We normally charge fixed fees for dealing with a claim for the recovery of a debt, of up to £50,000.00, due under an unpaid invoice. This applies to standard cases which start in the County Court Business Centre. More complex or cases valued over £50,000.00 in value will require a specialised individual approach. In such cases we will discuss your needs and provide you with an estimate as to costs and other information specific to your needs.
Fixed fees are offered on the basis of a standard or reasonably foreseeable case. Our fees will include:
- Taking your instructions and reviewing your documents;
- Drafting an initial Letter before Action;
- If the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing the Court claim;
- Where an acknowledgment of service or defence is not received, applying to the Court to enter Judgment in Default;
- If Judgment in Default is received, writing to the other side to request payment;
- Providing you with advice on the next steps and likely costs if the matter has not settled by this stage
VAT and Debt Recovery
As a general rule VAT is payable in addition to the fees that we quote you. At the time of publishing this information, VAT is charged at 20%. The rate of VAT is set by HM Treasury and may change from time to time. To check the current rate of VAT please see Gov.UK Vat Rates
Letter of Claim
Debt matters normally start with sending a Letter of Claim. This will usually be a letter that complies with the Pre-Action Protocol requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules. This is a fairly technical document. We will draft and send on your behalf a compliant Letter of Claim. Our fee for this is normally:
Business to business debts = £100 plus VAT
Individual to business/individual debts = £250.00 plus VAT
The fee of £250.00 + VAT for individual debtors includes writing to your debtor as required under the Pre-Action Protocol which requires creditors to send detailed information and early disclosure of documents to individual debtors, together with certain prescribed forms. The Pre-Action Protocol says that individual debtors must be given a minimum of 30 days to reply and this may be extended. Our fee will include a single response in dealing with your debtors reply, which may involve negotiation of a payment plan, if appropriate and further disclosure of documents, if required. If the negotiations go beyond this stage, we charge for additional work at an hourly rate of £250 plus VAT.
These fixed fees do not include mediation or any other form of Alternative Dispute Resolution, which will be charged separately.
If we recover monies as a result of these letters, then we will charge an additional 10% on any amount we recover for you.
Issuing Proceedings & our costs
Where it becomes necessary to issue legal proceedings, the following additional fees will apply:
For debts up to the sum of £10,000.00, we will charge a fixed fee of £600.00 plus VAT.
For debts over £10,000.00 to £50,000.00 we will charge a fixed fee of £3,500.00 plus VAT.
For business to business debts, the above fees will include the Letter of Claim fixed fee together with preparation of proceedings, service and obtaining Judgment in default, if no defence is filed.
For individual debtors, the above fees will be in addition to the Letter of Claim fixed fee but will include preparation of proceedings, service and obtaining Judgment in default, if no defence is filed.
If a defence is filed, or any interim applications need to be made, then our hourly rates will apply.
Once your claim is issued. At this stage we will no longer charge a percentage on any sums recovered.
Please be aware that, for debts up to £10,000.00 only a part of our costs will be recoverable from your debtor – this is dependent on the value of the debt. If your terms and conditions of business allow for recovery of legal fees, then further costs might be recoverable depending on the terms of the clause. This will need to be discussed with us, depending on the facts and circumstances of your matter.
For debts over £10,000.00, our costs will normally be recoverable from the debtor – subject to assessment by the Court. This may still mean that you do not recover 100% of your costs.
Disbursements & Other expenses :
In some cases, additional fees may be payable. These are called disbursements and include barristers’ fees for attending Court hearings or advising in conference. (These range from £500 to over £5000 depending on the issues involved, the work needed, the level of barrister chosen and VAT is nearly always added to these). We will always discuss instructing a barrister with you in advance and negotiate the best possible fee for your barrister’s involvement on your behalf.
Other disbursements may include fees payable to process servers to serve Court papers on the debtor, or tracing fees to find the debtor. Such fees range from around £200 to £1,500 (plus VAT). We will always advise you about the need to incur these expenses and how much they are likely to be.
Court fees:
In addition, another disbursement you will incur is the Court fee which is payable upon issue. Court fees are constantly changing and the information below is only correct at the date of publication. To check current court fees, see Civil Court Fees Gov.UK
In respect of debts under £10,000.00, the Court fee will vary from between £35.00 up to £455.00 depending on the value of your claim.
