Contracts, deposits and clients who don’t pay

Most clients pay well. But a single unpaid invoice can cost you a month of work. Protect yourself from the start.

Before you start

• Quote accepted in writing: what’s included, what isn’t, deadlines, included changes and price.
• Deposit: 30% to 50% before starting. Whoever won’t pay anything up front usually causes problems.
• On long jobs, staged payments: don’t deliver the next stage until the previous one is paid.
• Don’t hand over the final work (files, passwords, live website) until you’ve been paid what was agreed.

If they don’t pay

1. Friendly reminder on the due date.
2. Second notice in writing, with the invoice attached and a deadline.
3. Formal demand (a burofax, a certified letter): it proves you claimed it.
4. Payment order procedure (monitorio) at the court: for debts under €2,000 you can do it yourself, without a lawyer, with a form, and there are no court fees. The debtor has 20 working days to pay or explain why not.