BC Small Claims Court Registry — Where to File Your Claim

Which Registry Do You File At?

Under Small Claims Rule 1(2), your Notice of Claim must be filed at the Small Claims Registry nearest to either:

• The defendant resides or carries on business, or
• The transaction or event that gave rise to the claim occurred.

You pick whichever registry is closest to one of those two locations. Filing at your own nearest registry — the one closest to your home — is only correct if the defendant also lives near you or the event happened in that area.

What Happens If You File at the Wrong Registry

If you file at the wrong registry, a judge may change the place of a hearing under Small Claims Rule 17(6). Rule 1(2) still sets where to file, so choose a registry nearest to one of the locations above.

Choosing the right registry from the start avoids all of this.

Finding the Right Registry

BC has Provincial Court registries across the province — from Vancouver and Surrey to Kelowna, Prince George, and smaller communities. The Provincial Court of BC website lists all registry locations with addresses, phone numbers, and hours of operation.

For corporate defendants, the "carries on business" location is typically the registered office address from the BC Corporate Registry search, or the physical location where you dealt with the business. For individual defendants, it is their residential address.

When the defendant lives far from where the event happened, you get to choose which registry to file at — the one near the defendant, or the one near the event location.

In-Person Filing vs. Court Services Online

CSO e-filing lets you upload readable, complete PDF forms in portrait orientation (scanned at 300 DPI or lower and under 8 MB per file), pay the $156 filing fee plus a $7 CSO transaction fee, and submit the package to the registry. If the registrar accepts a filing received by 4:00 p.m. on a day the registry is open, it is deemed filed that day; if received later or on a day the registry is closed, it is deemed filed the next day the registry is open.

In-person counter filing is done at the Small Claims Registry required by Rule 1(2). Bring your completed paper forms, the corporate search printout (if suing a company), and payment. Staff check for completeness, stamp the documents, assign a file number, and hand back your copies immediately.

Mail filing is an option if neither CSO nor in-person is practical. Send the forms with a cheque or money order payable to the Minister of Finance.

Registry vs. Hearing Location

Where you file and where your hearing happens are not always the same place. Settlement conferences default to Microsoft Teams video calls under Practice Direction SM CL 02, so your conference may not require a courthouse visit at all. Trial locations may also be assigned to specialized centers — Robson Square and Richmond handle the simplified trial pilot program, for example.

The filing registry is responsible for your file, including stamping documents and scheduling dates. But the actual appearance could happen remotely or at a different courthouse, depending on the judge's directions and the nature of the hearing.

Our BC Provincial Court Small Claims guide includes a registry selection walkthrough and covers the full filing process from corporate searches through service and trial preparation.

See more British Columbia guides →