Small claims court help and guide

Once the claim form has been 'served', you have to wait to see what the defendant decides to do. What happens next depends entirely on them.

The defendant may:

Pay the claim
Ignore the claim
Admit the claim
Acknowledge the claim
Dispute it

Defendant Pays

This is the desired result and no further action is required.

There are however a couple of points to watch:

Dishonoured Payment

The defendant's cheque may not clear. In which case you go on and ask for judgment as if you hadn't been paid. But notify the defendant that the payment was dishonoured and keep a record. This will be useful when they try to contest it in court.

Partial Payment

The defendant pays the original amount owing but doesn't pay the court fee or any interest you may have added. This will happen quite often. The defendant will claim that the cheque and the summons 'must have crossed in the post'.

Important: If the defendant paid before the date of service, there is nothing you can do. However, if payment was made after this date, you can continue the action for the outstanding amount.

Defendant Ignores the Claim

The defendant has 14 days from the date of service in which to reply to the summons.

The date of service is set by the court and appears on notice the court sends you. If the defendant has not replied after 14 days, you can apply for 'judgment by default'. Fill in N225/N227 Request for Judgment.

N225 Form Instructions:

✓ Tick box in section A
✓ Leave box in section B
✓ Fill in section C
✓ Sign & date the form
✓ In section D, tick the box requesting immediate payment

Tip: If you want to enforce the judgment by sending the court bailiff to claim possessions, you can apply for a Warrant of Execution at the same time as you apply for judgment.

Defendant Admits the Claim

The defendant will usually do this if they accept the claim but cannot afford to pay it. They may either ask for time to pay or make an offer to pay by installments.

No Payment Offer

If the defendant makes no offer of payment, you can ask for judgment in the same way as outlined in the previous section.

Payment Offer Made

If the defendant has made an offer to pay, this will be on the N9A form with details of installments or full payment date, plus their income and expenditure details.

Your Options:

Accept the Offer

Fill in Form N225/N227 Request for Judgement:

• Tick section B
• Tick 'I accept the defendant's proposal to pay'
• Fill in Section C with defendant's proposal details

Reject the Offer

You can reject the defendant's offer, but consider carefully whether you think their offer is reasonable and whether the court will think it's reasonable. Fill in Form N225/N227 stating why you object and how much you'd accept.

Court Determination: If you reject the offer, the court will review both parties' information and decide on a fair payment amount. This is called 'entering judgment by determination'. Either party can appeal if unhappy with the decision.

Defendant Acknowledges

The defendant can decide to return an 'Acknowledgement of Service' to the court.

Why They Acknowledge:

• They need more than 14 days to issue a defence
• They wish to dispute the court's jurisdiction
• As a delaying tactic

Note: However, they would then not be able to apply for a judgment to be 'set aside' at a later date claiming they never received the summons.

New Option: This option is new and didn't apply in the older small claims procedures (pre 26th April 1999).

Defendant Disputes the Claim

The defendant can choose to admit only part of the claim. They could dispute the whole claim or they could issue a counter-claim.

Partial Admission

If the defendant admits some of the claim and disputes the rest, you will receive their part admission on N9A and the defence on N9B. The part admission is dealt with in the same way as described under admitting the claim.

Full Dispute or Counter-claim

Check the defendant's arguments carefully and decide whether you want to proceed. You may decide that some arguments are reasonable. Nothing stops you and the defendant agreeing to settle at this stage.

'States Paid' Defence

The defendant may state as their defence that they have already paid the amount owing. If this happens, the court will send you Form N236 - Notice of defence that amount claimed has been paid.

You have 28 days to notify the court whether you accept this defence or not.

Processing the Claim