Small Claims Tribunal Singapore: How to File a Claim

This is general legal information, not legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate and solicitor about your situation. Information last verified on 22 July 2026.

The Small Claims Tribunals let an ordinary person recover money or resolve a low-value dispute without the cost and formality of a full civil suit. This guide sets out who can file, what claims qualify, the money and time limits, the filing fees, and how the process works from lodging a claim to the outcome.

The governing law is the Small Claims Tribunals Act 1984, and the fees are set by the Small Claims Tribunals Rules. Both are published in full on Singapore Statutes Online.

What the Small Claims Tribunal is

The Small Claims Tribunals (SCT) are part of the State Courts. They were created under the Small Claims Tribunals Act 1984 to give a fast, low-cost forum for certain low-value civil disputes.

The Tribunals are deliberately informal. A registrar first tries to help the parties reach a settlement at a consultation, and only if that fails does a tribunal hear and decide the claim. Because advocates and solicitors are not permitted, the process is built around parties who present their own case.

Claim limits: S$20,000 and S$30,000

The value of a claim cannot exceed S$20,000. This is the ordinary limit set by the Act.

The limit rises to S$30,000 only in one situation: where both parties sign a memorandum agreeing that the Tribunal may hear a claim above the S$20,000 figure. This higher limit has applied since 1 November 2019. Without a signed memorandum from both sides, the S$20,000 cap governs, and a claim above it cannot be heard.

The 2-year time limit

A claim must be brought within 2 years of the date on which the cause of action accrued. For a contract dispute this is usually the date of the breach; for property damage it is usually the date the damage occurred.

This time bar is strict. A claim filed after the 2-year period is outside the Tribunals’ jurisdiction, so it is worth acting well before the deadline rather than close to it.

What claims are eligible

The Act sets out the claim types the Tribunals can hear. The categories that matter to most people are:

• A dispute under a contract for the sale of goods or the provision of services, for example a faulty product, a service not delivered, or a deposit not refunded.
• A claim in tort for damage to property, subject to the exclusions below.
• A dispute under a contract for the lease of residential premises, where the lease does not exceed 2 years.
• An unfair-practice claim under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act.

The Schedule to the Act lists several further, more specialised recovery categories, such as certain strata and town-council contribution claims, but the four above are the ones a consumer, tenant or small trader is most likely to use.

What the Tribunal cannot hear

Two exclusions catch people out, and each works through a different provision, so it is worth stating them precisely.

First, the Tribunals cannot hear a claim for damage to property caused by an accident involving a motor vehicle. This exclusion is narrow. It covers accident property damage only. A contract dispute that happens to involve a vehicle, such as a used-car sale, a repair bill or a deposit on a car, is still eligible as a goods or services contract claim.

Second, the Tribunals cannot hear a neighbour dispute. This does not come from the motor-vehicle provision at all. It works through the Schedule, which carves out a tort claim for property damage that falls under the Community Disputes Resolution Act 2015. Neighbour disputes are handled by the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals instead, so a claim of that kind is filed there, not at the SCT.

Filing fees

The filing fee depends on the value of the claim and on whether the person filing is an individual or an entity such as a company. The current fees under the Small Claims Tribunals Rules are:

• Claim of S$5,000 or below: S$10 for an individual, S$50 for an entity.
• Claim above S$5,000 up to S$10,000: S$20 for an individual, S$100 for an entity.
• Claim above S$10,000 up to S$30,000: 1 per cent of the amount claimed for an individual, 3 per cent for an entity.

The fee is payable when the claim is lodged, and filing fees are not refundable.

How to file a claim

Claims are filed online through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS). Before you file, the system runs a pre-filing eligibility check, which helps confirm that your claim falls within the Tribunals’ jurisdiction on both subject matter and value.

In outline, the steps are: check eligibility, lodge the claim online through CJTS and pay the fee, and then attend a consultation before a registrar who tries to help the parties settle. If no settlement is reached, the matter goes to a hearing before a tribunal, which makes a binding order. Where the parties want to use the higher S$30,000 limit, both must sign the memorandum agreeing to it.

No advocates and solicitors: representing yourself

A defining rule of the Tribunals is that no party may be represented by an advocate and solicitor. There are narrow exceptions, for example an officer of a company appearing for the company, or the Government being represented, but the ordinary individual appears in person.

This is a feature, not a gap. The process is designed to be understood and used without legal training, which is why the forms, the consultation stage and the hearing are all kept simple.

If you disagree with the outcome

An appeal from a Small Claims Tribunal is limited. It lies 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, and only with permission from a District Court.

Because the appeal route is narrow, the consultation and hearing stages are where a case is really won or lost. Preparing your documents and evidence for those stages matters more than planning an appeal.

After the decision: getting paid

A tribunal’s order is binding on the parties, but an order and payment are not the same thing. If the party ordered to pay does not do so, the order does not enforce itself.

Where an order is not complied with voluntarily, the successful party can take steps to enforce it through the courts, and enforcement is a separate process from the claim itself. It is worth thinking about from the outset, because an award is only as valuable as the realistic prospect of enforcing it if the other side refuses to pay. Preparing evidence of who the other party is and where they can be reached helps at this stage.

Before you file: a short checklist

Before lodging a claim, it is worth confirming a few things so the pre-filing check does not turn you away. Confirm that the claim is one of the eligible types, that its value is within the S$20,000 limit or that both parties will sign the memorandum for the S$30,000 limit, and that you are within the 2-year period from when the cause of action arose.

It also helps to have your documents in order before you file: the contract, invoice, receipts, photographs of any damage, and the correspondence between you and the other party. The consultation stage moves faster, and a settlement is more likely, when the facts are documented rather than asserted.

For a wider view of low-value and minor disputes in Singapore, see Small Claims and Minor Disputes in Singapore.