## How the limitation period applies

The controlling primary authority for New York small claims jurisdictional limit — NYC Civ. Ct. Act § 1801 is **N.Y. NYC Civ. Ct. Act § 1801**.

> **N.Y. NYC Civ. Ct. Act § 1801.** The term "small claim" or "small claims" as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of ten thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs, or any action commenced by a party aggrieved by an arbitration award rendered pursuant to part 137 of the rules of the chief administrator of the courts (22 NYCRR Part 137) in which the amount in dispute does not exceed ten thousand dollars, provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within the city of New York, or where claimant is a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within the city of New York.

## Use the calculator

DocketMath's statute-of-limitations tool can model these timelines once you identify the controlling claim type and accrual date. Use the source panel for the verified primary-source citations.

[Open the Statute of Limitations calculator](/tools/statute-of-limitations)

## Sources

- [N.Y. NYC Civ. Ct. Act § 1801 — Small claims defined](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CCA/1801)

All sources are official primary law published by `www.nysenate.gov`.

**Corroboration method:** live_primary_url_substring_match.


What each small claims fees and limits output means for cases in New York.

How to interpret small claims fees and limits results in New York

Prior file was a wholesale wrong-code-path fabrication. It cited 'N.Y. Civil Practice Law and Rules § 1901' (CPLR § 1901) — but CPLR has NO small-claims provisions. CPLR § 1901 is in Article 19 (PARTIAL TRIAL OF SEVERAL CLAIMS), not small claims. New York small claims is governed by FOUR separate court acts depending on venue: (a) NYC Civil Court Act § 1801 ($10,000 — five NYC boroughs); (b) Uniform District Court Act § 1801 ($5,000 — Nassau/Suffolk); (c) Uniform City Court Act § 1801 ($5,000 — upstate city courts); (d) Uniform Justice Court Act § 1801 ($3,000 — town/village courts). The prior raw_statute_text ('There shall be a small claims fee of twenty-five dollars for claims of two thousand dollars or less...') was completely invented — that fee schedule does not exist anywhere in NY law. Sub_rules cited 'N.Y. General Business Law § 370' (which is a CONSUMER PROTECTION statute about misleading advertising for art/entertainment, NOT a small-claims fee statute) and 'CPLR § 8101' (which is a costs statute for general civil practice, not small-claims-specific). Replaced everything with the correct CCA/UDCA/UCCA/UJCA § 1801 quartet. Headline limit is the NYC CCA $10,000 (most-used venue). Fabricated 'effective_date: 2021-01-01' and 'urlStatus: broken' metadata removed.

The term 'small claim' or 'small claims' as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of ten thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs, or any action commenced by a party aggrieved by an arbitration award rendered pursuant to part one hundred thirty-seven of the rules of the chief administrator of the courts (22 NYCRR Part 137) in which the amount in dispute does not exceed ten thousand dollars, provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within the city of New York, or where claimant is a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within the city of New York. (NYC Civ. Ct. Act § 1801)

NYC small claims limit is $10,000. Venues: NYC Civil Court only (defendant must reside, have an office, or be employed in NYC, OR claimant must be tenant of defendant's property in NYC). Arbitration awards up to $10,000 also qualify.

small claims fee limit in US-NY is governed by N.Y. NYC Civ. Ct. Act § 1801 (NYC small claims, $10,000 limit). NY small claims is governed by FOUR court acts depending on venue — see sub_rules..

The term 'small claim' or 'small claims' as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of ten thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs ... provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within the city of New York, or where claimant is a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within the city of New York.

The term 'small claim' or 'small claims' as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of five thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs ... provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within a district of the court in the county, or where the claimant is or was a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within a district of the court in the county.

The term 'small claim' or 'small claims' as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of five thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs ... provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within the county, or where the claimant is or was a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within the county.

The term 'small claim' or 'small claims' as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of three thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs ... provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within the municipality where the court is located, or where claimant is or was a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within the municipality where the court is located.