Mediators are trained to be mediators, that is what they are there for. In many cases they may be legally qualified, but not necessarily in the subject matter. You might expect a mediator to have an awareness of strata law at the very least. Bear in mind that CTTT mediators don’t just deal in strata matters, as the jurisdiction of the Tribunal covers a wide range of areas.
However – in a mediation scenario the mediator can call in a strata law expert to advise one or both parties of what the law is. That happened with us only recently with an owner who was insisting on all sorts of things that were seriously in the realm of fantasy, so the mediator called in the expert who said no, that is not the law at all. Not that it did any good, but it was nice to have someone tell the owner he was wrong.
Jimmy’s point can’t be repeated often enough – the mediator is not there to make a ruling or adjudicate, they are there to facilitate a discussion of the issues and in the best case assist the parties to reach a resolution.