The District Court lets you sue in person above HK$75,000, for a HK$630 writ fee. What changes is costs: the loser normally pays the winner's taxed costs. The stages, the free procedural help, and what you recover if you win without a lawyer.
A deposit your landlord will not return is a money claim. At HK$75,000 or less it goes to the Small Claims Tribunal for HK$20 to HK$120, with no lawyers. What a landlord may deduct, why the tenancy agreement must be stamped, and the four proofs that win.
Hong Kong judgments given since 29 January 2024, Small Claims Tribunal awards included, can now be enforced in the Mainland. The HK$125 certificate, which Intermediate People's Court to use, the two-year limit and what is excluded.
Money claims of ¥600,000 or less, one hearing, judgment the same day — and since May 2026, ¥7,400 to file online, postage included. The defendant can still opt out, and there is no appeal.
The ceiling doubled to $60,000 in January 2026 and the fees moved again in July. What it costs, what it will not hear, how the referee runs the hearing, and the one narrow appeal.
Civil claims are a state matter, so there are eight ceilings — $10,000 in WA up to $100,000 at NCAT, and none at all in Victoria. Which forum, what it costs, and whether a lawyer may speak for you.
HK$15,000 or less per claimant goes to the Adjudication Board — conciliation first, 12 months to file. Above it, the Labour Tribunal: HK$50, a hearing in 10 to 30 days, and no lawyer on either side.
No Hong Kong ordinance makes a solicitor's letter a condition of suing. The seven lines that turn a demand into evidence, the 6-year clock under Cap. 347 s.4(1)(a), and the signed acknowledgment or part payment that starts it again.
Not a lawyer's letter — a prescribed demand that starts a 21-day clock. The HK$10,000 floor, the HK$1,045 court fee, the HK$11,250 deposit, and the two ways it backfires.
HK$40 to file a small claim, HK$630 for a District Court writ, and legal costs you can never recover at the Tribunal. Three forums, the published fee tables, and the question that decides it.
Section 19(2) bars barristers and solicitors from the Tribunal unless they are the party. The nine-item bundle, the C1/D1 pagination convention, and the sentence that decides when your evidence closes.
A warrant of control caps at £5,000; a High Court writ needs £600. Between them the High Court route costs less and hits harder — and it is not the default.
A payment order is enforceable if the debtor stays silent for 20 days. The NT$100,000 threshold, the NT$1,500 court fee and the 0.8% enforcement charge.
Under Order XXXVII the defendant has no automatic right to defend. Four forums, the three-year limitation clock, and why the cheque route runs alongside.
The Small Claims Tribunals ban legal representation and refuse anything older than two years. The S$20,000 ceiling, the real filing fees, and what a win is actually worth.
An empty chair is not a judgment. Section 17 makes you prove service and the debt; section 32A gives the absent party 7 days to apply to set the award aside. The sequence from no-show to enforceable award.
A Small Claims award is permission to collect, not payment. The Writ of Fieri Facias route, the HK$55 fee, and the Judiciary's own warning that the Bailiff cannot break into a home.
A claim above HK$75,000 cannot be split to fit the Small Claims Tribunal — but it can be shrunk. What abandoning the excess buys you, and when the arithmetic works.
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