an intent to defend the claim to trial, then depending on the Court, the claim may take between 6-18 months from the date of issue.
We work is in a streamlined and pro-active manner via our case management system which has a diary-based task-list to ensure an effective and expedient way to recover monies owed to clients:
COURT PROCEEDINGS
The claim value will determine whether the case is handled in the small claims track (up to £10k), Fast Track (>£10k-25k) and Multi-track (>£25k)
A claim handled in the small track will usual reach trial around 6-8 months from the date of issuing Court proceedings; fast track will be around 12 months from issue and multi-track can be around 18-24 months.
For claims which we issue a Winding-Up Petition, we must follow stringent rules to ensure we comply with the process. The Court will then notify The Gazette of the petition which has the effect of alerting other creditors as to the debtor’s position.
FUNDING OPTIONS
As above, we can either act by way of fee payment or by no-win, no-fee.
Fee payment is by way of either hourly rate, capped or fixed-fee.
Hourly rate is self-explanatory, and the time taken will depend on a number of factors in your case. The work we do as lawyers is not merely a standardised or scripted tick-box exercise. A capped hourly rate fee tends to be where we will agree to do a certain amount of work for a capped amount of time, while fixed-fee will be a flat amount for a particular element of work.
No-win, no-fee, tends to be done by way of Damaged-Based Agreement (DBA). We are paid out of any damages recovered at the amount of 15% + VAT. We will also seek to recover any interest, costs and statutory compensation.
If we are unable to recover any damages, there are no costs to pay.
We only handle matters on a ‘no-win, no-fee’ basis for pre-action (before litigation) debt recovery. If we are required to issue court proceedings, we charge a fee which we will look to recover from the debtor. Further details can be found here about these charges
In some circumstances we can act under a Conditional Fee-Agreement (CFA). This is similar to a DBA, but with a CFA, whatever our costs are that we are able to recover, we will then deduct the same amount of costs from the client’s damages. So, for example, if damages are £100k and our costs are £10k, we will enter into a 100% CFA with the client. Therefore, we recover costs from the opponent in the sum of £10k AND costs from the client for the same amount (£10k).
Again, this is a no-win, no-fee arrangement.
For any claim of a proportionate value that we act for under a DBA or CFA, we recommend that you take out a premium of legal expenses insurance to protect your position regarding adverse costs that you may have to pay your opponent should you lose your case. This only tends to arise after Court proceedings have been issued and we would discuss this with you at the appropriate stage. We work with a large insurer which provides legal expenses insurance and can assist you should you wish to take out cover with them or seek your own insurance provider on the market.
To find how our friendly and knowledgeable solicitors can help you, contact us today.
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