When a customer will not pay: a decorator's options in 2026

What you can do depends on whether the customer is a business or a homeowner. Against a business the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives statutory interest and a fixed sum. Against a homeowner it gives neither. What is left is an interest term written into the quote, a Letter of Claim and a county court claim.

Bank Rate 3.75%, held at the Monetary Policy Committee decision of 30 Jul 2026; statutory interest 11.75%; court fees as published 13 Jul 2026. All figures as at 7 Sep 2026.

Does it matter whether your customer is a homeowner or a business?

It decides everything that follows. Section 2 of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 applies the Act to a contract for the supply of goods or services where the purchaser and the supplier are each acting in the course of a business. Both sides, not one. Section 2 of the 1998 Act also says business includes a profession and the activities of any government department or local or public authority. GOV.UK guidance on late commercial payments says the same: statutory interest applies to business to business transactions.

A homeowner having their own house painted is not acting in the course of a business, so the Act does not reach that contract. A main contractor, another trade subcontracting to you, a letting agent, an office, a pub, a shop, a housing association or a local authority is the other case; the main-contractor relationship has rules of its own, covered in the CIS guide for decorators. A private individual letting property sits between the two, and the answer turns on the facts of that landlord’s activity.

A second statute lands on the same line. Section 105 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 makes decorating expressly a construction operation: painting or decorating the internal or external surfaces of any building or structure.

Sources: the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, accessed September 2026.

What can you charge a business customer who pays late?

Statutory interest on the debt, and a fixed sum for the cost of chasing it. GOV.UK guidance on late commercial payments says that where no payment day is agreed, payment is late 30 days after either the customer gets the invoice or the service is delivered, whichever is later. Where one is agreed, the same guidance caps it at 30 days for public authorities and 60 days for business transactions, longer only if fair to both businesses.

Section 6 of the 1998 Act and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Rate of Interest) (No. 3) Order 2002 set statutory interest at 8% plus the Bank of England base rate. The Bank of England, as at 7 Sep 2026, puts Bank Rate at 3.75%, held at the Monetary Policy Committee decision of 30 Jul 2026. Statutory interest on a qualifying business debt in 2026 is therefore 8% above the Bank of England base rate, which stood at 3.75% on both reference dates for 2026, giving 11.75% as at 7 Sep 2026.

Section 5A of the 1998 Act adds a fixed sum for debt recovery costs on top: £40 for a debt up to £999.99, £70 from £1,000 to £9,999.99, and £100 from £10,000. Where reasonable recovery costs exceed the fixed sum, section 5A entitles the supplier to the difference.

Take a £2,400 invoice 60 days late. £2,400 at 11.75% is £282 a year; divided by 365 is £0.7726 a day; times 60 is £46.36. Add the £70 fixed sum for a debt in that band.

What can you charge a homeowner who will not pay?

Interest from one of two places: a rate you wrote into your own terms, or a rate the court awards. GOV.UK guidance on late commercial payments states that you cannot claim statutory interest if a different rate of interest is in the contract; on a homeowner job there is no statutory interest to claim at all.

A rate in your own quote is a consumer contract term. Section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer, and that a term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance to the detriment of the consumer. Schedule 2 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 lists, among terms that may be unfair, one requiring a consumer who fails to fulfil his obligations to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation. So the mechanism is a stated rate the customer saw before the job started. Whether a given rate is proportionate turns on the facts and is for a court to decide.

The second source is the court. Section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 lets the county court include in a judgment for a debt simple interest at such rate as the court thinks fit, running from when the cause of action arose to judgment. GOV.UK guidance on making a court claim for money says that for other types of debt the rate is usually 8%, with the working: the sum times 0.08 for a year, divided by 365 for a day, times the days overdue.

Which letter do you have to send before you start a claim?

That turns on what the customer is, and it runs opposite to everything above. The Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, an England and Wales rule, applies to any business, including sole traders and public bodies, claiming payment of a debt from an individual, including a sole trader; it does not apply to business-to-business debts unless the debtor is a sole trader. So a sole-trader decorator chasing a homeowner is inside the Protocol, and chasing a limited-company contractor is not.

Inside the Protocol the letter is prescribed. The Letter of Claim must enclose an up-to-date statement of account, a copy of the Information Sheet and Reply Form, and a Financial Statement form. If the debtor does not reply within 30 days of the date at the top of the letter, the creditor may start court proceedings.

Outside it, the letter is the ordinary one. Under the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols, where no protocol applies the claimant writes with concise details of the claim and the defendant should respond within a reasonable time, 14 days in a straightforward case. That is the letter most people mean by letter before action, and against a homeowner it is the wrong one.

What does it cost to take a customer to court, and do you get it back if you win?

Two fees to reach a hearing, and the winner can have both back. Part 26 of the Civil Procedure Rules makes the small claims track the normal track for a claim of not more than £10,000, which is where a decorating debt sits.

Sources: GOV.UK civil court fees (EX50), updated 13 July 2026, accessed September 2026. England and Wales. No hearing-fee band sits above £3,000.

