Taking someone to court – what you need to know

It’s not always cost effective to use a lawyer to represent you in court, particularly for small claims. The experience should not be daunting and there can be a great deal of satisfaction in the process when you get it right.

If you need to take someone to court as a litigant in person – i.e., not legally represented – then you need to be very well organised. Whether this is for a rent arrears claim, an eviction claim, or a general claim for money owned in the Small Claims Court, then organised documents and presentation of evidence is the key to success.

Stick to the point

Less is more – judges don’t want to plough through reams and reams of paperwork, so make the life of the judge easy and you might just get the result you are looking for. Stick to the facts, cut the emotional rants about the character of the defendant or what she did, state your Particulars of Claim as succinctly as you can, back this up with numbered pieces of evidence and be prepared to state your case verbally as succinctly as possible to the judge. Don’t be intimidated, these are quite informal proceedings.

Your letter before action or statutory notice requiring possession will have given your defendant the information they require:

– your name and address

– the address of the property

– a summary of what you are claiming

– what you want the person or business to do

– how much money you want – and how you’ve calculated that amount

– a deadline for reply – usually 14 days but longer in some possession claims – stating that you’ll start court proceedings if you don’t get a reply.

An alternative to court action

The courts expect you to have made every effort to settle with your defendant before you bring the matter to court, so you must be able to show that you have followed the prescribed pre-action protocol.

The Practice Direction or pre-action conduct under the Civil Procedure Rules sets out what you need to do – in particular read paragraphs 13-16 – which set out the sanctions the court may impose if you fail to comply with the Practice Direction.

If you haven’t already tried mediation like “alternative dispute resolution”, you should say you’re willing to try this to settle the matter out of court.

Keep good copies of all correspondence and get your Post Office to issue for proof of 1^st class postage – you might need to show this in court for proof of when you sent your letter.

Court application

If after exhausting these avenues you still can’t get a response, a reason whey they disagree with your claim or a route to an alternative settlement, then you need to proceed with the court application and paperwork.

If the other person or business says they will make a counterclaim against you, try to find out what they are basing this on and check the facts, make notes on what you disagree with and try to find evidence to prove they’re wrong.

A common example is where a tenant owning rent will come up with the excuse that you the landlord have been negligent in that you ignored requests for repairs, that repairs need doing and that’s why they are not paying rent.

Proceeding to court

You can complete form N1, the court application or you can make a claim online using the possession procedure or the money claim online (MCOL) which for the Small Claims Court must be under £10,000.

Calculated how much money you are owned for the application form. You can adjust this at a later date with the judge if for example you have ongoing payments such as rent. You can include a limited amount of personal expenses, to be agreed and finalised with the judge at a later date.

The court will send a copy of your claim form to the defendant. The defendant must reply within 14 days either by letter or using the “acknowledgement of service” form, after which they have a limited period to either come to a settlement, submit a response and/or file a counter claim.

If the defendant fails to respond to your claim you can request “judgment by default”, similarly if the defendant fails to turn up at a hearing, you win by default if the judge agrees.

The defence

If the defendant decides to defend the claim or make a counter claim they must explain why they disagree with your claim in a defence document within 14 days of receiving the claim, or 28 days if they sent you an acknowledgement of service.

Next, you will get a court form (directions questionnaire) asking for available dates to attend a hearing, and you can request specific dates to help them decide when the hearing should be. You can request a specific county court, but usually the hearing will be at the defendant’s nearest county court.

If both parties are willing, you can agree that the court can decide the claim without a hearing. In that case, the judge will make a decision based on your claim and the defendant’s defence.

An informal hearing

The actual hearing can be as informal as just you and the defendant across a table, with the judge presiding. Both sides have their say, present evidence and the judge will make a decision, after which he or she will ask for the claim total and expenses, if you win. You may not get all you have asked for, but most times you will.

Court time is limited, so if there are complications, like a counter claim, the judge might ask for an independent report on the need for repairs in the property, for example, then a new hearing will be fixed, which can be months away.

Justice is a slow process, but if you prepare your case thoroughly and present it well, you have every chance of success.

Look out for part 2 of this article on preparing your court paperwork – the evidence bundle in electronic form.