Debt Recovery and Bankruptcy
Experience and qualifications
Muzaffar Mansoor qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and has over 20 years Post graduate Experience. He is also an experienced solicitor advocate (Civil).
Fees
Our fees are based on the amount of work, time incurred and not the size of the debt. However, it should be noted that court fees depend on the size of the debt.
In the vast majority of cases we are able to offer our clients an agreed fixed fee to prepare and submit their applications. However, in circumstances where this is not possible our fees will be calculated on the following hourly rates:
Hourly Rate
Muzaffar Mansoor –Senior Partner £350.00 VAT £70.00 Total £420.00
Nida Mansoor – Senior Solicitor £350.00 VAT £70.00 Total £420.00
Ishfaq Ahmad (RFL)– Consultant £250.00 VAT £50.00 Total £300.00
Other trainees and Paralegal caseworkers £120.00 VAT £24.00 Total £144.00
Administrative & Support Staff £80.00 VAT £16.00 Total £96.00
Dean Manson LLP solicitors’ personal insolvency department understands how worrying and stressful bankruptcy can be. In addition to the financial well as emotional stress that can often be experienced during this time, there is also the pressure of completing the Court papers correctly, along with other associated documentation. Creditors also need to be contacted and kept away during the bankruptcy proceedings.
At this time, you would not like increasing solicitors’ fees when you’re trying to get your finances under control.
Before offering you the fixed fee structure, we arrange that a specialist insolvency solicitor will give FREE advice as to whether bankruptcy is the best option for your debt issues. If bankruptcy is not the best option, we will advise alternate plan of action to be taken. This may be an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or a Debt Management Plan (DMP).
If bankruptcy is the most effective way of dealing with your debt issues, then we can assist with our fixed fee service.
Debt Recovery up to value of 100,000.00
Pre-action
We charge a fee of £350.00 plus VAT (£420.00 in total) for a letter before action. This fee includes:
Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation.
Sending a letter before action and if the debt is paid, receiving payment and sending onto you.
The above fees do not include:
Any additional correspondence or communications (either telephone or written) with the debtor or their legal representative, including negotiation of payment terms.
It may be possible to add contractual interest to the sum claimed or statutory interest, a fixed sum, and costs under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
A two-week period is given to the debtor to pay in business-to-business claims and 30 days is given to the debtor where they are an individual or sole trader.
Court proceedings to default Judgment stage
Debt Value Up to £300.00
Court Fee £35.00
Our Fee £800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total 995.00
Debt Value Up to £300.00 to £500.00
Court Fee £50.00
Our Fee £800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total 1,010.00
Debt Value Up to £500.00 to £1,000.00
Court Fee £70.00
Our Fee £800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total 1,030.00
Debt Value Up to £1,000.00 to £1,500.00
Court Fee £80.00
Our Fee £800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total 1,040.00
Debt Value Up to £1,500.00 to £3,000.00
Court Fee £115.00
Our Fee £800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total 1,075.00
Debt Value Up to £3,000.00 to £5,000.00
Court Fee £205.00
Our Fee £1,000.00plus VAT 200.00 Total 1,405.00
Debt Value Up to £5,000.00 to £10,000.00
Court Fee £455.00
Our Fee £1,500.00 plus VAT 300.00 Total 2,255.00
Debt Value Up to £10,000.00 to £100,000.00
Court Fee 5% of the claim
Our Fee £2,000.00 plus VAT 400.00 Total unknown
*Court fees correct as at 31st January 2022, any changes to the court fees are outside of our control.
The above fees include:
Drafting and issuing claim through Money Claims Online (MCOL).
Where no Acknowledgment of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgment in default.
When Judgment in default is received, to write to the other side to request payment; and
If the debt is paid, receiving payment and sending onto you.
The above fees do not include:
Any correspondence or communications (either telephone or written) with the debtor, including negotiation of payment terms.
Dealing with any response or application by the debtor to the court, either before or after Judgment.
