Re: Trial by CTTT nitpicking

It's that last line that makes my blood boil: “There is no discretion with the requirements in 45(2).”

What a cop-out!  Knowing there was no discretion if the document didn't exist, couldn't the Member have adjourned for half an hour to let the plaintiffs get the document?  Couldn't he have continued hearing the case while it was being fetched and dismissed the case if it didn't turn up.  We're not talking about the LAW here, we're talking about bureaucratic paper-shuffling, nitpicking and pen-pushing.  I sent an email asking to see the missing minutes and they appeared on my computer, ready to be printed out, about 15 minutes later.

And where, in all this process, is the person from the CTTT saying, “Now, make sure you have such and such a document or the case can't go ahead.” The CTTT's feeble excuse for not providing what would be an invaluable advisory service is that they can't favour one side over the other.  But nobody's asking for that.

I'm simply saying, if you set up a system that's INTENDED not to have lawyers involved, why do you run it in such a way that anyone who doesn't understand the full implications of every aspect of the law has every chance of not jumping through all the legal hoops over which no discretion can be exercised.

And the big problem for everyone living in strata is that this, while it may be an extreme case, is far from isolated.  I have a file stuffed with ridiculous decisions that have cost home owners tens of thousands of dollars and months if not years of grief because CTTT members have either ignored the law or declined to apply common sense and empathy to people who are already at their wits' end.

OK, there are some very good people working at the CTTT and in any fight, the losing side is likely to call foul. And everbody makes mistakes  … except maybe the CTTT.  When they get it wrong they close ranks like league players after a particularly lively Mad Monday.  Nobody did anything wrong, the victim is the culprit and if you have a problem take it elsewhere.  We are not interested.

Here is the follow-up email from our reader after I had put a call into the CTTT to ask what was going on:

Just letting you know the CTTT notified us today that they would not re-hear our case as it was 'misconceived'.  They also don't consider that we have 'suffered an injustice or that the decision was against the weight of evidence' – considering they didnt even look at or even process the application for police documents to back up our evidence, or respond to my letters of complaint within their own timeframe, or notify me of what happened to the [police] application that I paid for and heard nothing more about – this is completely hypocritical.

They dont even abide by their own rules. The whole saga is a massive joke and I'm outraged that being a government department, my tax dollars fund this bogus organisation.

I know they told you that they would refund my money for the application but they havent, they also have not notified me about it or answered my questions. They wrote that we can take the matter to the district court.

Is it really possible that this can be allowed to happen and no one can do anything about it? Is there anyone out there that is aware of what is going on in there and worried about it?? I hope you tear them to shreds in your article-they deserve it.

Thanks for trying to help us.