Oh damn - I didn't invoice and now the company says they don't have the money to pay me!

[onebatmother]

Hello and thank you to anyone who can advise me.

I am a freelance tv person. Did one day a week development work from home for a very small production company (2 man band that takes on staff whenever they get a commission) for about 18 months. No contract, but I do have our negotiation about my fee on e-mail.

For reasons of being an utter arse, I didn't invoice them at all between Dec 2006 to Dec 2007. (I am pathologically crap at invoicing). It's 8K

Have just invoiced them last week. Just had an email back saying they don;t have the money to pay me - they have no commissions, that one of them has had to take another job, and the other is living off his wife. That I'll have to wait till they get another commission to get paid.

This is a disaster - I've paid out for childcare, been using our savings etc, and really need the money now! I know I have been very very silly in not invoicing before, but does anyone know where I stand? They are nice guys and I really don't think they're bullshitting me about the financial health of the company - but bloody hell!

I know that they own their offices in London.

They have acknowledged that they owe you the money which is good

Ask them for a proposed payment plan?
Otherwise you can take them to court

well you could press on with county court action and enforcement, but you will scupper any possibility of more work from them. Would it affect working for others in the industry?

perhaps your best bet is to negotiate payment by instalments. They should have put money aside and if necessary they should borrow to pay you, but only you can judge whether you stand to lose by insisting on payment in full now.

Serve them with a statutory demand. If they don't pay (and they probably will) you then issue a winding up petition. They will crap their pants and pay up.

I agree with the payment plan suggestions - We have been down the county Court route for non payment but the brutal truth is that winning does not get you paid - if they dont have the money and you force them down the legal route they will simply cease trading and you will get nothing - from a practical perspective if you can agree a payment plan that they will stick to then you may get something - whereas if they wind up (or you force them to) you will have costs but no monies. sorry if this sounds negative - it is the voice of experience.

Oh, thanks to you all.

I think a proposed payment plan is a good plan in the first instance - but beaulocks, if things get ugly, do I need a solicitor for a statutory demand and any idea how much that would cost?

And does anyone know if my crapness in not invoicing earlier makes any difference to anything? They knew it was coming, it was mentioned in various emails.

I think it just means you can't charge interest from any earlier date. Often terms of trading say payment is due 30 days from invoice, so you could not issue a statutory demand (or do anything else to compel payment) until 30 days have passed.

try these websites:

insolvency service (you need to scroll down a little)

netlawman

Thanks a lot iheartdusty - that's brilliant. Thanks everyone else too.