If a contractor took your deposit and disappeared, a shop sold you a dud, or a landlord is sitting on your security deposit, the Small Claims Tribunals (SCT) is the cheapest way to get your money back. It hears claims up to $20,000, or up to $30,000 if both sides agree in writing, and you file online for as little as $10. You cannot bring a lawyer, you must file within two years of the dispute, and most cases settle at a consultation in a few weeks rather than dragging through a full court trial. This guide covers exactly what the SCT can and cannot hear, the real fees by claim size, the step-by-step process, and how to actually collect once you win.
The Small Claims Tribunals is part of the State Courts. It exists to settle low-value money disputes fast and cheap, without the cost and formality of a normal civil suit. A claim that might cost thousands in legal fees to chase in the District Court can be filed at the SCT for between $10 and a few hundred dollars, and is usually resolved in weeks.
The trade-off is scope. The SCT only hears certain kinds of disputes, the claim must sit under the dollar limit, and you represent yourself. For a $1,500 renovation gone wrong or a $2,000 deposit a landlord refuses to return, that trade is worth it. For a complex contract dispute worth $80,000, it is not the right venue.
Before you file anything, do the maths. If the other side simply has no money, even a winning order may be hard to collect. The SCT can rule in your favour, but it does not chase the cash for you. Weigh the filing fee, your time, and the realistic odds of payment against the amount in dispute. A $40 filing fee to recover a $3,000 deposit is an easy call; the same effort for a $150 claim against an overseas seller you cannot serve is not. For a deposit large enough to dent your net worth, it is almost always worth the effort to file.
The SCT only takes specific categories of dispute. If yours does not fit one of these, the tribunal cannot hear it and you would have to use the ordinary courts instead. The eligible types are:
Plenty of disputes that feel like they should fit are out of bounds. Bring these to the wrong forum and your filing gets rejected, so check first. The SCT does not hear:
A lot of rejected claims fail for one reason: they were brought to the SCT when another tribunal handles them. Singapore splits low-value disputes across a few specialist forums, and each has its own ceiling and rules. Send your case to the right one first and you skip a wasted filing fee and weeks of delay.
Match your dispute to the forum below before you do anything else.
| Type of dispute | Where it goes | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Faulty goods, bad service, deposit refund, residential tenancy up to 2 years | Small Claims Tribunals | $20,000 (or $30,000 with consent) |
| Salary or other employment dispute | Employment Claims Tribunals | $20,000 (or $30,000 if mediated at TADM) |
| Dispute with a neighbour over noise, smell or nuisance | Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals | No fixed money cap |
| Car-to-car accident damage | Magistrate's or District Court | Up to $250,000 at the District Court |
| A money claim above the SCT limit that does not fit a tribunal | Magistrate's or District Court | Up to $250,000 at the District Court |
The standard limit is $20,000. The SCT can hear claims up to $30,000 only if both parties sign a Memorandum of Consent agreeing to the higher ceiling. Without that signed consent, $20,000 is the hard cap.
If your claim is genuinely worth more than $20,000 and the other side will not consent, you have two options. You can abandon the excess and claim only $20,000 at the SCT, which is often the practical move because the speed and low cost outweigh the amount you give up. Or you can take the full claim to the District Court, where you can recover the larger sum but face higher costs and can hire a lawyer.
There is a strict time bar. You must file within two years of the event that gives rise to your claim. For a defective service, that usually runs from when the work was done or went wrong; for a tenancy deposit, from when it should have been returned. Miss the two years and the SCT can no longer hear the case, so do not sit on a dispute hoping the other side comes around.
Filing fees scale with the claim amount and with who you are. Individuals pay far less than companies, sole proprietorships, partnerships and other organisations. For an individual, a claim up to $5,000 costs just $10 to lodge.
Here is the current fee structure. The percentage bands mean a larger claim costs more to file, but even at the top end the fee is a small fraction of what you are chasing.
Worked example: an individual claiming $15,000 pays 1 percent, so $150 to file. A company claiming the same $15,000 pays 3 percent, so $450. For most consumers chasing a deposit or a botched job, the fee lands between $10 and $30. If you win and the order is made in your favour, the tribunal can order the losing side to refund your lodgement fee, so the cost is often recoverable.
Treat the fee as a line in your budget the same way you would any expense you expect to claw back. If you want to see how even small recovered sums add up when redirected to savings, our personal budget calculator helps you slot it in.
| Claim amount | Individual | Business or other entity |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $5,000 | $10 | $50 |
| Above $5,000 to $10,000 | $20 | $100 |
| Above $10,000 to $30,000 | 1% of the claim | 3% of the claim |
For a consumer dispute with a shop or service provider, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) is often the first stop, not the tribunal. CASE is a non-profit that handles complaints against businesses and runs a mediation service. If you are a member, a Consumer Relations Officer corresponds with the retailer on your behalf to push for a resolution. If that stalls, the matter can move to formal mediation with a trained mediator, which CASE reports settles a large share of cases.
