COUNTERCLAIMS OF LANDLORD 1 63 



the whole expenses in those cases where there has been 

 complaint as to the great amount of expense." 



The dread of extravagant counterclaims has, it is 

 proved, deterred tenants from claiming under the Act. 



The landlord has not only two months to think out 

 his general claims for deterioration, but has a fortnight 

 to consider his counterclaim after he has seen the 

 tenant's claim in its details. 



" It follows," says Mr Stratton, " that the person who 

 sees his opponent's cards before playing his own is sure 

 of winning the game." 



" The counterclaim is always regulated by the amount 

 of the tenant's claim." 



" The tenant has almost always been swamped by 

 a counterclaim, which always exceeds the tenant's 

 claim." 



Mr C. S. Read says that a claim under the Act is 

 treated " like a declaration of .war." " Instead of its 

 being accepted as a matter of course, land agents hunt 

 up every possible dilapidation and default on the part 

 of the tenant. I have seen one claim on a small farm 

 of no less than ninety-six different dilapidations brought 

 against the tenant." 



" I am quite convinced that the way in which counter- 

 claims from landlords have been admitted has so 

 frightened the tenants that they, you might say, bounce 

 the tenants out of their claims altogether. No sooner 

 does a tenant make a claim, than the counterclaim of 

 the landlord is put in considerably above the amount 

 claimed." 



Counterclaims "have no limit according to the 

 interpretation put upon the Act by the valuers of 

 Norfolk." While the tenants' claims are backed with 

 vouchers- and receipts, the counterclaims are largely 

 speculative. 



The tenant's claim is therefore necessarily limited, 

 while the counterclaim is unlimited. And we have 

 had to note that while there has been little evidence 

 to the effect that tenants' claims are often exaggerated, 

 the evidence is almost unanimous that the counter- 



