Tracing Services.

We offer six trace types. Standard suits routine work with no time pressure. Fast Track Standard and Fast Track Enhanced accelerate the timeline where you need results quickly. Employment Trace confirms where a subject works – useful before attachment of earnings. Pre-litigation Trace verifies identity and address before you issue proceedings. International Trace locates people who’ve moved outside the UK. Not sure which fits? Tell us what you need to achieve and we’ll recommend.

We don’t operate a formal no-trace-no-fee guarantee. Instead, we re-run a trace up to 11 times within the fee already paid, rather than closing the case after a single attempt – so a first unsuccessful pass isn’t the end of the road. Where a trace returns partial results – a probable but unverified address, or evidence the subject has moved abroad – we flag it and advise on the next step before doing further work.

The more you can give us, the faster and more accurate the trace. As a minimum we need the subject’s full name and a previous address. Anything else you have helps: date of birth, phone number, email address, employer details, National Insurance number, and any historic identifiers such as previous addresses or aliases. If you only have partial information, tell us anyway – we can often work from less than you’d expect.

Yes. Our International Trace covers subjects who’ve left the UK. We work through vetted overseas partners and international data sources to establish a current address, and once located, we advise on how to progress enforcement against someone based abroad – that route is not straightforward and often changes the strategy. International traces typically take up to 30 days. Speak to us early if you suspect the subject has left the UK.

All our tracing is carried out within UK data protection law. We use lawful data sources – credit reference agency data, the electoral roll, open source, and licensed investigative databases – and only where there is a legitimate interest, such as recovering a debt or serving proceedings. You receive a trace report that stands up as evidence if you subsequently take enforcement action through the courts.

Yes. Locating the person is usually a step, not the destination. Once we’ve traced someone, we can carry the case forward through our in-house team: legal review of the trace results by our solicitor, service of legal papers, formal debt recovery, and enforcement of monetary orders through our Authorised High Court Enforcement Officer. See our Residential Debt Recovery and Process Serving Services pages for the specifics. You instruct one group and keep the same case handler throughout.

Strikes Trace Services is our sister company, dedicated exclusively to tracing work. Strikes Property Services Group handles the wider enforcement and legal support around it – debt recovery, notice serving, evictions, High Court enforcement. When you instruct a trace through us, the work is delivered by Strikes Trace Services, but you can carry straight on with the same group for any follow-on enforcement without instructing a separate firm. You’ll deal with one point of contact throughout.

You can serve proceedings at a debtor’s last known address under the Civil Procedure Rules, but if you haven’t made reasonable attempts to locate them first, your service risks being challenged and set aside – forcing you to start again. A pre-litigation trace establishes those reasonable attempts on the record and protects the enforceability of any judgment you go on to obtain. It also tells you upfront whether the person has assets worth pursuing, before you commit to court fees.