CASE charges an annual membership fee, plus an administration charge that scales with the size of your claim, and a mediation fee if the case proceeds to a mediation session. The exact figures are set by CASE and change from time to time, so check the current rates on case.org.sg before you sign up. Some consumers get membership waived: NTUC union members and certain other groups can use CASE's dispute resolution services without paying the membership fee, so confirm whether you already qualify.
CASE has one practical edge over the tribunal for overseas claimants. SCT consultations and hearings need you to attend in Singapore, while CASE correspondence and mediation can run remotely, which suits a tourist or a foreigner who has already left. The catch is that CASE has no power to force a business to pay. It mediates and persuades; it does not issue binding orders. If the business digs in, you still end up at the SCT.
A sensible order of play for a straightforward consumer complaint is to raise it directly with the business first, escalate to CASE if that fails, and file at the SCT if CASE mediation does not land. Each step is cheaper and faster than the next, and a paper trail of your earlier attempts only strengthens your case at the tribunal.
The value of your claim is normally the amount of money you are asking for, or the value of the work you want done under a work order. Two situations change that. If you are asking to cancel a contract because of how it was formed (a rescission claim), the value of the claim is the value of the whole contract, not just what you paid. If you are chasing a progress payment under a contract, the claim is valued at the value of the entire contract. Both can push a dispute that feels small over the $20,000 line, so work out the right figure before you assume you are under the limit.
You cannot break one dispute into several smaller claims to squeeze each under the ceiling. The tribunal treats artificial splitting as a single claim at its true value. If the real number is above $20,000 and the other side will not sign a Memorandum of Consent for the $30,000 band, your honest options are to give up the excess and claim $20,000, or take the whole thing to the District Court.
A claim is not only about money. The SCT can also order a party to do the work that was promised, or order delivery of vacant possession, which matters in a tenancy dispute where you want the unit back rather than cash. Decide what outcome you actually want before you file, because that shapes how you frame the claim. Renovation jobs are one of the most common SCT disputes, so if a contractor is the problem, our renovation cost calculator helps you pin down what the work should have cost when you frame the claim.
Everything runs through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS) at cjts.judiciary.gov.sg. Before you can lodge a claim, you complete an online pre-filing assessment that checks whether your dispute is the kind the SCT can hear. It generates a pre-filing assessment ID that you need to start the claim, so do this step first.
You log in with Singpass. If you are a tourist or do not have Singpass, you can register online for a temporary CJTS Pass and file with that instead. If you are an individual who genuinely cannot present your own case because of old age, illiteracy, or a mental or health condition, you can apply for someone you have authorised to represent you. That is the narrow exception to the no-lawyer rule for ordinary claimants.
You also need the respondent identified correctly. Get the name and address exactly right. If you are claiming against a business, you need its ACRA business profile (obtained within one month of filing) so the legal entity name is correct. Suing the shopfront brand name instead of the registered company is a common mistake that can sink an otherwise good claim.
Gather your evidence before you start. Contracts, invoices, receipts, the tenancy agreement, photos of the damage or defect, WhatsApp and email exchanges, and any quotes or proof of what you paid. The SCT is informal, but the registrar and the magistrate decide on what you can show, so a tidy paper trail does most of the work. A short written summary of what happened, in order of date, makes your case far easier to follow.
CJTS includes eNegotiation and eMediation tools that let you try to resolve the dispute online before, or alongside, a formal claim. If the other side is reachable and reasonable, a settlement here saves both parties time and the filing fee. Even a partial agreement narrows what the tribunal has to decide later.
Once you have your pre-filing assessment ID, the respondent's details and your evidence, filing takes about half an hour online.
Service matters more than people expect. If the respondent is not properly served, the consultation cannot proceed and you lose time. Keep the registered post tracking slip or note who you handed the documents to and when, because that is what your Declaration of Service relies on.
Receiving a Notice of Consultation does not mean you have lost. It means a date is set and you need to respond. Ignoring it is the worst move, because if you do not attend the consultation the registrar can make a default order against you, and then you are the one chasing a set-aside.
Log in to CJTS using the one-time reference number printed on the notice. From there you can view the claim, read the documents the claimant uploaded, and track the case. You have three real options once you are in.
Whether you are claimant or respondent, turn up prepared. Court proceedings run in English, and the registrar decides on what you can actually show, so a tidy bundle does the heavy lifting.
The SCT process has up to three stages, and most cases never reach the last one.
First is the consultation. Both parties meet a registrar, who goes through the dispute and pushes both sides toward a settlement. A large share of cases end here with an agreed outcome. If you settle, the terms can be recorded as a consent order, which is enforceable like any tribunal order.
If the consultation does not resolve it, the registrar can adjourn for a further consultation, direct the parties to mediation, or fix the matter for a hearing. At a hearing, a Tribunal Magistrate hears both sides, looks at the evidence, and makes a binding order. Hearings are deliberately quick and can sometimes be fixed shortly after the consultation.
You cannot bring a lawyer to SCT proceedings. Neither side is represented; you speak for yourself. The narrow exception is where the magistrate decides it is just and equitable to allow representation, which is rare. This no-lawyer rule is the whole point of the SCT: it keeps the playing field level and the costs down, so an individual is not outgunned by a company's legal team.
