One of the most difficult, stressful and time-consuming issues that anyone has to deal with is the recovery of monies owed. The consequences for both business and personal relationships can be far-reaching due to the wrangling and complexities involved when both parties disagree and one party refuses to honour a debt.
Whether the debt concerns a few pounds lent to a friend or a major invoice for goods or services supplied the mechanism for retrieving monies is roughly the same to begin with. There will have been a verbal or written contract drawn up, a deadline set for the payment of the debt and when payment doesn’t materialise written and verbal requests for payment will be made. Problems arise when you realise that the other party is not willing to pay up and you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall. This is the stage at which you can take legal steps to get your money back with the aid of a solicitor.
How can a Solicitor Help?
The success of any business rests with the ability to keep up a steady cash flow and a healthy balance sheet and to maintain this debt must be kept at a minimum. Unfortunately you may occasionally need to pursue a client for payment or terminate an agreement for breach of contract. This is where you need a solicitor who has a proven track record in the successful pursuit and recovery of monies owed. Debt recovery solicitors in Manchester can offer valuable advice on how to go about recovery of payments owed as well as how to resolve a breach of contract dispute. Using a proven multi-step procedure they can first look at whether a breach of contract exists, then at how to progress through enforcement, compliance and damages recovery steps.
What is Involved in Debt Recovery?
Generally speaking, there can be several stages involved in the recovery of debt and the first stage is to send a letter to the debtor. This will set out exactly what is owed to you with a set time by which payment should be made. In many cases the very sight of an official solicitor’s letter is enough to galvanise the debtor into action as the threat of court proceedings is often all that is needed to convince them to pay up. If this fails to convince the debtor to pay, the next stage is to issue legal proceedings against them and then commence enforcement action. In this process the debtor is sent a court form ordering the payment of the debt and informing them of additional interest and costs. Alternately, a solicitor could apply to start an insolvency action against the debtor which can result in bankruptcy of an individual or winding-up proceedings against a business. Further down the line a county court judgment (CCJ) could be issued and this gives the power to commence debt collection enforcement. This enforcement can start immediately and most often involves instructing a Bailiff or High Court Enforcement Officer to attend the debtor’s address – either personal or business – in order to collect monies owed or seize goods to cover the debt.
Whichever form of enforcement is required a solicitor experienced in debt recovery procedures will be able to advise on the best route to take.
The Benefits of Hiring a Debt Recovery Solicitor
Chasing up payments takes up unnecessary amounts of time and causes stress that you can do without. By using the expertise of a debt recovery solicitor you can spend your valuable time moving your business forward and getting on with your life rather than chasing up invoices and debts.
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