claim and counterclaim help please

[miniconverter]

Will try and make this as short as possible.

 

My son rented a house through a letting agent. Had loads of problems whist there, water leak in the kitchen, faulty boiler (serious problem) damp in a bedroom which caused mould growth, along with loads of other bits and pieces all of which they refused to repair even blaming him, saying things like the damp was because the bed was in the wrong place.

 

In the end he moved. After he moved they sent him a letter asking him to pay for alsorts of things including things which where wrong when he moved in proven by photos supplied by them. Obviously he refused to give them anything.

 

He then received a claim from court. There particulars of claim just asked for money with no details of why. He did a defence and a counterclaim. His counterclaim was for his deposit which still hasn't been returned loss of use of a bedroom exesive gas bills caused by a faulty boiler week of work due to breathing problems possibly caused by mould spores along with the costs of a forced move.

 

He got an allocation questioner which he filled in returned to the court and sent a copy to the letting agent this had to be done by the 27th Jan. He has now received a letter from the letting agent with a copy of a letter they have sent to the court withdrawing there action.

 

He rang the court to find out what they had received but had nothing from the letting agent no defence to the counterclaim and no allocation questioner. He asked for advise about his counterclaim but the where unable to offer any advice.

 

My main question is can he carry on with his counterclaim and can he ask for a judgment in default as they haven't defended his counterclaim.

 

Thanks in advance.

[AndyOrch]

" My main question is can he carry on with his counterclaim and can he ask for a judgment in default as they haven't defended his counterclaim."

Yes he can miniconverter....once your son submitted his defence and counter claim (otherwise known as a Part 20 claim) he becomes the Defendant part 20 Claimant and the Claimant becomes the Claimant part 20 Defendant.

 

 

They have 14 days to respond (acknowledge) and submit a defence to his counter claim otherwise your son can request judgment (and costs) as a PT20 claimant.

 

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/3132/part/20/made

 

 

Hence their decision to discontinue their claim.

 

 

 

Regards

 

 

Andy

[andydd]

If their original claim (or counterclaim) had no basis to claim the alleged amount he could of got it struck out an early stage. Its too late now but its worth mentioning for others, if someones claim appears to have no legal basis you could write to the court asking that it be struck out under CPR 3.3, its worth trying, but if they don't you can apply for it to be struck out/give summary judgement however this does mean a costs risk as its pre-allocation and the small claims costs dont apply (although in theory fixed costs as per CPR 45 do limited amounts to approx £200 - £350.

 

It is worth the OP keping an eye on both deadlines for the claim and (counter) claim and putting in a request for judgement as soon as the dealine is breached.