Debt recovery - overseas client

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

As long as it's clear in your contract then you should be good for it. (Spanish law notwithstanding).

Yes, jurisdiction is a bit of a question mark. The contract is governed by England and Wales law, the work was performed here and to the best of my knowledge the client (an individual) is a British citizen. I'm sure Safe Collections can advise and I'll be speaking to them later this week if they client isn't going to pay.

[vwdan]

I had a really good chat with Safe Collections regarding a US client being difficult. I got it paid without using them in the end, though. (And then HSBC lost the cheque, so I had to go back to them ).

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Well unexpectedly, it seems like the client may end up paying after all. They've requested a bug be fixed, which is fine, and have mentioned they will arrange payment once the bug is fixed. We shall see...

[Safe Collections]

The advice I received was that there is a statutory right, and if your contract is under English law you're fine, but that you are better off with overseas clients if it is explicit in the contract. The reasoning being that you may need someone in a different legal jurisdiction to enforce collection sometime, and if you do, you and they may have an easier time if you are relying on contractual provisions to which your client explicitly agreed.

This is very good advice for overseas contracts, an explicit term is always preferable to an implied term and removes the potential for the debtor to try and claim UK law does not apply.

Yes, jurisdiction is a bit of a question mark. The contract is governed by England and Wales law, the work was performed here and to the best of my knowledge the client (an individual) is a British citizen. I'm sure Safe Collections can advise and I'll be speaking to them later this week if they client isn't going to pay.

This doesn't sound like it will present a significant issue in the event legal action is required. Assuming the client has assets in Spain you would issue proceedings in the UK court and then use a European Enforcement Order to pursue assets in Spain. Or you could try to locate any UK assets still owned by the debtor and enforce any judgment here in the UK.

Hopefully it wont come to that if the client has requested a bug fix, but you may want to retain the source code and assets until full payment has arrived safely...

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Thanks for the reply and everyone else. Yes, source code will only be delivered on receipt of payment.