I've got a client that owes me not very much money (£380) but isn't paying. Never had this before, any advice on how to go legal? In particular, clearly he owes me the money so can I get a lawyer or someone on the case and get the costs back? Can I charge him more to cover the hassle of having had to chase him?
Advice from a lawyer would be better than anything anyone here can provide (unless they happen to be a lawyer in the UK ) make sure you document every invoice you send them.
In the US you have the choice of using a collection agency that will take a percentage of the collected amount. Mostly will call and send letters until they pay.
Second is small claims court that has a low fee up front to cover the cost of a court official going out with a hand delivered letter giving the details of the suit and where to appear. Think it is $50.00 where I live. You represent yourself. I won in the past for around $3500.00. Collecting may not be instant but you have a lien that will give them problems in future business transactions until paid. You might have something like this where you live.
It would probably cost more than the debt in legal fees. Consult your accountant or IRS web site about rules for writing off the bad debt as a tax deduction.
The problem here is that in small claims court (in the US) the aggrieved party appears in person with documentation about the case to present to the judge to avoid the cost of a lawyer which would cost more than the damages sought. If the defendent doesn't appear you get a default judgement. Actually collecting the damages is a different problem.
If they don't pay as directed by the small claims court you can go back to court and request a lien (more time and expense) but that still will not make them pay and you need to have knowledge of some asset they own to attach the lien to.
A lien doesn't compel the party to pay, it just prevents them from selling whatever asset the court attaches the lien to until it is satisfied. In the US a contractor which does not get paid for a home improvement project will file a "mechanic's lean" on the client's house using public property records. But that lien is secondary to the bank' s mortgage lien. It's more a leverage / annoyance tactic.
The most successful strategy would probably be to assign the debt to a UK collection agency but the return will be pence on the pound assuming they do ever collect.
Just consider it a learning experience and in the future require up front payment in full or a substantial deposit covering your out of pocket costs from overseas clients before performing the work. You might not get the job but if they aren't planning to pay for it that's not a bad thing
) make sure you document every invoice you send them.