Pricing Transparency Information

Background

Solaris Law Limited (“Solaris”) provides debt recovery litigation services to a wide range of businesses, almost exclusively where the underlying debt is a result of a lending transaction.  Solaris acts for businesses seeking to recover debts from consumers and, in some cases, from other businesses.  This will include where the debt in question is unsecured but also where the debt is secured against an asset in some form.

Solaris does, not, in general, act for individuals in providing debt recovery services.  Solaris acts for businesses who will, through the nature of their business, wish to instruct us on a portfolio of matters with regular instructions.  We very rarely act for a business seeking to recover an individual debt but may consider this from time to time.

Flexibility

We recognise that many businesses will wish to put their portfolio of instructions out to competitive tender, and we understand that the information below may not meet the expectations in approach for that tender.  We confirm that we will be pleased to consider the terms of any tender to respond appropriately.

For businesses which wish to instruct us on a portfolio of matters, the prices agreed will depend significantly on the precise requirements of the business concerning the approach to be taken, including the extent of any pre-litigation work, the extent of management information required, and the governance required including around, for example, review meetings etc.  Solaris will be happy to discuss you detailed requirements.

Depending on a business’ requirements and the size of any portfolio of matters on which you wish us to act, we will consider whether hourly rates (discounted or otherwise), fixed fees, conditional fee arrangements, or a damages-based agreement would be appropriate.  Any pricing arrangement will, however, be individually negotiated based on your precise requirements.

Who will carry out my work?

Solaris is structured with specialist teams deployed to deal with different debt types, including teams specialising in unsecured and secured lending to both consumers and businesses and asset-based lending to both consumers and businesses.

These teams include solicitors (of varying post qualification experience), legal executives, paralegals and support staff.  If you instruct us, we will provide further information on which teams and who within those teams will act on your instructions.

A typical claim

We have set out below details on what the potential costs for recovery of an undisputed unsecured lending debt to a consumer might be.  The fee structure is based on fees which might be agreed in the event of a business instructing us on a portfolio of unsecured debt.  Please note that our fees attract VAT at 20%.  Some disbursements are exempt from VAT and others attract VAT at 20%.

STAGE 1: Pre-action (before court proceedings are required)

This stage would include:

• Receiving instructions from you in an agreed format
• Issuing an initial letter
• Issuing a letter of claim compliant with the Debt Pre-Action Protocol
• Engaging in any negotiations at those stages

By way of example, if we were able to recover £1,000 at this stage and we sent 1 initial letter, our fee would be between £125.00 and £275.00 plus VAT.  The percentage charged on recoveries will depend on the precise nature of the debts (including, for example, the debt’s age) on which we are instructed, and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

Please note that these fees are exclusive of any disbursements.  Disbursements are payments to third parties which we make on your behalf and for which you will be liable.  At this stage, the most likely disbursement would be a trace agent fee which would be required if the debtor needed to be traced.  Such fees range from £35.00 to £200.00 plus VAT or even more in some circumstances.

The total cost of recovering a debt at this stage is made up of our fees plus any disbursements and VAT.  These costs will not be recoverable from the debtor.

If a debt is paid after the initial letter, then you are likely to know this within around 14 to 28 days.  If a letter compliant with the Debt Pre-Action Protocol is required, then you are likely to know the position within around 30 days after the date of that letter.  However, subject to your instructions, a debtor may be given longer to repay the debt (possibly by instalments) and this will, of course, impact on when you will receive full repayment.

STAGE 2: County Court proceedings

This stage would include:

• Issuing court proceedings
• Entering judgment in default
• Taking enforcement action

Fixed costs for issuing proceedings and entering judgment vary depending on the level of the debt.  Fixed costs for issuing proceedings range between £50.00 and £100.00 and for entering judgment between £22.00 and £70.00.

Current Fixed Costs can be found here: PRACTICE DIRECTION 45 – TABLES OF FIXED COSTS (2024) – Justice UK

Court fees vary depending on the level of the debt.  The court fee for issuing proceedings varies between £35.00 and £10,000.00.

The fee for making an application for a charging order is £135.00 (at 7 April 2025).  HM Land Registry fees for obtaining Office Copies of the Register and for registering and charging order are (currently) £7.00 and £20.00 respectively.

Current Court Fees can found here: Civil court fees (EX50) – GOV.UK

Using the above example and a debt of £3,001.00 the costs of issuing proceedings in the County Court, obtaining default judgment, and a charging order would be:-

From issuing proceedings to obtaining a charging order would, therefore, cost a total of £302.00 in fees and £367.00 in disbursements plus VAT where applicable.  Please note that court fees are exempt from VAT, but HMLR fees will attract VAT at 20%.

From issuing proceedings to obtaining a charging order would take a minimum of 3 months or so. 

Other methods of enforcing a judgment are possible including a warrant of control or an attachment of earnings order.  In some circumstances, in may be possible to transfer a judgment to the High Court for enforcement by a writ of control.

Solaris would be happy to advise on the best methods of enforcement for your debt(s) based on the individual circumstances of the debtor(s).

STAGE 3: Defended Claims

Of course, a defendant may dispute any claim and file a defence (and/or a counterclaim).  In such circumstances, Solaris would charge on a time spent basis at hourly rates to be agreed with you based on the seniority and experience of the legal adviser.

Indicative Hourly rates are:

FCILEx means Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

PQE means Post Qualification Experience and indicates the period of time since the Solicitor or Filex qualified.

These hourly rates may be discounted depending on the volume of instructions that a business proposes to instruct us on.

If a defence was filed, we would review the merits of the defence, agree a strategy with you and agree a budget for taking each further step to conclude the claim based on the circumstances of the individual claim.

It is not possible to provide a time frame or estimated cost for such activity unless and until the details of a particular claim and any defence to that claim are known.