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Taking legal action with LPL

In some cases, as part of the debt collection process LPL will recommend legal proceedings. LPL in association with Harris da Silva, solicitors, offer a comprehensive legal service in England and Wales. (Elsewhere in the UK and around the world, other arrangements apply.)

This includes issuing the proceedings through to obtaining judgement, execution, third party debt orders, charging orders and winding up or bankruptcy proceedings.Our services include dealing with all the documentation on your behalf and liaising with Harris da Silva throughout to ensure that the proceedings are conducted as expeditiously as possible.

When a successful collection is achieved (including interest and statutory costs) the majority of overall costs of the proceedings will generally be recovered from the debtor. (Please see the example below)

The table below details the initial disbursements required to start the proceedings and explains your total costs liability for undefended proceedings. In the case of defended proceedings, LPL will discuss with you the defence and /or counterclaim filed by the debtor and advise you on the most appropriate way forward.

LPL will, in conjunction with Harris da Silva, use the legal system quickly and cost effectively all you have to do is to familiarise yourself with the total cost of issuing proceedings as set out in the table below and forward a completed Litigation Instruction form to LPL with the appropriate disbursements. We will do the rest.

Please note that if the amount of claim plus interest and charges exceeds any one level in column A, the disbursement required will trip over to the next level in column B.

If you have any questions or if you require any other information relating to issuing legal proceedings outside England and Wales, please contact us.

Cost of undefended court proceedings

A	B	C	D	E	F
Debt amount including interest, late payment compensation	Court issue fee required to commence proceedings	Solicitors' charges	Statutory costs recoverable from debtor	Total costs payable by you if successful	Total cost payable by you if unsuccessful
£1 - £300	£30.00	£124.00	£90.00	£64.00	£154.00
£301 - £499	£45.00	£125.00	£100.00	£70.00	£170.00
£500 - £1000	£65.00	£152.00	£150.00	£67.00	£217.00
£1001 - £1500	£75.00	£179.00	£200.00	£54.00	£254.00
£1501 - £2000	£85.00	£179.00	£200.00	£64.00	£264.00
£2001 - £3000	£85.00	£220.00	£200.00	£105.00	£305.00
£3001 - £5000	£108.00	£264.00	£200.00	£172.00	£372.00
£5001 - £10,000	£225.00	£345.00	£350.00	£220.00	£570.00
£10,001 - £15,000	£225.00	£493.00	£350.00	£368.00	£716.00
£15,001 - £50,000	£360.00	£521.00	£500.00	£451.00	£881.00
£50,001 - £100,000	£630.00	£521.00	£700.00	£451.00	£1151.00
£100,001 - £150,000	£810.00	£521.00	£900.00	£431.00	£1331.00
£150,001 upwards	£990.00	£521.00	£900.00	£611.00	£1511.00
Example of successful recovery
2 Invoices 6 months Total debt £500	Initial disbursement £65.00	Solicitors' charges £152.00	Paid by debtor £500 + £21.25 interest + £80 late payment compensation + £150 statutory costs Paid £751.25	Total recovered £751.25 less £217.00 B+C Balance to you is £534.25 (£34.25 more than the invoices)

What does it cost to take legal action?

• LPL requires the Court Issue Fee shown in column (B) to start the proceedings.

• Your total costs up to and including default Judgement will be the amount shown in column (F).

• On a successful recovery, statutory costs are also recovered from the debtor as shown in column (D). Your total costs of the proceedings are therefore reduced by the statutory costs collected from the debtor as shown in column (D) as well as the interest and late payment compensation (if claimed under The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998). On occasions the balance due to you is more than the initial debt (see example above).

• The above table and example shows your costs up to and including obtaining default Judgement. If payment is still not made by the debtor after default judgment is obtained and you need to enforce the judgement LPL will contact you to discuss the most appropriate way to do so. Costs of enforcement can vary between £150 and £350 depending on whether we use Court Bailiff or High Court Enforcement Officer but on successful actions the majority of these costs will be recovered from the debtor.

• In the event of a defence and/or counterclaim being filed by the debtor LPL will discuss this with you to enable you to decide whether or not to continue with the proceedings at our solicitors' preferential hourly charge out rate.

• If a recovery is made through our solicitors or LPL you will be invoiced by LPL for the agreed percentage fee on the amount recovered and the solicitor’s costs as shown in column (F), which will be deducted from the amount recovered, and the balance of the monies forwarded to you.

• If payment is made by the debtor directly to you LPL will send you an invoice for the agreed percentage fee on the amount received and the solicitor’s costs as shown in column (F) which is payable in 7 days.

• LPL will charge the agreed percentage fee only on recoveries achieved (LPL fees are not chargeable on recovered legal costs).

Litigation Procedures

Commencing Legal Proceedings

The disbursements required are set out in the above table. A completed Litigation Instruction Form and all supporting documentation must also be forwarded to LPL, to start the process.

Terms and Conditions

Should you choose to include contractual interest and/or other collection charges in your claim against the debtor, you will be required to satisfy the Court that you have Terms & Conditions of trading which are incorporated in the contract with the debtor clearly displaying a clause giving you the right to charge contractual interest and/or other reasonable charges. In that event our solicitors will automatically calculate the appropriate amount of interest to be added to the claim. If you choose to include contractual interest, you must ensure that you include a copy of your Terms & Conditions with your instruction to LPL.

Money Laundering Regulations

Unless this has been provided previously, in accordance with Money Laundering Regulations, our solicitors will require an authorised signatory from you, as our client company. The authorised signatory will also need to provide a copy of the photo page of their passport or a copy of their driving licence together with a copy of the company's Certificate of Registration. In the case of a Sole Trader or Partnership, two utility bills plus passport or driving licence photo page copies are required. This information will not be asked for again for any future instructions.

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