NCAT Consumer and Commercial Division: What It Hears, the $100,000 Limit, and When Your Claim Belongs in the Local Court

NCAT’s Consumer and Commercial Division hears consumer claims up to $100,000, and a consumer claim has to be brought by the consumer: a business chasing its own customer for an unpaid bill does not belong there. That debt goes to the Local Court of New South Wales, where the Small Claims Division hears claims up to $20,000 and the General Division hears claims over $20,000 and up to $100,000.

Get the forum right and the rest is paperwork. If you bought faulty goods or poor work, Claim Done drafts a Tribunal Application from your answers and documents for $97, and you lodge it with NCAT yourself. If you are the business that is owed money, a Letter of Demand for $49 is the usual first step before the Local Court. You approve every letter before it is sent.

What does the NCAT Consumer and Commercial Division hear?

More than most people expect. NCAT’s Consumer and Commercial Division page (last updated 19 May 2026) splits its work into two groups.

Housing and property: tenancy and social housing, boarding houses, residential communities, holiday parks, agricultural tenancy, strata and community schemes, home building, retirement villages and dividing fences.

Consumers and businesses: consumer claims, motor vehicles, retail leases, agent commissions and fees, conveyancing costs, and pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers.

Each case type has its own page, its own orders and sometimes its own pre-conditions. Home building disputes must first go to Fair Trading in New South Wales before NCAT will accept them, unless the matter is exempt. Most retail lease claims need a mediation certificate from the Small Business Commissioner in New South Wales first. A consumer claim has no compulsory first step on NCAT’s page; you gather your evidence, identify the other party correctly and apply.

What is the claim limit at NCAT?

It depends on the case type. Here are the limits NCAT and the legislation state, checked on 27 September 2026:

The consumer claims page (last updated 2 January 2026) says NCAT can decide a consumer claim “up to the value of $100,000”. If you have seen $40,000 quoted somewhere, that is the default figure in section 79S(7) of the Fair Trading Act 1987, which applies only unless another amount is prescribed. Clause 13A of the Fair Trading Regulation 2019 prescribes $100,000. The limit counts everything you ask for: money, the value of work to be done and goods to be delivered or replaced.

The retail leases page (last updated 11 January 2026) states its own caps, and NCAT’s home building and tenancy pages do not state a single dollar cap, so check the Act named on those pages before you put a figure on the form.

Is there an NCAT small claims division?

No. People search for “NCAT small claims” all the time, but NCAT has no separate small claims tier for consumer claims. The closest thing is the fee scale, which steps up at $10,000 and again at $30,000. The Small Claims Division people have in mind belongs to the Local Court.

That court’s page is blunt about how its small claims list works. Proceedings are “less formal and less technical”, the rules of evidence do not apply, and witnesses are generally not called in defended small claims matters unless the court decides otherwise. A defended claim goes to a pre-trial review first, where a registrar, assessor or judge tries to help the parties agree. Appeals from the Small Claims Division go to the District Court, and only on lack of jurisdiction or denial of procedural fairness.

Who counts as a consumer, and can a small business claim?

This is where the Consumer and Commercial Division surprises business owners, in both directions.

Section 79E of the Fair Trading Act 1987 defines a consumer claim as “a claim by a consumer” arising from a supply of goods or services by a supplier. Section 79I then says any consumer may apply to the tribunal. The claim runs one way: from the buyer to the supplier.

The definition of consumer in section 79D is wider than most people assume. It covers a natural person, a partnership, a small proprietary company, a strata owners corporation, an incorporated association and a company limited by guarantee, among others. So a small company that paid a supplier for a faulty coffee machine or a botched website can bring a consumer claim at NCAT as the consumer.

What that small company cannot do is flip it around. If it sold the website and its client never paid, the company is the supplier, not the consumer, and its claim is a general debt. That goes to the Local Court, whose own page lists “unpaid bills”, “loan agreements” and “services paid for and not provided” among its civil cases.

The same dollar figure can land in completely different places. Take a $25,000 dispute over a fit-out. If the café owner, trading as a sole trader, partnership or small proprietary company, sues the shopfitter for defective work, it is a consumer claim at NCAT in the $10,000 to $30,000 fee band. If the shopfitter sues the café owner for the unpaid balance, it is a General Division claim in the Local Court. Same job, same amount, two forums.

There is one exception worth knowing. Residential building work is its own case type, and NCAT’s home building page lists “payment for home building work or services” among the orders it can make, with “recovery of a debt by a contractor” exempt from the Fair Trading referral step. A contractor chasing a homeowner for residential building work can therefore be in NCAT, under the Home Building Act 1989, rather than the Local Court.

What else sends a claim to the Local Court instead?

Three things, in practice.

