When it comes to irreconcilable differences, strata battles can make the irresistible force meeting the immovable object look like an episode of Dancing With The Stars.
But recently the Government offered what seems to be a short-cut for people who are trapped in a never-ending cycle of adjudications and appeals at the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal but fear taking their case to the Supreme Court.
As of September this year (2008), you’ve had to take your appeals against CTTT adjudications to a District Court to appeal on a point of law (rather than the mere fact that you didn’t like the result) and that would have to be a good thing, wouldn’t it?
Yes and no, according to leading strata lawyer Francesco Andreone. Certainly the District Court is a lot less daunting than the Supreme Court, he says, but it is not that much less expensive for the plaintiffs and defendants to run a case there.
However, you can apply to have some of your court costs paid by your opponent, if you win – an option that isn’t available in the CTTT process.
In many ways, according to Mr Andreone, a big benefit of this is to the government, which is able to free up time and resources in the Supreme Court where certainly it cost THEM more to run cases.
A downside is that the District Court tends not to publish its findings – something the Supreme Court does and which lawyers and strata managers use as a guide when confronting similar problems.
From this column’s point of view, a District Court appeal might get a quicker resolution when both parties will accept the first proper legal result. But for those immovable objects and irresistible forces it’s just an extra expensive step in a process that’s going to end up in the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal anyway.
Strata disputes can be an expensive business once you’ve gone past the Fair Trading mediation stage, even just to mount a case for an initial “paper” adjudication at the CTTT.
It’s a shame too many strata owners feel they can’t trust or accept CTTT decisions. Maybe making the CTTT more authoritative and awarding reasonable costs against the “losers” would make strata neighbours think twice before they take each other on.