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Once upon a time I went to mediation at the NSW Office of Fair Trading and then to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal for a hearing to try and stop a shared apartment under us of nasty, inconsiderate neighbours from sharing their smoke with us. We had a new-born baby at the time and it was very stressful.
The ‘mediator’ seemed too young for the job, no more than 30 I guessed, unwise, and didn’t seem to know much about the NSW Strata Titles Act such as what parts the smokers might be breaching. Nor did I at the time but I’m wiser now, mostly thanks to Flat Chat.
The CTTT hearing was a stuff-up. I was prepared but the smokers, although they turned up, claimed they had forgotten it was on and hadn’t prepared due to them all being shift workers and, believe it or not, another date was set. The b
moved out, thank god, and the next hearing didn’t proceed.I am considering mediation again because our Common Property isn’t being properly looked after and my efforts to have it seen to, and even offers to help to supervise tradesmen etc. are being ignored by our EC and Strata Manager. (I was on the EC for quite sometime myself but now I’m locked-out by youngsters intent on reducing levies and not spending anything on upkeep.)
My question for Flat Chat experts is, are the mediators at the OFT supposed to be knowledgable about the Act, and if you sense that they don’t know what they’re talking about, can you politely suggest they call for a supervisor or something like that?
If, for example, I was to pull out a 10 x 8 photo showing our strata’s dreadful looking Common Property garden pathway with OH&S risks evident everywhere, might they say “Well yes, that is evidence that the Common Property is not being properly maintained. You must fix it up, Mr EC Chairman”?