Business Debt Recovery
Specialist business debt recovery lawyers
We offer a full debt recovery service which includes where necessary a pre-collection service through to the issue of proceedings and enforcement. We also issue insolvency proceedings for clients including the issue of statutory demands, bankruptcy petitions and winding-up petitions.
Bankruptcy – Issuing bankruptcy proceedings can be extremely effective in recovering undisputed debts. This involves serving the debtor a statutory demand, then issuing a bankruptcy petition if they do not respond.
Court Proceedings – If there is no response to a Letter Before Action, we can prepare and send proceedings to court within 24 hours. If there is no response, we can apply for a judgment to be entered on your behalf.
Enforcement of Judgments – We will advise on the best method for you. This could include instructing a bailiff, a charging order, a third party debt order, a statutory demand or an attachment of earnings order.
Foreign Debt Collection – We can help you track down debt in Ireland, Scotland and most of Europe.
Pre-Action Collection – On the day you instruct us, we will act fast to send a Letter Before Action that is tailored to your needs. We will also discuss what course of action is suitable if they do not respond.
Winding Up – Before we start this, we usually send a letter demanding payment or a statutory demand. If you don’t receive your debt, we can issue a winding up petition – which they will have to pay for.
Why choose our expertise
- We treat your debt as if it were money owed to us, and we collect it as quickly as possible
- You can draw on the additional expertise of our Dispute Resolution and Insolvency teams
- We are approachable, friendly and always happy to discuss individual matters
- You can rely on our good use of technology to ensure an efficient and reliable service
- We won’t just collect your debts, we can increase your recoveries by working smarter
It is important to recover debts to avoid financial pressure of your business. We offer a range of services to help you do this and a highly skilled team of commercial debt recovery lawyers.
For many years we have offered a competitive quality debt recovery service for general debt matters. We also provide a personal service for difficult debts or where insolvency proceedings are appropriate. If required, we will provide periodic reports in relation to bulk recoveries or debt portfolios.
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- Rescuing a sale – Instructed by a pubco client to resist an ACV nomination of an asset due to be sold. Freeths contacted the local authority to obtain the nomination documents and supporting evidence, drafted and submitted representations resisting the nomination on the owner’s behalf and prevented the property from being ACV listed. The sale was able to proceed without delay.
- Protecting value – Instructed by a private client to conduct a review the ACV-listing of his property, in order to protect its value. Freeths contacted the local authority to instigate the review process and to obtain the nomination documents, supporting evidence and decision notice. The decision notice revealed errors of fact and of law that underpinned the local authority’s decision to list at first instance, which Freeths highlighted in review representations submitted on behalf of the owner. The review was successful and the property was removed from the local authority’s list of ACVs.
- Advising on relevant disposals – Instructed by a Pub Co client to advise on the implications of ACV listing, the statutory moratorium and the process of selling ACV-listed properties. Freeths advised to ensure that sales were effective and none fell foul of the statutory restrictions on disposition.
- Unlocking development value – Instructed by an investor client to unlock the development value of an (already) ACV-listed former public house that had ceased trading roughly a year before our involvement. A planning application for change of use of the 1st, 2nd and part of the ground floor of the property was submitted. The ACV listing and a perceived loss of quality/quantity of community space were material to the decision to refuse planning permission.
- Freeths submitted an ACV compensation claim to protect the client’s position in respect of the lost development value of the property and worked with planning advisors to mitigate the perceived loss of community space through a revised planning application. The compensation claim was pursued to the First Tier Tribunal. Final determination was delayed to account for the determination of the revised planning application, which was ultimately successful, unlocking the development value of the property despite ACV listing.
Meet the team
Zalena Vandrewala
Managing Associate
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Whatever your legal needs, our wide ranging expertise is here to support you and your business, so let’s start your legal journey today and get you in touch with the right lawyer to get you started.
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