#12488
Francesco Andreone
Flatchatter

    Jimmy

    You must be making the assumption that the CTTT provides justice to strata stakeholders … rather than simply a mechanism by which disputes are moved from start to fininsh in the most time effective way.  

    Unfortunately, the CTTT and the strata dispute systems suffers the following problems.

    1.  Strata disputes are inherently complex because the rules are very detailed, each strata building is unique, each dispute is peculiar to the parties involved, small things can make a big difference and very few people really understand the details.

    2.  The OFT and CTTT dispute resolution system is inherently compromised by trying to determine complex disputes quickly, cheaply and by formalised processes.

    3.  Encouraging (or forcing) parties to be unrepresented by not allowing costs orders in most cases leaves participants at a serious disadvantage to each other and the Tribunal members.

    4.  Tribunal members are both overly legalistic and personal in their handling of strata disputes.  Making them both Solomon and Judge Roy Bean (the hanging judge).

    5.  Since appeals from the CTTT have gone to the District Court which does not publish its judgements (rather than the NSW Supreme Court) CTTT decisions are not subject to oublic scrutiny.

    6.  The lack of understanding of legal processes, strata laws and evidentiary burdens means that none of the people involved in strata disputes often have anything like the material they need to establish their cases.

    7.  A bureaucratic mentality that values processing disputes as much (of more) than solving them.  

    Unfortunately, in my experience, having the CTTT resolve strata disputes left everyone unhappy.

    Your example is just one of many situations where the right outcome could easily have been achieved but, instead, nothing is resolved and the people involved are less sure about what to do next time they have a problem.

    These days, you need to know how to work the CTTT system as well as the usual facts, law and techniques to win strata disputes.

     

    Francesco Andreone …