Client ghosting an unpaid invoice? Statutory interest, the letter before claim, the small claims route, and how to find a client who has moved

Work out who owes you

Everything that follows depends on who the debtor actually is, so start with the paperwork: the engagement email, the quote, the purchase order, the invoice, the bank payee on any earlier payments.

A company that has since been dissolved is a different problem, covered in a company dissolved owing you money. If the client was a company but the person signed a personal guarantee, or agreed the work in their own name, you may have both.

What you can add to the debt

Where both you and the client were acting in the course of a business, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you claim statutory interest on the overdue sum at eight per cent above the Bank of England base rate, from the day after the agreed payment date or, where none was agreed, after the period the Act sets. You can also claim a fixed sum towards the cost of recovering each debt, with the amount depending on the size of the invoice, and reasonable costs beyond that. Your contract may set a different rate; if it does, that applies instead. Set the interest and the fixed sum out in your letter and on the claim form.

Where the client was a consumer rather than a business, the Act does not apply, but you can still claim interest on a court claim at the rate the court allows.

The letter before claim

Chasing emails are not a letter before claim. Before you issue, write once, formally, setting out what was agreed, what was delivered, the invoice, the amount outstanding with interest and the fixed sum, the documents you rely on, how to pay, and a reasonable deadline. Say that you will issue a claim if you are not paid or do not receive a proposal.

Which pre-action rules apply depends on the client. A business claiming a debt from an individual, including a sole trader, follows the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, which requires a specific letter with specific enclosures and gives the debtor 30 days to respond. A business claiming from a company follows the general Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct, where 14 days is common for a straightforward debt. Get this right: a court can penalise a claimant who skipped it, even one who wins.

The letter has to be sent somewhere real. For a company, the registered office. For a person, their current address. A letter to a trading address they have left, or to an email they have abandoned, proves you tried and nothing else. Checking an address is current before a letter before action explains why that matters for the claim that follows.

Issuing the claim

Most unpaid invoices fall within the small claims limit and can be issued online through Money Claim Online, with the court fee added to the claim. The form asks for the defendant's name and address, and the court serves the claim there. If the client ignores it, you ask for judgment in default. If they defend, you get a hearing or a decision on paper. Either way you are then a judgment creditor, and the judgment is only money once it is enforced: enforcement agents, an attachment of earnings order against an employed debtor, a charging order over a property, or a third-party debt order against a bank account. Every one of those needs you to know where the debtor is, and some need to know where they work or what they own.

The rules for serving an individual send the claim form to their usual or last known residence, and expect reasonable steps to find the current one if you have reason to think they have moved. A judgment at a dead address can be set aside, with the fee and the months lost. Finding a defendant's address for Money Claim Online covers that step; enforcing a CCJ when the debtor has moved covers what comes after.

Finding a client who has moved

For a company, the register answers the question. For an individual, a professional trace does. You usually know more about a client than you think: their full name, the address on the engagement or the invoice, a phone number, an email, where they worked, what they do. The minimum to start is the full legal name plus a date of birth or a previous address, and the address you invoiced them at counts as a previous address.

Trace Bureau cross-references more than 150 sources, registers and records, and a private investigator verifies the result before it is released. You receive a dated PDF report with the person's current registered UK address and a confidence rating: Confirmed, Probable or Possible. An unpaid invoice is a legitimate interest under UK GDPR and a lawful reason to trace; we record the purpose, and the client is not told who instructed it. Standard is £150, delivered within 3 to 5 working days, and Priority is £200, delivered within 2 to 3 working days. Firms that chase invoices every month pay £120 per trace on a firm account, with the matter reference on every report. Nothing is paid at instruction. Your card is only held, and it is charged only when a private investigator has verified the address. Not found, no fee.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

In Scotland most invoice disputes of this size go through Simple Procedure in the sheriff court, with a five-year prescription period rather than the six-year limitation period in England and Wales. In Northern Ireland the small claims process in the county court applies. Both need the respondent's address, and the trace covers the whole of the UK.

Next time

Take a deposit before you start, put payment terms and the statutory interest clause in writing, invoice promptly, and get a sole trader's full name and home address on the engagement before the work begins. For a company, check it is active on the public register and consider a personal guarantee from the director for anything substantial.

When to instruct a trace

When the client is a person, the addresses you have are dead, and the invoice is worth the letter and the claim. Instruct a trace online in about five minutes, or see the page for tracing a debtor.