Nothing spurs payment like the threat of liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings. These forms really are incredibly effective if completed correctly. Net Lawman offers completed examples and guidance notes so that you can adapt the forms to your circumstances. The documents also include an example covering letter and of course a plain copy of the form.
Statutory demand form and notes: service on a company or LLP
This document allows you to serve a statutory demand prescribed under the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 against a company or limited liability partnership (LLP).
Use it to enforce payment of a specific sum of money that you can prove is due to you.
Follow with bankruptcy proceedings and winding up of the debtor business if necessary.
Our guidance notes tell you how to complete the document and the process you should follow so that you don't have to involve solicitors or collection agencies.
Included are:
- the government form in Microsoft Word
- a Net Lawman version of the form in Microsoft Word format
- a letter to the debtor to send with whichever demand form you use
Statutory demand form and notes: service on an individual
This document enables you to serve a statutory demand SD2 Rule 10.1 against an individual to recover a specific debt that you can prove is owed to you.
If the debt is not repaid, you can follow with bankruptcy proceedings.
We include guidance as to how to complete the documents and how to serve the notices. You do not need to involve your solicitor or a debt collection agency.
Included in the pack are:
- The traditional form in Microsoft Word (Docx) format for completion on your computer
- Net Lawman version, which we believe is easier to complete on your computer a letter to the debtor to send with the form you use
If the document isn’t right for your circumstances for any reason, just tell us and we’ll refund you in full immediately.
We avoid legal terminology unless necessary. Plain English makes our documents easy to understand, easy to edit and more likely to be accepted.
You don’t need legal knowledge to use our documents. We explain what to edit and how in the guidance notes included at the end of the document.
Email us with questions about editing your document. Use our Lawyer Assist service if you’d like our legal team to check your document will do as you intend.
Our documents comply with the latest relevant law. Our lawyers regularly review how new law affects each document in our library.
About these forms
A statutory demand is an ancient but still incredibly powerful debt collecting device. The law assumes it merely paves the way for a bankruptcy or winding up petition, but the threat of a petition can spur repayment from even the most unwilling debtor.
Furthermore, the procedure to issue these forms is very easy to follow. Using these forms, the guidance and the letter in this pack you should be able to issue a demand yourself without needing to involve solicitors or pay court fees.
The format prescribed by the law
We provide you with three versions of form 4.1 under section 123(1)(a) or 222(1)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986.
Some of the text in the forms is laid down in the Insolvency Act 1986, and therefore must be left precisely as it is. We make clear what that is in the guidance notes that we provide with the documents.
Although we provide the forms in a traditional format, the layout is not laid down by law, so we are able to provide our own more user friendly version of the form as well.
When to use
If you are trying to recover debts from an individual or business partnership (but not a limited liability partnership), you can serve the notice on any partner as if you were recovering the debt from an individual. It is usual to choose the most senior partner, but you can pick any. Just make sure you choose a person who does have the wealth to repay you.
If you are trying to recover debts from a company or a limited liability partnership, then you must use the company version of the form.
Statutory demands are not served as often as they could be. A common misconception is that a solicitor is needed to prepare the forms, or that serving one is a difficult process or a certain path to litigation. In fact, in the right circumstances it is a fast and efficient way to collect a debt.
The key is that your debtor has to believe that you will take the process further to make him bankrupt or wind up his company if he fails to pay. We advise that you should take that step if you need to do so, but you will find that in most cases you will not have to go further than a statutory demand. Now consider these points:
- By law, the debt must be at least £750. There is no cost or filing or registration necessary.
- If your debtor is to believe you will follow up with insolvency proceedings, you have to make him see that it will be worth your while. That means covering the fee on the petition to wind up and adding something to cover the aggravation of litigation. We suggest that the minimum amount that you should pursue is £1,000.
- You will not be paid if your debtor truly does not have the money. However, it is amazing how money is found when a creditor really presses hard.
- You have to be certain that what is owed is a simple money debt. You cannot issue a statutory demand for a case that could need a judge to decide.
- It goes without saying that you should not expect to have an on-going relationship with the debtor.
- You should reckon that your debtor is likely to repay you rather than risk his reputation. This is particularly true against large companies, companies where reputation is important to business, and to governmental organisations. (You could not actually wind up the Ministry of Defence, but they would certainly pay you fast if you issued a statutory demand!)
Only improvement for me would be to explain in the notes which court details to add to the SD - I had to look elsewhere to find the answer, as I did not know if it was a court local to me or the company I was sending the SD too - but apart from that, everything was worthwhile. (FYI It needs to be the one closest to the company!)
I feel completely reassured that I have filled in and followed the process, all because of these downloaded guide and templates. Well worth it!
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