We issue two invoices which are sent out to the clients by accounts using the CMS. The first is pre completion for any searches obtained and paid for and that is of course to assist with cash flow. Any additional searches that are obtained after this are held over for the completion bill, so as not to send out too many bills to the client. We transfer CTO the following day from the money on account.
The fee earners send out a full statement prior to completion which includes all disbursements, paid or not yet incurred.
The final invoice is issued upon completion. We don’t include post completion disbursements on the bill as they are not yet incurred but realistically, these are only the HMLR registration fee and any indemnities agreed but not obtained prior to completion. We then transfer CTO once paid. We don’t consider that a bill is required as there is no liability for VAT and the statement is written notification.
Regardless of how many bills you raise, they should all be sent to the client at the time they are raised and before you transfer the funds.
