Statutory demands
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- Direct access to your legal team
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Do you need to set aside a Statutory Demand?
Have you received a statutory demand? What is it? What can you do?
Above all else, you must act quickly…
You only have an 18 day period from receipt of the statutory demand to challenge payment. If you have an alleged debt of £5000 or more you can be issued with a statutory demand.
It is very straightforward for a creditor to issue one and is the first step towards bankruptcy proceedings against an individual. There is no court involvement in the issue of the demand and the creditor can issue the demand as soon as the debt is due.
If you ignore the statutory demand this is assumed to be an acknowledgement by you that the debt is valid and owing, and bankruptcy can follow.
If you dispute the demand you can apply to a County Court to have it set aside. It is absolutely crucial that you do so promptly.
You will need expert help in making the application and it is essential that you are able to show that the debt IS in dispute and that you have a real prospect of succeeding in defending the claim. There are technical defences available that need urgent consideration.
Contact our Commercial Litigation team for expert help in making your application to set aside your statutory demand.
You only have 21 days to:
- settle the debt,
- reach an agreement to pay,
- make an application to have the demand set aside.
If there’s no agreement, whoever issues the statutory demand can start bankruptcy proceedings (against individuals who owe £5000 or more). This might have a devastating effect, and to dispute the bankruptcy proceedings will be more difficult and much more expensive than disputing statutory demands.
