Respond to N244 Money Order

[Jango808]

Hi Everyone. Long story short I had an extension fitted by a builder who was still not finished after 10 months with numerous outstanding issues. The builder left a voicemail stating his resource had to leave my premises as he wanted to punch me in the face when I'd asked why the oven's had not been installed correctly and I have a witness confirming I did not act unreasonably when addressing his resource. Due to the stress this was causing me and my family I advised the builder the contracts terminated as he'd broken it several times and that I would have the issues resolved by a third party and pay him the remaining balance from the final payment. Builder responded with pay me or I'm going to file a report with the police and take me to court. Declined his offer and repeated my original offer or that he can appoint an independent dispute resolution\arbitrator to see if they could mediate a reasonable outcome. Nothing back and now they have filed a small claims money order with a false timeline. Despite this I responded with my defense and case appointed to local court. Now I've submitted the evidence by the deadline but had nothing from the builder. Today received a N244 as he's asked the court for a further 4 weeks to provide evidence due to the director being pregnant, they misread the letter from the court and they have been on furlough (even though I have emails from them during this time?).

Can I decline this request without it being seen as unreasonable by the court? Appreciate he's claiming stress and the pregnancy as an issue but they showed no consideration to me when threatening to speak to the police or take me to court.