Deemed service date

[Served]

Hi
Could anyone confirm the deemed service date and how this works for putting in an mcol defence

I have acknowledged service and need to work out the deadline for my defence. Details below. Am I right that deadline for defence is 19th January?

Date Claim Issued – 11 December 2018

Advice on guidance states... How long does the defendant have to respond to my claim? The court will send out a claim pack to each defendant once the claim has been issued and allows 5 calendar days from the date of issue for the service of the claim. Therefore the ‘date of service’ is the 5th calendar day after issue.

Date of deemed service – 16 December 2018

Guidance states... The defendant has 14 calendar days from the ‘date of service’ to file a response. If the last day for filing the response falls on a day that the court is not open (i.e. a weekend or public holiday), the court will allow the next full working day for a response. The defendant can extend the time to respond to 28 calendar days by filing an acknowledgment of service (AOS).

28 calendar days after deemed date of service is 13 January 2019

[R0b]

13 January 2019 is correct.

Provided you acknowledge the claim (which everyone does) then the easiest way to calculate your deadline is to add 33 days which is made up as follows:

5 days for service + 14 days to file a defence + 14 days if claim has been acknowledged = 33 days