Small Claims

The small claims process

The small claims process covers disputes of £10,000 or less. There are a few exceptions in personal injury cases, or landlord and tenant disputes, but in general this is the guide figure.

If you are making a claim, you are the 'claimant' if someone has made a claim against you; you are termed as the defendant.

Before you take action, check to see that you are within time limits. The standard time for breach of contract is six years, but do check; there are a number of organisations and professionals that will be able to assist you with this, the CAB, and GOVT web sites, solicitors and more. For claims that are passed to the small claims court, any costs will not be recoverable by either party.

When considering the type of claim you have, it may help to know that the majority of claims that are handled by the small claims process, are claims for faulty goods or services, for example your television has blown up, or you had a window fitted and it fell out, other examples are problems between landlords and tenants, or monies owing.

The court will decide if your case should go via the small claims process or, if it is considered more complicated, the judge may decide it should go to a full hearing, even if less than £10,000.

The important thing is to get your claim started and let the courts decide, but don't forget you can, and perhaps should, take advice at any time.

Things to do before you make a small claim.

In all cases, try to come to a settlement with the defendant, the court will not like it if you have not tried to do this and you may receive a penalty as a result, so if your washing machine leaks like a sieve, speak to the shop owner first, you must also be reasonable about the time limits, but do point out the consequences if they do not reply, an accepted time limit is a month on this.

It may be possible to use the services of a mediator to settle any dispute, both parties will have to agree on the use of a mediator and details can be found on the government justice web site or through the courts.

Making a claim;

If all the correct steps have been taken; you have kept all records, taken advice and there is still no sign of a resolution, you need to make a claim.

Making a small claim has been simplified over the years, to start you will need to complete claim form N1, you can get these on line, through the courts, CAB, and Solicitors amongst others.

Complete the claim for with as many details as possible, if you need to, you can submit extra details within 14 days for submission of the original form; ensure that if your claim is based upon an agreement, that a copy of the agreement is attached to the claims form.

If your claim is for a fixed amount, you can start the process via the government's on line facility moneyclaim.gov.uk, using moneyclaim your claim will be automatically processed and the defendant will be sent the claim that day.

Fees do apply when submitting a claim whatever method you use; details of the fees are available on the money claim web site or through the courts website hmcourts-service.gov.uk.

Once you have submitted your claim the courts will serve the claim, normally by post, however, you can do it yourself if you request, but you must tell the courts.

Once the defendant has been served with the claim they will either defend it or not, and the defendant should pay the money straight away or by agreement over installments, if this agreement is breached then the claimant can take legal action, if you do not agree with the defendants offer, you must inform the court and the defendant of the reason(s) why and the court will decide on payment.

If the case is being defended, the defendant must respond to the court with your defence within two weeks of being served (you can ask the courts for an extension on this), the courts will then decide how the case is to proceed.

In the situation where the case is being defended, the courts may decide to send your claim via the small claims tract, both you and the defendant will be sent a notice called the notice of allocation, this will give you instructions detailing what you will need to do for the final hearing, it is important that these are followed, failure to do so may mean that the case is postponed and you may be liable for costs.

The notice will also include such details as the date for the hearing, where it will be and how long it will take; if this does not suit, you must inform the court why and a new date will be set (fees apply).

There are exceptions where the court will ask for your case to be decided without a hearing, or if the judge decides that they want to sort the case via a preliminary hearing, this is done quite often in cases where the judge feels that it is in the interest of all concerned.

If your case is going to a hearing, ensure that you prepare your case and ensure all evidence is available, you may wish to get expert reports, prepare expenses, witness statements, and take the goods with you if possible. All the evidence should be set out in date order and it is advisable that with each part of evidence, you explain what that means to your case.

At the final hearing all parties will be given the opportunity to speak for a limited time, and expert witnesses and evidence will be considered. The judge will set the rules of the hearing depending on what they feel is fair. At the end of the hearing the judge will decide on the case and give an explanation on their decision.

You do have right to appeal against the decision, but only if a legal mistake has been made, we would recommend that you take advice of you wish to appeal.