Letter Before Action in Cyprus

Send us the debt

What we need to quote

Short answers are enough. Fixed fee quoted within one business day of receiving your details.

Please do not attach the file at this stage. We will ask for the invoices and the contract once we have confirmed we can act.

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Your name *

Please enter your name.

Email *

Please enter an email address we can reply to.

Who is owed, and who owes *

Registered names if they are companies, e.g. "Example Trading Ltd owed by Example Builders Ltd".

Please name both sides.

Amount outstanding

What it arises from

When did it fall due

Has the debtor disputed it?

Is there a written acknowledgement or a part payment?

It decides whether the limitation period has been interrupted and started again.

Where is the debtor

Anything else

What has been said so far, whether anything is admitted, and whether you know of assets.

Fields marked * are required.

Fixed fee quoted within one business day of receiving your details. Sending this does not create a lawyer and client relationship, and no fee is due unless you approve the figure and instruct us.

One letter, drafted so it does not damage the claim behind it

An unpaid invoice usually gets paid at one of two moments: when the debtor realises the creditor is organised, or when a court orders it. The letter before action is the first of those, and it is the cheapest step in debt recovery by a distance.

It only works if it is specific. A letter that names the contract, itemises the sum, sets a date and states what follows is difficult to ignore. A letter that complains, rounds the figure, or threatens something the sender will not do is quoted back at the sender months later.

How to start

Through the form below, tell us who owes what to whom and any deadline that matters, so we can run a conflict check. Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your details, and no work starts before you have the figure and approve it. Please do not send the invoices or the contract until we confirm we can act, then they can come through the right channel.

Tell us about the debt

What it has to contain

Five things, and the fifth is the one that moves money

The parties, exactly. The company that is owed and the company that owes, in their registered names. A letter addressed to a trading name, or written by the wrong group entity, invites a reply that says nothing is owed to you, which is technically correct and wastes a month.

What the debt arises from. The contract, the order, or the invoices, identified by number and date rather than described.

The sum, itemised. Principal separately from anything claimed on top of it. A single rounded figure is the easiest thing in the world to dispute.

A date. A specific date by which payment is required, not a period that starts running from an event nobody recorded.

What happens if the date passes. This is the sentence that distinguishes a letter that gets paid from a letter that gets filed. It has to be a step you are prepared to take, because the next letter is measured against it.

A successful claimant generally recovers a contribution towards legal costs from the debtor, and interest may also be claimed. A contribution is not the whole bill, so the recoverable element is one input into the decision rather than a reason to litigate.

If you are ready to demand payment, tell us the registered names of both sides and what the debt arises from, at office@kleanthousplatis.com, or the enquiry form. We reply within one business day.

Before it is sent

Two questions worth answering first

Is the debt still in time? Limitation periods apply in Cyprus and depend on the nature of the debt. The general period for contractual claims is six years from when the cause of action accrued, under section 7(1) of the Limitation of Actions Law 66(I)/2012, while the fee of an independent professional is subject to a three-year period under section 7(2), and there are important exceptions in both directions. Do not assume a debt is dead or alive without advice: send the paperwork and we will confirm the position. Where the date is close, the position can be checked against our limitation periods calculator.

Is there anything to recover from? A judgment against a company with no assets is an expensive certificate. Where the sum is large enough to justify it, the sensible order is to establish what the debtor has before deciding how hard to push, not after.

Where the debtor is a company and the debt is undisputed, a statutory demand is a different instrument with different consequences, and it is not a letter before action. Which one fits is part of what we tell you when we quote.

Common questions

What is a letter before action?

A written demand sent before proceedings that identifies the debt, the contract or invoices it arises from, the sum claimed and the date by which payment is required. It gives the debtor a last opportunity to pay or to say why it disputes the debt, and it puts your position on the record before a claim is issued.

Does it have to be sent by a lawyer?

No, and many are not. What changes when it comes from an advocate is that the debtor can see the next step is real, and that the letter is drafted so it does not damage the claim it precedes. A letter that overstates the sum, or threatens a step that will not be taken, is quoted back at the sender later.

What if the debtor ignores it?

Then you have a decision to make with better information than before, because silence is itself an answer. We advise on whether the claim is worth issuing, on where the debtor's assets are, and on what enforcement would realistically reach, before anything further is spent.

Can I claim interest and my costs?

Is the debt too old?

Limitation periods apply in Cyprus and depend on the nature of the debt; many contractual debts must be pursued within six years, with important exceptions in both directions. One exception favours the patient creditor: under section 25(1) of the Contract Law, Cap. 149, a promise in writing, signed by the debtor, to pay a debt that limitation had barred is itself a binding contract, so the right letter can sometimes revive what looked lost. Do not assume a debt is dead or alive without advice: send the paperwork and we will confirm the position.

What does the letter cost?

The fee is fixed, not hourly. Fixed fee quoted within one business day of receiving your details, and no work starts before you have the figure and approve it.

Who leads this work

Between them the partners bring more than 40 years of practice in Cyprus. Every matter is run by one of them.