# Self-employed consultant owed money by the limited company



## Yachtie (12 Mar 2010)

Hi all,

I am self-employed and work for a number of clients. Last year, I did a lot of work for a limited company. 

For a number of reasons but mainly my client being an unreliable payer, I have terminated the relationship in November last year after a meeting with one of the directors who assured me that half of the outstanding balance on my account would be settled immediatelly (which in fairness they did) and the rest when another company has finished the follow-on from my work. The other company presented the 'finished product' at the end of December. 

The balance of my account still hasn't been settled and I have emailed the directors my current statement and reminded them of the agreement we had. I am fairly certain that they will simply ignore my request for payment and am now wondering what could be my next step. 

Would this be a matter for a small claims court or is there another body that I should file my claim with? Please note that the amount outstanding is less than €500 and hiring a solicitor and going down the 'proper' legal route would defeat the purpose as it would cost more than I am owed. 

If I need to supply more information, I am happy to do so - just didn't want to bore anyone with details at this stage.

Thanks for all your help!


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## Brendan Burgess (12 Mar 2010)

I think you are going to have to write it off. It's just not viable to chase debtors for small amounts.

You can't use the Small Claims Court for recovery of debts


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## jack2009 (12 Mar 2010)

As already suggested legal route may not be cost effective.  Also, just to say dont threaten legal route to a debtor unless you are semi serious about going that route.

I would suggest you try the approach of wearing them down by constantly calling them on a regular basis and follow up with a serious of letters looking for payment.

Granted you cannot get blood from a stone but I find in many cases that a bit of perserverance goes a long way.


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## Gervan (12 Mar 2010)

How much is still due? If €1900 or more is owed, and not disputed, you can get a solicitor to send a 4 day notice, which is actually the first step of bankruptcy proceedings. The notice demands that the debt should be paid to you within 4 days.
It is certainly worth trying this, before just writing off the debt.


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## mathepac (12 Mar 2010)

Gervan said:


> How much is still due? ...


As above ... 


Yachtie said:


> ... Please note that the amount outstanding is  less than €500 ...


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## Vanilla (12 Mar 2010)

If a solicitor took on the work, they would issue firstly a solicitors letter looking for payment within a fixed period- usually 7 to 14 days. If they did pay up within this period the solicitor would require a fee for the letter which probably would be small ( they are obliged to tell you in advance of the fee chargeable).

If not paid, district court proceedings are issued and served. On successful outcome, scale costs will be awarded against the company also. Often though the scale costs are not enough to discharge solicitors fees and some will also come out of your pocket. For small sums this can often mean employing a solicitor to chase debts is uneconomic.

However no harm in ringing and asking- if you get a solicitor who does a good bit of district court work  they may well work for scale or a bit above- as they will be in court anyway so can charge less.


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## Yachtie (12 Mar 2010)

Thank you all for replying. As suspected, I might as well write this amount off and think of it as a bonus if it ever comes through.


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## Importer (12 Mar 2010)

In your shoes, I wouldnt be so quick to write it off.

Send a few letters in quick succesion including statements, Also make a few phonecalls.Offer to call around and pick up the cheque in person.
The amount isn't so big so you should be hoping that they'll pay just to get rid of the nuisance.


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## aristotle (12 Mar 2010)

I wouldn't give up on it, it doesn't cost you very much to hassle them with emails and phone calls and try to get a date for the payment. Forget about trying to go down the legal route though for a 500 euro debt..


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## Yachtie (13 Mar 2010)

Importer said:


> In your shoes, I wouldnt be so quick to write it off.
> 
> Send a few letters in quick succesion including statements, Also make a few phonecalls.Offer to call around and pick up the cheque in person.
> The amount isn't so big so you should be hoping that they'll pay just to get rid of the nuisance.


 


aristotle said:


> I wouldn't give up on it, it doesn't cost you very much to hassle them with emails and phone calls and try to get a date for the payment. Forget about trying to go down the legal route though for a 500 euro debt..


 
I might try that, I know that I WOULD pay up just to get somebody off my case but you never know with other people.


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## 25euronote (4 Jul 2010)

Perhaps a little off topic, but, the scale fee mentioned above are (say for a debt of 2k) 100 euro, but  costs of 120 euro. [broken link removed]

does that mean that the total costs paid by the debtor are 220?

If the Judge awards costs in the low scale does that mean costs would be in the 1 - 100 euro region?

If thats the case how can it be worth anyones time taking a case to court?


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## Moral Ethos (4 Jul 2010)

They only take cases where the debt is over €1000 typically otherwise the claimant will have to pay out the costs not covered by scaled costs which makes chasing small debts uneconomical.


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## Moral Ethos (4 Jul 2010)

Gervan said:


> How much is still due? If €1900 or more is owed, and not disputed, you can get a solicitor to send a 4 day notice, which is actually the first step of bankruptcy proceedings. The notice demands that the debt should be paid to you within 4 days.
> It is certainly worth trying this, before just writing off the debt.


This does not apply in Ireland. Read the Bankruptcy Act 1988.


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