Court Claim received from commercial landlord

[atticus]

Sections 216 and 217 are about something very different, to do with "phoenix" companies.

I would put in a short defence as I have described in post 13. But please note that the claimant may then seek to amend its claim to put the case properly based on the guarantee. At present, the claim against you is a mess.

[Merryck]

I agree, I'm under no illusions that this will lead to another claim, don't worry!

That said, I think it's important to ensure that they're putting their claim in properly. I've got plenty of evidence to fight them, but if their claim isn't properly founded then I feel that my defence will be undermined in the same way.

[Merryck]

I would put in a short defence as I have described in post 13.

How would you phrase this? I'm wary of asking the court to strike out the claim on this basis, but I'm not sure how to put this across without doing so!

[atticus]

How would I phrase it? Like this:

The Particulars of Claim disclose no cause of action against the Defendants.

[Merryck]

How does this look?



In the Civil National Business Centre
Claim No. [XXXXXXX]
[CLAIMANT]
Claimant

And

[DEFENDANT]
Defendant

DEFENCE

1. The Defendant received the claim [XXXXXXX] from the Civil National Business Centre on 25^th September 2023.

2. Each and every allegation in the Claimant’s Particulars of Claim is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3. This claim appears to pertain to a lease agreement between [DEFENDANT’S LTD COMPANY] Ltd., and the Claimant, which ended on November 17^th 2022.

4. The Defendant was appointed as a Director of [DEFENDANT’S LTD COMPANY] Ltd. on 17^th September 2014. The Defendant resigned their position on 13^th June 2022.

5. [DEFENDANT’S LTD COMPANY] Ltd. appointed a Liquidator on 20^th April 2023 for the purposes of winding up the business. This process is still ongoing.

6. As [DEFENDANT’S LTD COMPANY] was a limited company, as per the Companies Act 2006, the Defendant, in their position as a Director, is protected from liability for the Company’s debts.

7. The Claimant’s Particulars of Claim disclose no cause of action against the Defendant, therefore the Defendant respectfully requests that the Claim be struck out by the court under Civil Procedure Rule 3.4 (2).

8. It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.





[DEFENDANT]
14^th October 2023

[Merryck]

Just found this in the tenancy agreement;

"16.3 The liability of the Guarantors under paragraphs 16.1 and 16.2 shall continue until the end of the term, or until the Tenant is released from the tenant covenants of this lease by virtue of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, If earlier."

16.1 and 16.2 relate to the Guarantors responsibility for taking over the lease if the Tenant fails to uphold their side.

It looks to me like we're not responsible for this thing either way. If that's the case should I be making this the basis of my defence instead? The Particulars don't name us as Guarantors, so I'm not sure. Or should I mention both?

[atticus]

Tenancy Agreement? Are you sure it wasn't a lease?

Your draft defence seems ok. Will this be the defence of both defendants?

[Merryck]

Apologies, yes, it was a lease - I was using the terms interchangeably.

This will be my defence, my brother's will be largely identical, with the dates changed to suit.

[Merryck]

Update to this one;

I received a Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track in the post today, with an N180 form to fill in. I'm assuming that at this point the claim has only been looked at by Court staff, so any points made in the Defence won't have been considered.

I'll look up what what I can with regards to defending on the Small Claims Track, but aside from filling in this form I shouldn't be doing anything else else at this point should I?

[atticus]

Correct, the court office is dealing with the administration of the court case and no views have been formed of the strengths or weaknesses of either party's position.

Download the handbook for litigants in person - link in my signature.

[Merryck]

Just to confirm, as I've seen elsewhere that one should push for a hearing - I don't feel that at this point I need a hearing.

Considering the basis of my defence is that there is no claim to answer a hearing wouldn't be appropriate.

I don't know what it is about these forms, but as soon as I start filling one out I start second guessing myself constantly!

[atticus]

Then you need to apply to strike the claim out as disclosing no cause of action. That will be likely to entail a hearing at which the judge will hear your arguments and those of the claimant as to why you are wrong, following which he or she will decide.