Part 27 of the Civil Procedure Rules limits what the court may order a party to pay on that track: fixed issue costs, court fees paid by the other party, travel and accommodation for a hearing, capped lost earnings, capped expert’s fees, limited legal advice costs on injunction or specific performance claims, and costs where a party has behaved unreasonably. Court fees paid by the other party is the item that brings the fee back on a win. A small claims track winner cannot recover solicitors’ costs, so a solicitor’s bill comes out of what is recovered.

The GOV.UK money claims service handles claims of £25,000 or less against an individual or an organisation.

What happens after you win?

Nothing, until you enforce it. GOV.UK guidance on making a court claim for money lists the options: warrant of control, writ of control, attachment of earnings order, third party debt order, charging order, and an order to obtain information. GOV.UK civil court fees (EX50), updated 13 Jul 2026, put a warrant of control at £96 and the attachment of earnings, third party debt and charging orders at £139 each, charged by defendant, by party and by order.

Two thresholds decide who does the collecting. GOV.UK guidance on making a court claim for money says that for a county court warrant of control you must be owed £5,000 or less, for a High Court writ at least £600, and between £600 and £5,000 you may apply to either.

Then the figure nobody expects. The County Courts (Interest on Judgment Debts) Order 1991 gives post-judgment interest only where the judgment is for a sum of not less than £5,000, and the Judgment Debts (Rate of Interest) Order 1993 sets the rate at 8%. Below that floor a county court judgment carries no interest after judgment.

Is the process different in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Yes, on the limit, the procedure and the fee. GOV.UK guidance on making a court claim for money covers England and Wales and states that there is a different process in Scotland and in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service puts a claim for payment of a sum of money of £5,000 or less into simple procedure in the sheriff court, with ordinary cause procedure above that. Its fee table, in force 1 April 2026, sets the fee to lodge a simple procedure claim form at £23 where the sum claimed is £300 or less, and £127 in all other actions.

nidirect states that in Northern Ireland a small claim is in general one where the value claimed is not more than £5,000, handled through the County Court. The Northern Ireland Department of Justice county court fee schedule, in force 1 April 2026, sets the lodging fee at £49 for a claim not exceeding £300, £81 to £500, £113 to £1,000, £163 to £3,000, and £244 above that.

Sources: the Civil Procedure Rules, GOV.UK civil court fees (EX50), the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Northern Ireland Department of Justice, accessed September 2026.

Can you stop work if a customer stops paying?

Yes on notice, not on the customer’s own home. Section 112 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 gives a party to a construction contract the right to suspend performance of any or all obligations for non-payment, on at least seven days’ written notice stating the grounds, and the right ends on payment in full. Section 112 of the same Act makes the defaulting party liable for a reasonable amount in respect of costs and expenses reasonably incurred, and the suspension period is disregarded in computing contractual time.

Section 106 of the same Act takes that away on the job most decorators do most weeks. Part II does not apply to a construction contract with a residential occupier, meaning a contract that principally relates to operations on a dwelling which one of the parties occupies, or intends to occupy, as his residence. On a homeowner’s own house there is no statutory right to suspend, and what the law gives instead is the claim for the money above.

What if the customer says the work is not good enough?

Then it is a quality dispute, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets the order things happen in. Section 49 says every contract to supply a service includes a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill. Sections 54 to 56 of the same Act give the consumer three remedies where the service does not conform: the right to require repeat performance, the right to a price reduction, and damages.

The order is the point. Section 55 of the same Act says repeat performance means the trader must perform the service again to the extent necessary to complete it in conformity with the contract, at the trader’s cost. Section 56 puts price reduction second: the consumer may require the price to be reduced by an appropriate amount, potentially the full price, with any refund within 14 days. Repeat performance sits first, so withholding the whole price is not the consumer’s proper position under the Act. A customer who refuses access to put the work right has taken the first remedy away.

Whether the work met the reasonable care and skill standard is a question of fact and, in a defended claim, a matter for the judge.

How do you stop it happening on the next job?

Two things, and the second catches decorators out. The Painting and Decorating Association’s Code of Practice sets a written quotation unless the work is too intricate, daywork rates disclosed before commencement, and a six-month workmanship guarantee. What goes into that quotation, and how deposits and exclusions are stated, is in the pricing guide.

The second is a cancellation right created by paperwork, not by the work. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 define an off-premises contract to include a contract concluded in the simultaneous physical presence of the trader and the consumer in a place which is not the business premises of the trader. A price agreed at a customer’s kitchen table is that contract. For a service contract the same Regulations end the cancellation period at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is entered into.

Miss the paperwork and that clock changes. If the trader does not give the required information on the right to cancel, the same Regulations end the cancellation period at the end of 12 months after the day it would have ended. Where the contract is cancelled, the consumer bears no cost at all for what was supplied if the trader failed to give the required information, or if the service was not supplied in response to an express request. A trader who enters into an off-premises contract and fails to give the required information is also guilty of an offence, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.