Expertise
Owing to our established high-street practice in Wembley, we have represented our clients in a broad range of matters. This includes county courts and even High Court matters. We are happy to represent our clients (be they businesses or individuals) in a wide variety of litigious matters.
We frequently handle the below matters. We remain open, however, to discuss any service not listed below so long as we feel it is within our expertise.
Debt Recovery
You may require our professional support for unpaid invoices which are either undisputed, disputed or requires enforcement action.
In our experience some of the common matters for which you may require our help include:
- Statutory demands for unpaid invoices/fees
- Enforcement of County Court and High Court judgments
- Recovery of rent arrrears/service charges already awarded
- Tracing debtors and securing assets
- Pursuing and advising on any other claim you wish to make against a debtor or suspected debtor
Debt Recovery – Main Stages
- Pre- Action: Taking initial instructions, reviewing key documents, undertaking relevant searches, drafting and sending a formal Letter of Claim to the debtor, accounting to you if payment is recieved at this stage
- Issuing/Responding to a Claim: drafting and issuing a claim form in the appropriate court or, if defending a claim, we will be drafting a reply to claim and/or counterclaim
- Judgment: applying for default judgment (if acting for the claimant), challenging default judgment (if acting for the defendant) or accounting you if payment is recieved
- Enforcement Evaluation: advising you on the enforcement actions available to you if payment is still not made at this stage
Pricing
Court Fees: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fees-in-the-civil-and-family-courts-full-list-ex50a
Fee Structures:
All costs given on our website are only indicative of a typical case. We will assess each case based on its own complexities, merits and foreseeable costs.
Our most common fee structure in this department is ‘hourly rate’ and is charged at our solicitor’s rate of £300 + VAT in line with HMCTS guidance for solicitors’ with more than 8 years’ experience.
Alternative fee structures can only be explored with consideration of your specific case. Rest assured, you will be advised on whether are alternative methods available to you when you seek to instruct us at a consultation with the solicitor.
For information purposes this can either be a:
- Conditional-Fee Agreement – commonly known as ‘no win, no fee’ in which you pay us a success fee at the end of the case
- Damages-Based Agreement – in which you pay an agreed percentage of the damages you are awarded by a civil court once that award has been made
Price Transparency
Debts valued up to £10,000
- Stage 1: £2,000 + VAT
- Stage 2: £1,500 + VAT
- Stage 3: £500 + VAT
- Stage 4: £500 + VAT
Debts valued £10,001 – £50,000
- Stage 1: £2,500 + VAT
- Stage 2: £1,500 + VAT
- Stage 3: £1,000 + VAT
- Stage 4: £1,500 + VAT
Debts valued £50,001 – £100,000
- Stage 1: £2,500 + VAT
- Stage 2: £2,000 + VAT
- Stage 3: £1,500 + VAT
- Stage 4: £2,500 + VAT
Likely Disbursements
| Likely Disbursements | Approximate cost (VAT to be paid at a rate of 20%) |
| Barrister’s fees | Preliminary/case management hearing: £850 – £1,200 + VAT Substantive 1-3 day hearing: £1,550 – £6,250 + VAT |
| Barrister’s Advice on or Drafting of Pleadings | £600 – £1,000 + VAT (depending on seniority of counsel chosen) |
| Medical expert report (if required) | £1,000 + VAT (depending on specialism of expert) |
| Court Fees | Can vary – refer to the following link for the most accurate figure |
Landlord & Tenant Disputes
We are happy to represent private and commercial landlords as well as tenants/leaseholders.
- Commercial Landlord disputes
- Possession and eviction proceedings (including Section 8 and Section 21 notices)
- Recovery of rent arrears from tenants
- Breach of tenancy agreement
Professional Negligence
You may have recieved a service from a professional and be so unhappy with the service that you would like to sue for negligence. We may be able to assist you in a claim against the following professionals and are happy to discuss claims against any others:
- Solicitors
- Barristers
- Accountants
- Architects
- Medical experts
Contractual Disputes
- Breach of business contracts
- Sale of goods and services disputes
Other Civil Claims
- Misuse of Private Information
- Fraud & Misrepresentation
- Trademark / IP-related disputes
- Harassment
Complicating Factors
While we do our best to avoid your matter becoming too complicated, at times this is unavoidable.
The following factors can result in a more complicated case than first anticipated and it is important that you are aware of them:
- Existence of preliminary issues (eg whether the claim is presented within time)
- Amending your claim or defence
- Providing further and better particulars (eg if you approach us after issuing the claim yourself)
- The number of parties in the case
- Making and Defending interim applications
- The level of disclosure involved in the case i.e. documents served by each party
- Number of witnesses being proposed by each party
- Special requirements
- Group litigation (which we do not take instructions in)
Timescales
You may be wondering how long your matter will take from first instructing us until the conclusion of the case.
This short answer is that the timescale of your case will depend on the stage at which the conclusion takes place.
If the case settles prior to issuing court proceedings and during the ‘out-of-court settlement’ phase then it is likely to resolve within 6-12 weeks.
However, if the court claim is issued but settles at judicial mediation then the case may take up to 6-9 months.
In the event that the case proceeds to a final hearing, it is likely that your case may take up to 1 year (or longer depending on when the county court or High Court can accommodate a hearing date for your case).
Of course, the timescale is not rigid and will depend on many factors including the complexity of the case, the nature of claim, the response from the debtor/defendant/claimant, the number of witnesses involved and potentially other factors.