Our Dispute Resolution Team includes a debt recovery unit which handles both large and small scale debts for a variety of clients across a wide range of industry and property sectors.

We appreciate that the more effective we are in obtaining full payment at an early stage, the more efficiently your business will run. Therefore we are focused in achieving a quick and effective solution for you as inexpensively as possible.

We can achieve results for you through litigation or non-court action. Often a Solicitors letter alone can prompt full payment without the need for further steps. However, should further steps prove necessary then we can agree a strategy with you - whether the emphasis is on negotiation or immediate court action.

Did you know… If you supply goods or services to other businesses who fail to pay on time you are entitled to recover statutory interest.

How We Can Help

Letter Before Action

Upon your instructions we will write to the debtor informing them that if payment is not made or if your assets are not returned within a specified time limit then Court proceedings will be issued. At this stage we will explain the various options available to you if the debtor fails to pay in full.

Court Action

If the debt is not paid or the asset is not returned within the deadline, you may decide that it is necessary for Court proceedings to be issued. We will issue a claim form and serve it upon the debtor.

Enforcement

Once a Court judgment has been obtained against the debtor, there are a number of enforcement options which we can carry out on your behalf. These include:

• Charging order against the debtor’s property

This is a useful tool, in particular where the debtor has their property on the market. Once a caution has been registered against the property your judgment debt can be paid from the net sale proceeds. If the property is not already on the market, sometimes it is possible to obtain an order for the sale of the property so that you do not have to wait until the debtor decides to sell before you recover the debt.

• An attachment of earnings

Any debtor currently in PAYE employment can be subjected to this procedure, whereby an order is made for their employer to deduct instalment payments from the debtor’s wages and pay them direct to you.

• Instructing the Sheriff/Bailiff

A High Court Enforcement Officer will seize the debtor’s goods, which can be sold at auction to pay off the debt.

• Summoning the debtor to court

Where you do not have very much information about the means of the debtor you can obtain an order for information whereby the debtor is ordered to attend a Court hearing to give full details of their finances.

Insolvency

In some circumstances the appropriate course of action will be an application for bankruptcy against an individual debtor or a winding up order against a company.

Cost

For bulk debt recovery actions we can operate a fixed fee service.

For further information read our service information sheet (pdf), contact our team or your usual contact in the firm.