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  7. Sequence of Letters etc. for Late Payment Compensation
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Sequence of Letters etc. for Late Payment Compensation

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10 years 2 months ago #1199 by jonlepad
Sequence of Letters etc. for Late Payment Compensation was created by jonlepad
Thank you such an excellent site.

I have finally sent my first recorded delivery letter requesting late payment compensation & interest for persistent late payment. I have completed work for this very large Estate Agency for the last 3 years and only have received payment on time on a few occasions. I finally lost my patience chasing and waiting on some occasions up to 90 days for payment.
I have since got this invoice paid but I got an email reply back stating they are not legally obliged to pay the compensation & interest and if I pursued this matter I would hear from their legal department. I have since replied to this stating I would love to see their payment terms & conditions (as never seen them) and they can feel free to pass on all correspondence to their legal department. As the charge is only £40 and few pence interest it is a small sum, but it is now a matter of principle to not get bullied by this multi franchise estate agency.
I have just looked over the last 3 years trading and 90 out of 122 invoices were paid over 60 days and 30 invoices were over 90 days late. This I may chase later depending on my experience with this one claim.

What I really need to know is what should I do next? Do I resend my letter requesting payment with 7 days and if not paid I will take court action etc.? What are the reasonable time frames and sequence of letters I should be sending? What wording should I be using in these letters? Are their any templates I should be using?

Thank you

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10 years 2 months ago #1200 by David J
Replied by David J on topic Re: Sequence of Letters etc. for Late Payment Compensation
Hello Jonlepad

Under the late payment legislation act you can charge interest and compensation on all the past invoices that were paid but paid late. This can go back up to 6 years. This is based on the limitations act 1980. (www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58) If you did not agree payment terms then the default set by the legislation is 30 days. The calculator on this site will work out what you are owed on each invoice. It is just £7.00 per annum for unlimited use. Just put in the date it became overdue and the date you had clear funds in your bank. You will see that the bulk of the claim will be the compensation though. £40.00 up to £999.99, £70.00 up to £9999.00 and £100.00 over £10.000.00 that is a minimum of £3600 in compensation. Make the claim in writing stating overdue dates and payment dates. Include a link to the legislation on the govs website www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/20/contents


If they dispute it (and they will) tell them to get their solicitor to read the act and advice them where it says they are exempt from paying.

if they haven't paid within 2 weeks, make a claim through money claim online (www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome) or a reputable debt recovery service like CPA (www.cpa.co.uk).

They will have 14 days to admit or defend. My colleague Ashley has suggested that its all or nothing so if you are going to request a late payment charge & interest you ask for it now on all invoices. If you don't the court may deem that you accepted the late payments earlier by not claiming them in a current action.

Best regards

David

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10 years 2 months ago #1201 by jonlepad
Replied by jonlepad on topic Re: Sequence of Letters etc. for Late Payment Compensation
Thank you David for all the excellent advice.
I will work out all the charges on the Pay on Time calculator as suggested and send them the good news.
I will update on all events as soon as they happen.

Many thanks

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