Damages claims for late protection of deposits

Tenancy Deposits

I wonder if anyone can help I am being sued by a previous tenant regarding late protection of their deposit. I was an inexperienced landlord at the time and I only found out about this requirement after the tenancy started. I accept my liability and I am happy to pay the tenant the reasonable damages due, which should be 1 x deposit amount (not 3 times).

The issue I have is that they have gone to a NoWin-NoFee solicitor who also wants to charge me their legal fees.

Rather than pursuing this claim for damages through the small claims court they have stated they will use Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules I think this is also referred to as the ‘Standard Court’

The issue is that in the small claims court they cannot claim their legal fees where as for Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules I have to pay any legal fees they want to charge me.

I am bringing a counter claim against the tenant for damage at the end of the property which I think may mean it is more likely to go to the small claims court.

If anyone has any experience of going through these cases good or bad I would really appreciate hearing from you.

Many Thanks