The first thing you should do if you are owed money from a family member, friend or business is to politely ask them for it back as they are past due. If possible, ask them to sign a formal written agreement, detailing repayment terms. If this fails, send them a ‘statutory demand’, a formal letter requesting payment before legal action is taken.
If you still don’t receive your money back, you can make a claim with the small claims court. Mediation is a cheaper and often quicker route to getting your money back, but the other party will have to agree to you both sitting down with an impartial third party to reach an agreement.
How can I get money back from someone I lent it to?
Related FAQs
- Are the company’s directors bound by the shareholders agreement when they make decisions?
- Can our terms and conditions include penalties for late payment?
- Can we get our goods back if the customer doesn’t pay?
- Do we need to have a written partnership agreement for our business partnership?
- Does a company need to have a shareholders agreement?
- How can I get money back from someone I lent it to?
- How can I protect myself against cash flow problems when selling to high risk customers?
- How can I tell if a customer risks becoming a bad debt?
- How do business leases work?
- How long a credit period are customers entitled to?
- How much will it cost to draw up a shareholders or partnership agreement and will each individual need their own legal advice?
- Is it better to include key terms in the company’s articles of association or a separate shareholders agreement?
- Is the customer entitled to withhold payment if part of a delivery is missing or faulty?
- The amount of cash we have tied up in credit sales is causing cash flow problems — what should we do?
- What are the main issues we need to cover in a shareholders agreement or partnership agreement?
- What credit control measures should we put in place to encourage prompt payment?
- What do we need to do to ensure that our terms and conditions apply to the sales we make?
- What happens if we want to change the terms of our shareholders or partnership agreement?
- What is dissolution?
- What is the best way of chasing overdue payments before they cause serious cash flow problems?
- What should the partnership or shareholders agreement say about someone leaving the business?
- What would it be reasonable to agree to in a shareholders agreement in order to attract an outside investor?
- Will any new partners or shareholders be bound by an agreement drawn up before they joined the business?