I lent £5000 to a friend in November 2015 which she agreed

Before you have any chance of getting the money back you would have to try and find her address because you may have to use the small claims court to pursue the money you are owed. Finding out where she lives could be something you do yourself for a small fee, for example by using the www.192.com service which searches the Electoral Register, or you may wish to pay a bit more and use the services of a private investigator – this should be a relatively simple job for them so a reasonable fixed fee should cover it – I would expect it to be less than £100. So once you have her address you could then start issuing legal proceedings against her to try and get the money back. Be warned though that even by going to court you are not guaranteed payment. For example, she could refuse to pay after the court finds in your favour. It would then be up to you to try out different enforcement methods to try and pursue the court judgment. This is your basic legal position. I have more detailed advice for you in terms of what enforcement methods are available to you should it come to it, which I wish to discuss so please take a second to leave a positive rating for the service so far (by selecting 3, 4 or 5 stars) and I can continue with that and answer any further questions you may have. Don’t worry, leaving a rating will not close the question and we can continue this discussion. Thank you