What are Statutory Demands

What’s it for?

Statutory Demands are used in the recovery of money you are owed from an individual or company.

Statutory demands, Process Servers are used If you are owed money by anyone, you can make a statutory demand. There is technically no minimum amount of money that you need to be owed before you can issue a statutory demand. However, unless the debt is £5,000 or more for an individual, or £750 for a business, you will have minimal power to enforce the demand if the debtor ignores it. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t serve a demand if the debt is lower than this amount, but it’s something to be aware of should the debtor be particularly aware of the law.

You don’t need to involve a lawyer to issue and serve a statutory demand, and the process is relatively simple. In our experience, it’s a cost-effective and successful way of recovering money.

A statutory demand is usually only enforceable if the debt is less than six years old. If the debt is older than this, it is recommended to seek legal advice to see if it can still be pursued.

When your statutory demand is served professionally by Kent Legal process servers, the debtor will have 21 days in which to respond. The options are:

1) Pay the debt in full
2) Reach an acceptable agreement to pay

There is some power behind the service of a statutory demand. If you receive no response within 21 days, you can apply to bankrupt your debtor or wind up their company. This is if you are owed £5,000 or more by an individual or you and any other creditors are owed £750 or more by a company.

Bankruptcy or winding up is usually a course of action that most individuals and businesses want to avoid at all costs, so the service of a statutory demand can be a positive catalyst to recovering money you are owed.

There is a guide to the type of statutory demand form you will need here https://www.gov.uk/statutory-demands/forms-to-issue-a-statutory-demand.

If you need any assistance regarding what form to fill, how to fill it in and how to serve the statutory demand please contact Kent Legal today.

Please note: The above is not meant to constitute legal advice. The law changes regularly and as such we recommend speaking to a legal professional for clarification.