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Firstly, you cannot instruct bailiffs until you have taken them to court and won. The job of a bailiff is to enforce payment of court judgements. You could use a debt collection agency, but they will take a big cut and they have no more powers to collect the money owed than you have. They are usually used as a matter of last resort where you sell the debt to them for a few pence in the pound and they keep whatever they can get. Which leaves you with two options - continue asking and trying to negotiate or take them to court. But they are based in Scotland, which has a separate legal system to England. Without a written contract that specifies it may not be clear which system has jurisdiction. I know nothing about Scotland so my legal advice is based on the English system. But I guess Scottish law is similar enough that the basic principles will still apply. In law an oral contract, or one made by email etc, is just as binding as a formal, signed written contract. So your emails are sufficient to create a binding agreement. If you want to take them to court you need to be able to demonstrate that you have done everything you can to settle out of court. So as you suggest you should send a letter before action. This should briefly detail the work and fee that was agreed, when the work was done and signed off etc, details of the invoice and reminders (number, dates etc), details of the payments so far (which are great evidence that they in fact accept that work was done and money is owed). You should give them a reasonable time to pay up - at least 14 days. And you should state that if payment is not received you will launch legal proceedings with no further notice, and that in this case you will be claiming for interest and allowable costs in addition to the sum owed. You do not need to be more specific than that. As you are claiming for a fixed debt you can use the online claims service at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk . It is quite straightforward but you can also file a claim on paper at the County Court. For general guidance look at the courts website at www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk . Because of the value of the claim you will be allocated to the small claims court, which is designed to be used by individuals not by lawyers. In fact, you cannot claim legal costs if you win, although you can claim court fees and some other expenses. You are also entitled to claim interest on the amount owed to you at 8% per year. You have to work it out to the day but the guides on the courts website tell you how to do this. At all times, remember that because it is a Ltd company you will be claiming against the company itself, not a specific individual such as a director.

by SimonC

4 weeks ago

Asker's Rating: 

Hi try a bailiff service don't know how it works give one a ring and ask Its to the bailiffs advantage to collect your money and they will do the legal stuff Good luck

by its- 4 weeks ago

Talk to them frankly if they have a financial problem or they just dont want to pay. Since you dont have alot of money get mediator. who talks to them and finds out why they are not paying.

by eLegalconsult- 4 weeks ago

Send a registered letter to their main company address - and address this to the MD. State the position and enclose a copy of your outstanding invoice. Indicate that as you have unfortunately not yet received full payment (and as a small business very dependant on maintaining cashflow) you will need full settlement of the outstanding amount by the 19th November. Indicate that after this date - you will pass the invoice to your debt recoveries service. They dont know you haven't got one! Phone your contact at the company early next week - and chase the letter / payment again. If you have not recieved payment by the 19th .....you'll need to write again....and indicate you require immediate payment to avoid commencing legal action. Go to the CAB to check your legal rights - but I think you can then go to small claims court to get your money owed. Good luck!

by aj at the bank- 4 weeks ago

AJ's advice about going to CAB is good. They have all the information you need on this. At this stage you can advise them that you'll take action in the Small Claims Court if they don't pay within the next 7 days. It costs £40 to lodge the claim. That can be added to what they owe you. You should also be able to add statutory interest to the amount outstanding over 30 days. This is 8% over base rate. You can check on the web for any changes in the base rate over the period you're owed. The money is owed from the date of the invoice not after the 30 days. CAB can advise on this, too. Check their records at Companies House. It will show whether they're up to date with their returns. It can be an indication of whether they're in trouble or not. Send your correspondence to them by guaranteed delivery so that you have proof of delivery. Be absolutely clear that you're invoicing the correct company. We took a non-payer to the Small Claims Court some years ago and he wriggled out of it by saying that we'd invoiced the wrong company. Very dodgy guy. Good luck!

by Rosemary P- 4 weeks ago

small claims is dead easy, you can download the form plus a guide to filling it in. you can do it all yourself and it costs about £50-£100 to file the claim (depending on the amount you are claiming for). you can send a signed for letter stating the amount payable, the date payment is required by and advising you will go to court if they do not comply. then if they don't pay you, file papers for amount owed, plus interest, plus court costs. seriously it's pretty straightforward.

by Amy D- 4 weeks ago