…and I thought I was the only one who got a mediator off-side!
Whilst there’s no legislative requirement for those involved in Strata disputes to attend mediation, the Adjudicators take a dim-view of any party to a dispute that has not first attempted it.
So in my opinion it’s a bit of a faux job-creation exercise for those mediators employed by the NSW Department of Fair Trading (DFT), “faux” because despite the fact that people in the Strata Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal will actively point the parties in the direction of the DFT, there are other options for Strata dwellers to fulfill their obligation to attempt mediation.
I’m referring to services provided by the NSW Community Justice Centre, the NSW Law Society, and to a lesser extent the websites of Professional Associations that provide a search facility to enable parties to locate trained private-sector mediators who specialise in strata / community disputes and whose time-based fees may facilitate a quick resolution.
Slightly off-topic, but I wonder when those Special and General Members of the Tribunal who hear the majority of matters will need to hold formal legal qualifications and have relevant experience as opposed to just being able, to “represent a sector of the public in relation to any one or more classes of matters in respect of which the Tribunal has jurisdiction”.
As someone who could, in a totally unbiased way of course, represent that sector comprising owners corporations, I could qualify as a General Member; how silly is that? Answer…..very, which to some extent explains why the current system of adjudication is broken, and consequently why it’s so underutilised.