Debt recovery solicitor fees and the other business services with published prices

Debt recovery up to 100,000 pounds: typical published fees

• Letter before action. For an undisputed debt, published fixed fees commonly run from around 40 pounds plus VAT at high-volume firms to several hundred pounds plus VAT at full-service firms, often banded by debt size.
• Issuing a court claim. A further fixed fee, typically from a few hundred pounds plus VAT for small debts to a few thousand pounds plus VAT towards the 100,000 pound end of the scale.
• Default judgment. Where the debtor does not respond, the solicitor often charges a further small fixed fee for requesting judgment; there is normally no additional court fee for the request itself.
• Enforcement. Bailiff or High Court enforcement instructions are usually charged separately, with the enforcement officer's own fees on top.

These are typical ranges from published fee pages, not quotes, and they assume the debt is undisputed. If the debtor raises a defence, most firms move to hourly rates and the published fixed fees no longer apply, so ask up front what happens to costs the moment a dispute appears. Two more things published pages routinely warn about: VAT on your legal costs is normally recoverable from the debtor only to the extent you cannot reclaim it as input tax (a business with full VAT recovery usually claims it from HMRC instead), and claims of 10,000 pounds or less are normally allocated to the small claims track, where most legal representative costs are not recoverable from the other side even if you win, although court fees and some limited costs may be.

The court fees on top

The court issue fee is paid in addition to the solicitor's fee and depends on the amount claimed: fixed amounts on smaller claims, rising to a percentage of the claim value on larger ones. A good fee page states the court fee alongside the legal fee for each debt band. Enforcement adds its own court and officer fees. What you can recover from the debtor depends on the claim and the track it is allocated to; in qualifying claims fixed costs rules apply. Check the current figures on gov.uk, because court fees change.

The other two business services: licensing and tribunal defence

• Licensing applications for business premises. New premises licence applications and variations under the Licensing Act 2003. Published fees for a straightforward application often sit around 1,000 to 2,500 pounds plus VAT, rising well beyond that for contested or complex applications. The licensing authority's statutory fee comes on top, based on the non-domestic rateable value of the premises, with multipliers for some alcohol-led premises and annual charges as well. For a new licence or full variation, premises and local newspaper notices are generally required and carry advertising costs (a minor variation follows a different notice process without newspaper publication), and enquiry agent fees may be added. The rules expect the fee page to identify these third party costs.
• Defending employment tribunal claims. The employer-side mirror of the claims covered in the employment tribunal costs guide: mostly hourly rates, with published estimates for defending a straightforward unfair dismissal claim commonly starting around 5,000 pounds plus VAT.

What the firm's website must already tell you

Where a firm publicises one of these services as part of its usual business (publicly funded work is excluded), the SRA Transparency Rules require the firm's website to show the total cost or an average or range with the basis for the charges, what is included and what is not, likely disbursements and their cost (court fees, licensing authority fees, advertising, enforcement officers), whether VAT applies and the amount, the key stages and typical timescales, and the experience and qualifications of the people doing the work and their supervisors. Where relevant, the firm must also explain when clients may have to make payments under any conditional fee or damages-based agreement.

For debt recovery the most useful pages are honest about the boundary: they say clearly that the fixed fees cover undisputed debts only, and what the hourly rates are once a dispute starts.

How to compare quotes

Ask each firm the same questions in writing: the fixed fee for your debt band and exactly which steps it covers, the court fee for your claim amount, what the firm charges if the debtor disputes the debt or the claim goes to a hearing, and what enforcement would cost if the debtor ignores a judgment. If you are a sole trader or small business owner, the consumer guidance in the solicitor prices guide applies just as well, including the template email.

See whether a firm publishes what the rules expect

You can run a free SRA website check on any firm you are considering: our scanner reads the public pages and reports whether it found price information, the clickable SRA badge and complaints information. The transparency statistics show how firm websites across England and Wales compare.

This guide is general information for England and Wales, not legal advice. Fee figures are typical market ranges from published fee pages, not quotes; court and licensing fees change, so check gov.uk and your licensing authority for current figures. Website findings are automated, come from public pages only, and are not a legal opinion.