Letter before small claims court claim

textbook

Been 18 months but decided to go for unpaid invoice, does this letter look ok?-

Letter before small claims court claim

My address

 

Property Developers Address

 

Dear Mr Greedy

Reference: Payment of unpaid invoice on dated 02/04/2021 (attached)

Could you please pay this unpaid invoice, if this isn’t resolved amicably, court action may be necessary

 Four invoices were paid for painting on the property in Aston Rd

From you I am claiming payment of £504.28

 I will be showing the four paid invoices and one unpaid invoice if required.

I can confirm that I would be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts. 

I would invite you to put forward any proposals in this regard. 

I look forward to hearing from you within the next 28 days.

Should I not receive a response to my letter within this time frame then I anticipate that court action will be commenced with no further reference to you.

Yours faithfully, 

                       

Me

 

macman

'Letter before Action' is the usual header to use. It's fine, but I would say 14 days notice is quite adequate, and say 'if full payment is not received within 14 days then court action will proceed'. 'Resolved amicably' implies that you are wiling to negotiate, which presumably you are not?
And add your bank details, you don't want to be paying in cheques with further delay while they clear.
Why have you waited 22 months to pursue this debt though?

Alderbank

macman said:

'Letter before Action' is the usual header to use. It's fine, but I would say 14 days notice is quite adequate, and say 'if full payment is not received within 14 days then court action will proceed'. 'Resolved amicably' implies that you are wiling to negotiate, which presumably you are not?
And add your bank details, you don't want to be paying in cheques with further delay while they clear.
Why have you waited 22 months to pursue this debt though?

I don't think you can make that presumption since the OP says
'I can confirm that I would be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution'

textbook

macman said:

'Letter before Action' is the usual header to use. It's fine, but I would say 14 days notice is quite adequate, and say 'if full payment is not received within 14 days then court action will proceed'. 'Resolved amicably' implies that you are wiling to negotiate, which presumably you are not?
And add your bank details, you don't want to be paying in cheques with further delay while they clear.
Why have you waited 22 months to pursue this debt though?

I'll attach unpaid invoice which will have bank details.  I just want him to pay not go to court..   Left it too long because he promised more work but didn't give it and secondly wasn't sure if I morally should have, but I've decided now I will.   I will just say picked it up on tax return if asked to explain long delay but that's not real reason.  Been too busy as well


Do I need to put 'letter before action '  at top of email or letter I might send?

eskbanker

There are all sorts of template letters available, but it's generally the final step before embarking on court action, so should only be used if you're prepared to follow through with that, rather than simply raising the stakes but ultimately bluffing. IMHO you need to convey that you're ready and willing to pursue the debt via the court, and many of the template letters refer to pre-action protocol in order to get this message across, such as https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letter/letter-before-small-claims-court-claim-aSFAC8Q6Jqan

macman

Why do you think it might be 'immoral' to chase a debt overdue for nearly 2 years?
The most important thing is that you must proceed to serve if no payment is made after 14 days, otherwise you will lose all credibility.

DullGreyGuy

textbook said:

Been 18 months but decided to go for unpaid invoice, does this letter look ok?-

Letter before small claims court claim

My address

 

Property Developers Address

 

Dear Mr Greedy

Reference: Payment of unpaid invoice on dated 02/04/2021 (attached)

Could you please pay this unpaid invoice, if this isn’t resolved amicably, court action may be necessary

 Four invoices were paid for painting on the property in Aston Rd

From you I am claiming payment of £504.28

 I will be showing the four paid invoices and one unpaid invoice if required.

I can confirm that I would be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts. 

I would invite you to put forward any proposals in this regard. 

I look forward to hearing from you within the next 28 days.

Should I not receive a response to my letter within this time frame then I anticipate that court action will be commenced with no further reference to you.

Yours faithfully, 

                       

Me

 

Personally...
 

[right]Property Developers Address.   [left]My address
{left] Date

Letter before action

To whom it may concern,

Re: Unpaid invoice on dated 02/04/2021 (attached)

Whilst I acknowledge payment of prior invoices the above invoice for £504.28 remains unpaid according to our records.

Please arrange for this invoice to be settled at the earliest opportunity. If the invoice remains outstanding after 28 days from the date of this letter I will reserve the right to proceed to issue proceedings and seek to additionally recover court fees and statutory interest.

I hope to hear from you shortly.

Kind regards
Me

Ok, not 100% how I would write it but wanted to keep roughly inline with your style. 

The courts require reasonable timescales... 28 days is probably beyond that and could be reduced to 14 days without concern for such a basic sum.

textbook

Ok so as expected he hasnt paid.  Sent one letter to his mum's house which has her signature on (this was his work address).  How do I now apply to small claims court?

DullGreyGuy

Its done online these days, link can be found https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/make-claim 

lisyloo

textbook said:

Ok so as expected he hasnt paid.  Sent one letter to his mum's house which has her signature on (this was his work address).  How do I now apply to small claims court?

Are you certain he has the ability to pay?
Are you prepared to pay and send baliffs to his mum's house (his business address)?
I don't see any issue with it, but as you mentioned morals just wanted to raise that you knew what you're getting into.
If you win that doesn't necessarily mean he will just pay up and the ways to get people to pay up can be expensive e.g. sent balliffs in.

textbook

lisyloo said:

textbook said:

Ok so as expected he hasnt paid.  Sent one letter to his mum's house which has her signature on (this was his work address).  How do I now apply to small claims court?

Are you certain he has the ability to pay?
Are you prepared to pay and send baliffs to his mum's house (his business address)?
I don't see any issue with it, but as you mentioned morals just wanted to raise that you knew what you're getting into.
If you win that doesn't necessarily mean he will just pay up and the ways to get people to pay up can be expensive e.g. sent balliffs in.

He's wealthy and it's only £500 so i suspect yes.  Not sure about the baliffs (dunno if I wanna get involved in all that) but surely for a small amount he'll pay so he doesn't have CCJ on his name.  Dunno, I see this like practice incase I have chase bigger money.