Small claim, Form N9B, where/how to respond to the defence to my claim?

benawhile

I issued an online money claim, using the new beta system, against a builder who obtained money in advance to buy £5,000 materials which were not supplied, and about 2 weeks later a second claim to retrieve £10,000 for more work paid in advance that he failed to complete.

Concerning the first claim only, I was notified that the defendant has defended the 1st claim and issued a counterclaim to it, accusing me of breach of contract. The first claim case has been transferred to my local court and I have received the N9B that the defendant has submitted, the Directions Questionnaire and the response pack from them.

I am opting to respond by disputing the full counterclaim using my blank supplied N9B.

My defence will be that the builder breached the contract by not adhering to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 wrt to quality of work and time taken. It is also pointed out to me that technically he breached the Consumer Contract Regulations by failing to inform me of my cancellation rights, although the contract we used does indirectly refer to the JOC terms which include cancellation rights, which I did not check at the time.

What I do not understand is how I should respond to his defence to my 1st claim. His defence is a quite convincing and detailed but untrue account accusing me of changing my mind over suppliers. I can easily disprove it with a full record of emails and texts and possibly even persuade him to change his mind, but there doesn’t seem to be any space to make any response to the defence on the form N9B supplied, which seems only intended for my defence to his counterclaim of breach of contract. I also don't understand that at this stage he responded to my claim by providing image file evidence of emails etc, but although it was indicated when I first made the claim that I could provide image file evidence when asked later, (and I have plenty of photos and textual,) strictly according to the N9B it only asks for my defence to the counterclaim.

I have been advised informally by the court staff that I can write my response to the defence and my defence to the counterclaim, all on the same form, but I want to be doubly sure I do this properly. Can anyone say that either the judge will accept this, or that there is no need to respond to the defence at this stage and there will be opportunity to present a full response later? I would prefer to respond to the defence on the same form, which should automatically warn the builder of the strength of my case.

I was advised (informally, not by the court) to enter a 1st and 2nd claim this way as there was a distinction between the two. The 2nd claim hasn’t been responded to yet, so I will have to keep in touch with the court to see if they will want to lump them both together.