• The claim is not a consumer claim. A general debt, a personal loan or an unpaid invoice between businesses, where the person suing is the one who supplied the goods or services.
• The parties live in different states. The Local Court page notes that in some circumstances NCAT does not have power to deal with disputes involving parties who reside in another state or territory, and those parties lodge in the Local or District Court instead. NCAT’s case-type pages carry the same warning.
• Nothing connects the deal to New South Wales. Under section 79K, NCAT hears a consumer claim only if the goods or services were supplied in New South Wales, the agreement contemplated supply there, or the agreement was made there.

Time also matters. A consumer claim must be lodged within 3 years of when the cause of action accrued, and the goods or services must have been supplied within the past 10 years.

What does it cost to lodge in the Consumer and Commercial Division?

These are NCAT’s standard fees as at 1 July 2026, from its fees page (last updated 26 June 2026):

The reduced fee is for eligible pensioners, students on a Commonwealth allowance and people with legal aid or community legal centre help; a Health Care Card or Seniors Card on its own does not qualify. Our NCAT fees 2026 guide covers waivers and the costs after lodging. The Local Court sets its own filing fees, so check the current amount on the court’s site before you file there.

What happens after you apply?

A consumer claim is first listed for conciliation and hearing on the same day. If it does not settle, it may be listed for a contested hearing later. You can apply through NCAT Online Services or with the PDF form, and our NCAT application form guide walks through which one to use.

Lawyers need permission to appear in the Consumer and Commercial Division, except in limited cases such as retail leases. NCAT’s representation guideline says leave is usually granted where the claim is over $30,000, the other side is legally represented, or the issues are complex. Below that, expect to present your own case, which is why a clear written application matters so much.

Winning an order and being paid are separate events. If the other side ignores a money order, you register a certified copy with the Local Court and enforce it there, so the two forums meet again at the end.

If you are on the receiving end of an application, start with how to defend an NCAT application, and use the NCAT hearing evidence checklist whichever side you are on.

Not in New South Wales?

Each state draws the line differently. Queensland’s QCAT hears minor civil disputes up to $25,000; start with our QCAT application page, the QCAT fees 2026 guide, the QCAT forms guide and, for respondents, how to respond to a QCAT application. In Victoria, see the VCAT application page, the VCAT fees 2026 guide, the myVCAT form guide and responding to a VCAT application.

Which Claim Done document fits your claim?

If you are the consumer (a person, a partnership or a small company that bought goods or services in New South Wales) and the claim is within $100,000 and 3 years, the Tribunal Application is the document. For $97, fixed, you answer plain-English questions, tell us about invoices, quotes, photos and messages, and Claim Done’s document engine drafts the application: who the supplier is, what went wrong, the amount and the orders you want. You read it, change anything that is off, approve it, and lodge it with NCAT yourself. On a claim under $10,000, the NCAT fee and the document together come to $161.

If you are the business that is owed money, the Local Court is your forum and the Letter of Demand is where it starts. For $49 it sets out the debt, the invoices behind it and the deadline to pay. You approve it before it is sent by email. Our NCAT application page and New South Wales letter of demand page show what each document contains.

Claim Done is not a law firm, and no document guarantees an outcome. What it does is put your claim in writing, in the right order, for the right forum.

Consumer with a claim against a supplier? Start your Tribunal Application for $97. Business owed money by a customer? Start your Letter of Demand for $49.

Facts checked against NCAT, Local Court of New South Wales and New South Wales legislation pages on 27 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What does the NCAT Consumer and Commercial Division deal with?

It handles everyday disputes in New South Wales: consumer claims, motor vehicle disputes with dealers and repairers, retail leases, agent commissions and fees, conveyancing costs, pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers, plus housing and property matters such as tenancy, strata, home building, retirement villages, residential communities, holiday parks and dividing fences.

What is the maximum claim at NCAT for a consumer claim?

$100,000. NCAT's consumer claims page states that limit, and it comes from clause 13A of the Fair Trading Regulation 2019, which replaces the $40,000 default figure in section 79S(7) of the Fair Trading Act 1987. The total counts money, the value of work to be done and goods to be delivered or replaced.

Does NCAT have a small claims division?

No. NCAT has no separate small claims tier for consumer claims; its fees simply step up at $10,000 and $30,000. The Small Claims Division belongs to the Local Court of New South Wales and hears claims up to $20,000.

Can a business take a customer to NCAT for an unpaid invoice?

Generally no. A consumer claim is a claim by a consumer against a supplier, so a business chasing its own customer has a general debt claim, which goes to the Local Court. The main exception is residential building work: NCAT's home building case type covers payment for home building work, including debt recovery by a contractor.

Can a small company bring a consumer claim at NCAT?

Yes, if it was the buyer. The Fair Trading Act 1987 definition of consumer includes a small proprietary company, a partnership, a strata owners corporation and an incorporated association, among others, so a small company that paid for faulty goods or services can apply to NCAT as the consumer.