Best Landlord Debt Collection Agencies – UK Reviews

With over 20 years of experience, The Landlord Group specialises in eviction and recovering rent arrears. The Landlord Group is led by specialist lawyers who represent both residential and commercial landlords. One of its greater benefits is that it is committed to seeing every case through no matter how complicated it becomes. Having an integrated legal team in your corner when battling through stressful situations is a huge help because you have full legal support.

The fees are fairly affordable with the entire court proceeding service priced at £995 (inc VAT). This service includes, lawyers preparing all necessary court documents, lawyers preparing witness statements and lawyers representing you at the court hearing. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the courts have introduced a process called the 'review hearing', which is not included in the full service and if your case is listed for a review hearing, there is an additional fee of £295 (inc VAT). This fee doesn't have to be paid if you choose not to have The Landlord Group deal with his part of the court process. Whilst the additional fee may seem a hassle, it also means that you get the flexibility and affordability to choose what parts of the process you want to be looked after by legal experts. If your budget is limited, you can choose to opt to pay for services that you need the most assistance in.

You can also choose to only have the court paperwork prepared for you, priced at an affordable £199 (inc VAT). This is a good option if you feel prepared enough to deal with the court process yourself but want to ensure that the court paperwork is completed accurately. Although this service is not available if you want to use the Accelerated Procedure.

Service features

• Nationwide legal advocates
• Residential tenant eviction
• Rent, service charge and debt collection
• Trespasser court procedures

Established by landlords, LegalforLandlords knows and understands the pain points of being a landlord and offers an affordable, fairly straightforward service to help you deal with any issues. It offers you one point of contact, even if you have multiple problems to discuss and solve, this way you know you have someone to speak to who understands your situation and offer you customised assistance.

Services are offered at a fixed-fee, so you won't be hit by any unexpected fees, a huge benefit when dealing with a stressful period of collecting funds owed to you. If you're just starting out in this process and are not yet certain of the options available to you or just need some guidance, it offers free advice, which you can easily book online.

Previous customers have reported that LegalforLandlords are efficient, offer great service and make the process so much easier. With a 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot and over 3,000 reviews, it seems most reviewers agree.

A Section 8 or 21 notice will cost you £159 +VAT, other eviction services such as a Commercial Notice to Quit costs £99 +VAT. LegalforLandlords also offer possession order services which help you deal with the whole process of an eviction if the tenant does not leave the property after a legal notice. There are two options here, an Accelerated Application, priced from £1,188, which includes VAT and court fees, which can only be used to recover possession of the property and does not include rent arrears. The second is a Standard Application, with fees starting from £1,399 including VAT and court fees.

If this is unsuccessful, you have the option of instructing a bailiff, with fees starting from £384 +VAT to £1,199 +VAT.

Service features

• Tenant tracing on a no trace-no fee basis
• Licensed and certified bailiffs
• Guidance and advice on rent recovery procedures
• Rent recovery pre-court letters
• Tenant referencing

Landlord Action is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and deal with several matters relating to landlords including problem tenants, landlord and tenants disputes, rental debt collection and squatters. Its fees are fixed and are fairly affordable, for example, an address trace costs £96, and a pre-action letter to the tenant is £240.

Landlord Action offers tons of advice online in the form of documents, podcasts and videos so that you can access guidance without ever needing to speak to someone. It offers a unique three step process, which for debt recovery is 1) pre-action 2) money claim and 3) enforcement.

The pre-action letter (£240) must be given to the tenant before a money claim issued, a trace will need to be carried out if the tenants current address isn't known. A money claim (around £360) will need to be issued before using an enforcement process, unless you have a money order. Once the money order has been issued, there are a few different enforcement processes you can take. To review and discuss your options for reinforcement, this will cost £120.

Service features

• Company founded by landlords
• Recover debts for up to 6 years
• Money claim applications
• Enforcement services
• Specialist advice and guidance