For debts over £10,000.00 but less than £200,000.00, the Court fee will be 5% of the value of your claim, or 4.5% of the value of your claim, if issued via Money Claims Online, if your claim is suitable for online issue.
For debts over £200,000.00 the court fee is currently fixed at £10,000.00.
The Court fees are recoverable from your debtor if your claim succeeds
Interest and late payment charges
You might be able to recover additional interest and late payment charges from your debtor depending upon who owes the debt and the terms of the contract between you.
Enforcement of the Judgment
Enforcing a court judgement is a sperate matter and will be charged separately. This can sometimes be done on a fixed fee basis, depending on the particular method of enforcement you choose to pursue. If a fixed fee cannot be offered in your circumstances, the additional work will be charged at an hourly rate of £250 plus VAT.
Defended actions and debts above £50,000.00
Defended actions, interim applications and claims involving debts over £50,000.00, will be charged separately at an hourly rate. We will provide you with an estimate of the likely costs and the options available to you, once it becomes apparent that your case is being contested. Our hourly rate for this type of work starts at £250 plus VAT depending on the level of solicitor dealing with your claim.
How long will it take?
It is very difficult to provide a precise time estimate of how long this work will take. This depends on many factors including what steps the debtor takes in defending the claim and which court the claim might get transferred to. At present some County Courts are experiencing long delays. A relatively straightforward claim, where we obtain Judgment in Default and the debtor pays promptly, can take between 10 to 15 weeks from the point you instruct us. If the matter is disputed or enforcement action is required, it will take longer to resolve, perhaps even a year before the matter reaches trial. Individual debtors tend to take longer than business debtors due to the longer pre-action protocol period which we are required to follow. More complex claims tend to have additional ‘case management’ hearings to ensure that they are properly prepared before the final trial takes place.
Who will do all the work?
All work will be carried out by our litigation team which consists of solicitors, who are supported by an assistant or secretary. Each solicitors hourly rate is based on their years of experience carrying out this type of work. At the start of your matter you will receive a detailed letter explaining your solicitor, their hourly rate and details of how this is broken down into chargeable units of work. Examples of our hourly rates are:
| Name | Hourly rate |
| Principal Partner | £350 |
| Senior Solicitors | £300 |
| Senior Consultants | £250 |
| Solicitors | £250 |
| Consultants | £250 – £275 |
| Trainee Solicitors | £200 |
| Paralegals | £150 – £200 |
| Media Researchers | £150 |
| Translators | £65 – £85 |
Our Team
Our team has over 56 years of collective experience in delivering high
quality work in all matters relating to Debt Recovery, enforcement and civil
litigation. Litigation law is one of the most complex areas of legal procedure and it is essential that clients are represented by specialist lawyers with an absolute understanding of the Civil Procedure Reules. Very often litigation succeeds (or fails) on technicalities only and you need to be sure that your litigation team are the best.
We have three main members of the team who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Cyrus Mansouri, Principal of the firm and Head of Debt Recovery & Litigation.
Cyrus Mansouri
Cyrus started his career in Debt
Recovery since 1996 as a trainee. He is now principal of the firm and has
extensive experience of all aspects of debt recovery and civil litigation from small claims through to $55m claims involving 5 jurisdictions and defendants trying to hide behind offshore corporations and Swiss lawyers. Cyrus is highly regarded by his clients for being extremely approachable and understanding with his trademark calm demeanor concealing his unforgiving attention to detail. He frequently appears in all courts as an advocate for his clients and his extensive experience of this area of law means that he will almost always find a solution for his clients.
Melorion Hubert Van Arkadie
Hubert qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and quickly developed himself as an outstanding high street solicitor, setting up his own firm specialising in probate, immigration law, litigation and family law among other areas of work. Hubert has extensive experience of Debt Recovery & civil litigation as well as costs taxation before Masters. He joined Mansouri & Son in 2010 as a consultant, preferring to focus his attention on his clients, rather than running a large high street firm.
Abraham Mashood
Abraham started off at Mansouri & Son working on reception and has gradually worked his way up to being admitted as a solicitor in 2023. Despite his recent admission, Abraham has over 6 years of hands-on experience in all aspects of debt recovery & civil litigation and has been involved in complex & high value claims during this short period. Abraham has immense experience of advising on, preparing and submitting all types of claims from the pre-action protocol stage through to drafting complex particulars of claim. He has a creative mind and an excellent eye for detail.
To discuss your requirements – please contact us or email us
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