Checking who owes the debt

Debt recovery begins with identifying the person or entity that made the payment obligation. A trading name, website brand or director's email signature may not be the legal debtor.

Reconcile identity across the records

Compare the contract, order, invoice details and correspondence. For a company, check the registered name, number and status through Companies House. ^[1] A name change differs from incorporation of a new company with a similar brand.

For a sole trader or partnership, obtain advice on how the parties should be described. Do not assume that a company's director personally owes its invoice merely because they placed the order.

Establish an appropriate contact and service address

Keep evidence of addresses used, notifications of changes and any returned correspondence. Identify a parent-company guarantee or other security separately; group membership alone does not make every related company liable.

The pre-action letter needs the correct parties. A dissolved company requires further investigation before a routine claim is issued. If the documents conflict, resolve the contracting history rather than choosing the entity with the healthiest apparent finances.

Follow the order back to its origin Begin with the earliest document that records a commitment to buy. A later invoice may contain details entered by your own staff, whereas an accepted quotation or purchase order may reveal how the customer described itself at the time. Compare company numbers as well as names. If an employee used a group email domain, look for the named contracting organisation in the order and terms. The same employee may procure for several businesses, making their email signature an incomplete answer.

Prepare an identity timeline when trading arrangements changed during the relationship. Record which entity ordered each batch of goods, when new terms were accepted and when different billing instructions arrived. A request to invoice another company does not, by itself, explain whether the original obligation was transferred or whether someone else was merely arranging payment. Preserve the request and any response. An adviser can then assess the legal effect of the actual exchange instead of inferring a transfer from bookkeeping alone.

Use the company register for defined questions Companies House can provide incorporation details, previous names, registered addresses, filing history and information about charges. Use those records to check a specific proposition, such as whether the company number stayed the same after a rebrand. Record when the search was made and keep the relevant filing. A current register entry is a snapshot; a historic document may be needed to understand the name or registered office used when the contract was formed. The official service explains the information available. [1]

Do not convert a register search into a broader conclusion that it cannot support. Finding a director's name does not establish that they guaranteed an order. A recently filed set of accounts does not confirm that money will be available to satisfy a future judgment. Likewise, an address associated with several companies does not make their contracts interchangeable. Mark each result by its purpose: identity, contact history, corporate status or further financial investigation. This keeps a promising lead from becoming an unsupported allegation.

Distinguish the buyer from other participants A delivery address may belong to the buyer's customer, a storage company or a building site managed by another contractor. Identify who agreed to pay separately from who received the goods. Keep instructions explaining delivery to a third party, together with any acceptance record. Where a procurement agent was involved, locate the document explaining whom they represented and how their role was disclosed. Questions about authority or an undisclosed principal need assessment of the transaction, not a presumption that the recipient owes the price.

A payment arriving from another person's account also requires context. It may be a director funding their company, a central treasury team paying for a subsidiary or a genuinely different purchaser settling its own order. Match the remittance message to the invoice and ask for clarification if the allocation is unclear. Do not change the debtor's name solely to match the bank statement. If someone promises personal payment, preserve their exact words and seek advice about whether a distinct enforceable obligation was created.

Resolve conflicting identities before drafting proceedings Write a concise explanation of each conflict rather than choosing the document that best supports recovery. For example, a quotation might name an individual, an acceptance might identify a limited company, and a later email might describe the business as a partnership. Place those documents in order and record who supplied each description. Ask the contracting contact to clarify the discrepancy where appropriate. A response may narrow the issue, although it still needs to be checked against the agreement and surrounding facts.

The final recovery file should identify the proposed debtor, the evidence for that choice and any unresolved alternative. Include company numbers where relevant and distinguish the address used for correspondence from the address proposed for formal service. Record corporate changes discovered after the debt arose, including dissolution, without assuming that another business using the same brand inherited the liability. Resolving identity at this stage can prevent time and fees being spent on a claim against someone who never undertook the payment obligation.