Late fees?

[djdave01]

A local bouncy castle owner has gone to the local press regarding a company that took 3 months to pay for the hire of a castle. The company seems to be refusing to pay a late fee.

Although its in our terms, we've never had to charge a late fee to anyone, but im wondering, can we legaly enforce payment of a late fee and what steps could we take to recover it.

[dehayco]

A local bouncy castle owner has gone to the local press regarding a company that took 3 months to pay for the hire of a castle. The company seems to be refusing to pay a late fee.

Although its in our terms, we've never had to charge a late fee to anyone, but im wondering, can we legaly enforce payment of a late fee and what steps could we take to recover it.

Yes! a friend has a smilier issue with something and got advice. What he got told is that you can legally charge £40 to anyone who pays you late (after 31 days).

[DJ Jules]

Yup, and I have done this before, both in the DJ and the Bouncy castle world.

With the bouncy castle stuff, the guy who booked refused to accept that it was his responsibility to ensure that the booking was paid for as "it was my mate who used the kit" - and he was unwilling to give me the name, address or contact number for this mate.

He kept denying his responsibility right through the small claims process, right up to the point where I set the date for the bailiffs to go round, when it suddenly sunk in that he had a CCJ against him and the court had ruled that I was fully legally entitled to collect what I was owed. At this point he coughed up the original amount (£85), court fees (£35), interest (£15+) and a late payment fee (£40).

I've got a late payment fee from a company that I did regular work for that didn't pay me for Nov, Dec or new years gigs until March a few years ago. A word of warning though, the relationship with the company soured after this and they quickly found another supplier.

People don't like being reminded of their obligations, and like being made to pay to fulfil them even less. I've had a similar situation with the school I had to threaten with small claims this year. They went elsewhere for their summer fete back in June, but since it was absolutely hammering it down that day I wasn't too bothered... :D

Julian

[djdave01]

Yes! a friend has a smilier issue with something and got advice. What he got told is that you can legally charge £40 to anyone who pays you late (after 31 days).

the bouncy castle owner is try to charge over £100 for his late fee. I assumed there would be a limit, didnt think it would be as low as £40 though

[Pe7e]

The amounts of fee chargeable depends on the size of the debt that is being claimed for, the amounts allowable are shown below: He must be the most expensive bouncy castle operator in the UK :-)


[F15A Compensation arising out of late payment.

(1)Once statutory interest begins to run in relation to a qualifying debt, the supplier shall be entitled to a fixed sum (in addition to the statutory interest on the debt). .
(2)That sum shall be– .
(a)for a debt less than £1000, the sum of £40; .
(b)for a debt of £1000 or more, but less than £10,000, the sum of £70; .
(c)for a debt of £10,000 or more, the sum of £100.

[Corabar Entertainment]

If it of interest to anyone, the relevant legislation is the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, which can be read in full here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/20/contents , and as well as the fixed fee, interest at the statutory rate (currently 8% above base rate, if memory serves me correctly) is payable.