Attending any hearing, including relating to payment amount or terms.
Any interest and compensation claimed may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.
You may not recover every penny that you spend and there may be a short fall between the sum you can claim from the debtor and how much it costs you. In each case the court fee will be included within the claimed sum together with fixed commencements costs (currently £35.00for claims up to £300.00, £50.00 for claims up to £500.00, £70.00 for claims between £500.00 and £1,000.00, £80.00 for claims between £1,000.00 and £5,000.00, £115.00 for claims between £1,500.00 and £3,000.00, £205.00 for claims between £3,000.00 and £5,000.00, £455.00 for claims between £5,000.00 and £10,000.00 and 5% of the value of the claim for claims between £10,000.00 and £100,000.00) and fixed Judgment costs.
We estimate that this section of work will take approximately 2 months.
Enforcement
If the debtor does not pay the Judgment debt, one or more of the following methods of enforcement may be used.
Action
Standard letter post-judgment
Fixed Cost
£150.00 plus VAT 30.00 Total £180.00.
Action
Action to trace debtor
Fixed Cost
£200.00 plus VAT 40.00 Total £240.00.
Action
Prepare and apply for a Warrant of Control
Fixed Cost
£800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total £960.00.
Action
Prepare and apply for a Third-Party Debt Order
Fixed Cost
£800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total £960.00.
Action
Prepare and apply for an Attachment of Earnings Order
Fixed Cost
£800.00 plus VAT 160.00 Total £960.00.
Action
Prepare a statutory demand
Fixed Cost
£400.00 plus VAT 80.00 Total £480.00.
Action
Prepare a Section 146 Notice
Fixed Cost
£400.00 plus VAT 80.00 Total £480.00.
Action
Prepare and apply for an Interim Charging Order and registration of the Order at HM Land Registry
Fixed Cost
£400.00 plus VAT 80.00 Total £480.00.
Action
Serve the Interim Charging Order and arrange an attendance at the Final Charging Order hearing
Fixed Cost
£500.00 plus VAT 100.00 Total £600.00.
The above fees include:
Making appropriate court application and dealing with court orders as appropriate.
If the debt is paid, receiving payment, and sending onto you.
The above fees do not include:
Any court fees or other disbursement costs.
Instruction of Barrister or attendance at any hearing.
Any correspondence or communications (either telephone or written) with the debtor, including negotiation of payment terms.
If we obtain a judgment at court for you, we will issue a statutory demand if the debt remains unpaid and is over £5000.00 (if against an individual- bankruptcy proceedings) or £750.00 (if against a company- insolvency proceedings).
A statutory demand is a written warning from a creditor and to draft this may cost £450.00 plus VAT (20%) then a further £114.00 plus VAT (20%) for it to be served. This may later proceed to bankruptcy proceedings which would incur further costs and potential counsel fees.
If this leads to bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings it will cost £850.00 plus VAT (20%) to draft the petition. In order to wind up a company (insolvency proceedings) the petition fee will be £1600.00 plus VAT (20%) and the court fee £280.00 VAT (Nil). To make an individual bankrupt there will be a petition fee of £990.00 VAT (Nil) and a court fee of £280.00 VAT (Nil). Each bankruptcy/insolvency hearing will cost up to £1000.00 plus VAT (20%) a hearing for our Legal fees.
Alternatively, instead of issuing bankruptcy proceedings we can advise you on the use of Bailiffs.
The above costs assume that the debt is disputed by the debtor. If the debt is not disputed it may not be necessary to issue proceedings and an alternative approach might be a statutory demand, which is also considerably cheaper. The cost of this is set out above.
Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:
The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor.
Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.
Typical timescales and key stages
It is impossible to give you an accurate indication of how long it would take to recover your debt as we have encountered debt matters that have been settled in full by the debtor on the receipt of the solicitor’s letter and there have also been disputes where bankruptcy proceedings are necessary and consequently taken 18 to 24 months to resolve. We will do our best to advise you on the likely time scale for the circumstances of your case.