Debt recovery in Italy

Are you a creditor of debt recovery? Is your debt recovery due in Italy?

Debt collection activity allows you to obtain the payment of your credit from the debtor. In fact, it happens very often to be a creditor of a sum of money that is not paid in the agreed terms. What can be done in these cases? Who can you turn to?

Types of debts that can be recovered?  How to request the credit collection in Italy?

Before taking action, it is important to know what types of credit can be recovered, the most appropriate and lawful ways to request payment and obtain the balance, and also to know the terms within which you can enforce your claim.

Below we will proceed by analysing the subject in a specific way, considering in which cases it is possible to recover a claim in a lawful manner, then according to what is required by the debt recovery in Italy. It is also useful to know that it is possible to act in different ways. In particular, extrajudicial activity represents a more “peaceful” way to solve the problem, trying to solicit the payment through a letter of formal notice. The judicial procedure, on the other hand, involves a real trial.

In order for the debt to be recovered, this must necessarily be one of the following:

– Certain: that is, the creditor must be in possession of sufficient evidence to demonstrate the existence of his right and the amount of the sum due.

In other words, if the creditor has to obtain the payment of an invoice for having delivered a certain quantity of products to the debtor on the basis of a written contract in which the price of the service is also determined, it is a certain debt. In this case the creditor must be in possession of the contract (or in any case, in the case of oral agreements, be able to prove the content of the agreements themselves) and be able to prove that he has actually delivered the goods.

– Liquid: the credit must be determined in its amount.

Think of the situation where a person has the right to obtain a sum of money as compensation for the damage to his health suffered in the course of a car accident. Only when the amount of compensation is determined (normally by the judge) and quantified in a sum of money (the so-called liquidation) the claim can be said to be liquid.

– Receivable: the claim cannot be subject to any conditions or, if it is subject to a time limit, it must have already expired.

Think of the case where the contract states that the debtor must pay a sum of money only after a certain number of days after the delivery of the invoice. Only after this period the claim become doable. Or think about a situation where payment is subject to the occurrence of a certain event (the so-called condition). In this case, too, the credit can only be considered upon realisation of that determinate condition.

Italian law also arranges down maximum periods within a debt may be recovered. Basically, the creditor has 10 years during which he can request the payment of the debt, and after that moment, the debtor is deemed to have discharged his duties.

This ten-year period begins when the claim arises (e.g. from the day on which the contract was signed, from the expiry of the period for paying an invoice, etc.).

VGS Lawyers at your service

If you need any help in debt recollection to which Italian law must be applied, VGS Lawyers, a law firm based in London,  offers legal assistance to English creditors in the process of debt recovery in Italy and Credit Collection.

In debt recovery cases it is crucial to choose qualified professionals. The team of VGS Lawyers can provide an effective debt recovery service under Italian Law and is able to assist you up to the enforcement and full repayment of your credit.