HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

Letter before action/claim can be sent once the stage 1 enquiries have been completed. This can often be within a few days of initial instructions depending on the amount of information and details you are able to provide.

The issue of court proceedings can be undertaken once the time limit in letter before action has expired. We will ask you to let us have a payment on account of the court fee payable.

Once Claim Form is lodged with the court, it invariably takes a few days for the court office to “issue” the proceedings and effect service of the same (usually) by post. The court will send us a “Notice of Issue” and this will confirm the date proceedings are deemed to have been served on the defendant which will in turn produce the 14 day time limit for the defendant to acknowledge service and the further 14 day time limit within which the defendant must file any defence to be relied upon.

Application for default judgment will be lodged once the time limits have expired. Sealed judgment will then be received from the court office a few days after application for summary/default judgment is lodged with the court office.

It is difficult to indicate any likely timescale for enforcement proceedings as the timetable will be dependent on the time it takes for the court to deal with any particular application and any response from the defendant. These will be considered and discussed on a case by case basis.