I just received a court claim. How long do I have?

14 days from the date you were served (deemed served on the second business day after posting). Filing an Acknowledgment of Service buys another 14 days. Miss both deadlines and the claimant can apply for default judgment against you automatically.

Can I just ignore it?

Don't. Default judgment will be entered automatically and registered as a CCJ against your name. CCJs stay on your credit file for 6 years and affect mortgages, loans, even some jobs. The judgment is also enforceable — bailiffs, attachment of earnings, charging order on your home.

What if I don't agree with the amount but admit owing some?

File a defence to the part you dispute and admit the part you accept. Pay the admitted amount immediately to stop interest running on it. The court will then deal with the disputed balance.

Can I settle out of court?

Yes, at any time — even on the morning of the hearing. If you can negotiate a number both sides accept, ask the court to put it on hold and exchange a settlement letter.

Should I get a solicitor to defend?

For most defended claims under £10,000, no. The small claims track is designed for litigants-in-person, and as the defendant you can't recover solicitor fees even if you win.

What is a Part Admission?

A Part Admission (Form N9A) lets you acknowledge a specific amount you accept you owe while disputing the rest. The claimant then decides whether to accept your admitted amount in full settlement, or push the disputed balance to a hearing.

What happens if I file a defence but lose?

Judgment is entered for the amount the court decides. You will also usually pay the claimant's court fee (not solicitor fees on the small claims track). The judgment is registered as a County Court Judgment (CCJ) unless you pay within one calendar month of judgment.

How does a counterclaim work in practice?

You file Form N9B and pay a fee based on the amount you are counterclaiming. If your counterclaim exceeds the original claim, you may actually end up as the net claimant. The court manages both in the same hearing. The risk: if your counterclaim fails but their claim succeeds, you face double judgment.

I’ve been served a small claim. Now what?

You've received a court claim form. Here are your five options, the 14-day deadline that matters most, how to file Form N9B, and what a Part Admission means.

If the claim is correct and you can pay, doing so within 14 days avoids a CCJ being registered against you. Send payment direct to the claimant (not the court) and keep proof.

File Form N9A admitting the debt and proposing a repayment plan. Be realistic; the court can replace your offer with one it considers reasonable.

File Form N9B with your defence within 14 days. State which paragraphs you accept, which you deny, and your version of events. A weak defence is worse than no defence — if you have no real grounds, admit and offer to pay.

Buys you 14 more days (28 total) to file a defence. Useful if you need time to gather evidence or take time to consider your position.

Use Form N9B to file BOTH a defence and a counterclaim if you reckon they owe YOU money on related facts. Counterclaim fee scales like a normal claim.

How to respond to a small claims court claim

You have 14 days from the date of service to respond. Filing an Acknowledgment of Service (N9) extends this to 28 days total.

Decide your response

Choose from: pay in full, admit with an instalment offer (N9A), file a defence (N9B), or file a defence plus counterclaim (N9B).

Complete Form N9B if defending

State clearly which paragraphs of the claim you admit, which you deny, and the facts you rely on. Attach supporting evidence.

File at the correct court

Return the completed form to the County Court Business Centre (for MCOL claims) or the court named on the claim form. Keep a copy of everything.

Prepare your evidence bundle

Gather contracts, invoices, correspondence, and photos. Organise in date order with an index. The court will set a deadline for exchange — usually 14 days before the hearing.

All five are responses to the N1 claim form you received. Pick one within 14 days. The court does not chase you — silence means default judgment.

What happens when you are served

Service is deemed to occur two business days after the court posts the claim form. The 14-day clock starts from that deemed service date, not from when it actually arrived in your letterbox. If you were served by personal service (a process server handing you the form), service is immediate on the day.

The claim form (N1) tells you the amount claimed, the claimant's particulars of claim, and your options. Read the particulars carefully — the defence must respond to each factual allegation. Generic denials ("I deny the claim") are weak. Point-by-point responses are strong.

If the claim form arrived damaged, illegible, or addressed to the wrong person, contact the court immediately. Do not ignore a claim form in the hope that a technical service defect will save you — courts regularise most defects and judges are unsympathetic to defendants who sat on a dispute without raising the issue promptly.

Grounds for a defence

A valid defence asserts something the court can actually decide. "I can not afford to pay" or "they were rude to me" are not defences. These are:

You dispute that the contract existed, that the work was done, or that the goods were defective. The claimant must prove their version on the balance of probabilities.

Payment already made

You paid but the claimant has not credited it. Bank statements and payment confirmations are strong evidence here.

The claim is out of time. For a simple contract claim under the Limitation Act 1980 s.5, the claimant had six years from the cause of action to issue proceedings.

Set-off or counterclaim

You acknowledge some liability, but the amount is reduced by a sum they owe you on the same or related facts.

There was never a binding agreement — no firm offer and acceptance, terms too uncertain, or the document was a quotation only.

Consumer protection legislation (Consumer Rights Act 2015, Sale of Goods Act 1979) gave you a right to reject, refund, or repair that the claimant ignored.

If you have no real grounds to dispute the debt, admitting and offering instalments is usually less damaging than a failed defence followed by a costs order and a CCJ.

How to file Form N9B (the defence form)

What if you don't respond at all?

After 14 days (or 28 if an Acknowledgment of Service was filed), the claimant can apply for default judgment without any hearing. The court enters judgment for the full claimed amount, interest, and court fees. That judgment is immediately enforceable.

A default judgment becomes a County Court Judgment (CCJ) if not paid within one calendar month. CCJs are registered on the Register of Judgments and stay there for six years. They affect your ability to get a mortgage, a credit card, a phone contract, and some jobs.

You can apply to set aside a default judgment under CPR 13, but only if you act promptly and show either that service was defective, or that you have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim. The bar for set-aside is higher than many defendants assume, and you will usually need to pay the court fee for the set-aside application.

Part Admission in detail

A Part Admission (Form N9A) is useful where you genuinely owe some of the amount claimed but dispute the rest. You set out exactly how much you admit and offer to pay it — immediately or by instalments. The claimant then has 28 days to decide:

Accept the admitted amount in full settlement (case closed at that figure).
Reject the Part Admission and push the whole dispute to a hearing.

If the claimant accepts, you must pay within 14 days or the timetable you proposed. If they reject, the case proceeds on the disputed balance and your admission to the partial amount is on the record.

A counterclaim is your claim against the claimant arising from the same or related facts. You file it on Form N9B at the same time as your defence. You pay a court fee based on the counterclaim amount (same scale as issuing a new claim). Examples:

The claimant is suing you for unpaid invoices, but the work they delivered was defective and cost you money to fix. Your cost of remedial work is your counterclaim.
A landlord is suing for unpaid rent. You counterclaim for a breach of the repairing covenant (disrepair that made the property unliveable).
A supplier is claiming the balance on a contract. You counterclaim for consequential losses caused by their late delivery.

If your counterclaim exceeds the original claim, you may become the net claimant — the court decides the net figure. Be realistic about quantum: a failed counterclaim that inflated a simple case can irritate a judge and affect the small costs order at the end.