If you do not turn up, the tribunal can make a default order against you. If you missed a consultation or hearing for a genuine reason, you can apply to set aside a default order, generally within one month of the order date. So if life gets in the way, do not ignore it; deal with the default quickly.
The SCT is not limited to ordering one side to pay the other. Depending on the dispute, the tribunal can:
An SCT order has the same force as a District Court order, so the outcome is a real, enforceable judgment, not a suggestion. That said, an order in your favour does not put cash in your hand. If the other side pays up, you are done. If they do not, you have to enforce the order yourself, and this is where many claimants get stuck.
Because an SCT order is enforced the same way as a District Court order, the usual route is to register or take the order to the court and then use enforcement methods such as a writ of seizure and sale against the debtor's assets, or a garnishee order against money owed to them. Enforcement has its own steps and fees, and it only works if the debtor actually has assets or income to go after. This is the practical reason to vet the respondent before you file. Suing a dissolved company or someone with no traceable assets can win you an order you can never collect on. A defaulting party becomes a liability you may never recover from, so deal with a registered business rather than an individual where you can, and act while the other party is still solvent.
SCT orders are largely final, which is part of how the system stays fast. You cannot appeal simply because you disagree with how the magistrate weighed the facts. There is no appeal on a finding of fact.
You can appeal to the General Division of the High Court, but only on a question of law, or on the ground that the claim was outside the tribunal's jurisdiction. Even then, you need permission first: you apply to the District Court for permission to appeal (the older term is leave to appeal), and the application must be made within 14 days of the tribunal's order, with no extension allowed. At the High Court appeal stage, the no-lawyer rule no longer applies, and a corporate entity such as a company, partnership or association must be represented by a lawyer for the appeal hearing unless the court grants permission otherwise.
There is a separate, simpler appeal for one situation. If the registrar discontinues your claim at the consultation because it is thought to be outside the SCT's jurisdiction and you disagree, you can appeal that discontinuance to a Tribunal Magistrate. You file the appeal on CJTS for a fee of $20, and you have one month from the date of the order to do it.
One trap catches people who appeal a tribunal order: filing an appeal does not pause the order. You must still comply with it while the appeal is pending, and it only stops applying if the appeal goes your way. If you want to hold off until the outcome, you have to apply separately for a stay of the enforcement process on CJTS.
In plain terms, appeals are narrow and uncommon. The SCT is designed so that what happens at the consultation or hearing is, for almost everyone, the end of the matter. Put your effort into preparing a clean case the first time rather than counting on a second bite.
The limit is $20,000. The tribunal can hear claims up to $30,000 only if both parties sign a Memorandum of Consent agreeing to the higher ceiling. Without that consent, $20,000 is the cap, and larger claims must scale down or go to the District Court.
For an individual, a claim up to $5,000 costs $10, and $5,001 to $10,000 costs $20. Above $10,000, the fee is 1 percent of the claim for individuals. Businesses pay more: $50, $100, then 3 percent across the same bands. The winner can be awarded a refund of the fee.
No. SCT proceedings are designed for self-representation, so neither party is legally represented except in rare cases where the magistrate allows it. The no-lawyer rule keeps costs down. Lawyers are only used if you later appeal to the High Court.
You must file within two years of the event that gave rise to your claim, such as when a service went wrong or a deposit should have been returned. After two years the tribunal can no longer hear the case, so do not delay.
It hears disputes over the sale of goods, the provision of services, property damage (excluding motor accidents and neighbour disputes), residential tenancies of up to two years, unfair consumer practices, certain motor vehicle deposit refunds, and some statutory charges like MCST fees.
No. Motor vehicle accident claims and employment or salary disputes are outside the SCT. Salary claims go to the Employment Claims Tribunals, and disputes with a neighbour go to the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals.
An SCT order has the same force as a District Court order. If the other side does not pay, you must enforce it yourself using methods like a writ of seizure and sale or a garnishee order. Enforcement only works if the debtor has assets or income to recover from.
Only on a question of law or jurisdiction, never on the facts. You must first get permission (formerly called leave) from the District Court within 14 days of the order, then appeal to the General Division of the High Court. Most SCT orders are final. There is a separate, simpler appeal if the registrar discontinues your claim for being out of jurisdiction: you appeal to a Tribunal Magistrate on CJTS for $20, within one month.
For a consumer dispute with a business, CASE is usually the cheaper first step. It corresponds with the retailer and offers mediation, which suits overseas claimants because it can run remotely. But CASE cannot force payment. The SCT can issue a binding order. Many people try the business directly, then CASE, then file at the SCT if mediation fails.
Do not ignore it, or the tribunal can make a default order against you. Log in to CJTS with the reference number on your Notice of Consultation, view the claim, and either negotiate online, file a counterclaim if you are owed money from the same dispute, or prepare your defence and attend the consultation. A counterclaim costs the same filing fee bands as a claim.
No. You cannot divide one dispute into several claims to bring each under the ceiling; the tribunal treats it as a single claim at its true value. Note also that a claim to cancel a contract is valued at the whole contract, and a progress-payment claim is valued at the entire contract, so a dispute can be larger than it first looks.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.