Party next door

Have a look at this link which shows you your main options.

If the EC are still dragging their heels, you could apply to NCAT for a Section 138 (see below) order forcing them to take action.

UYou can also call police to deal with excessive noise after 10pm on week nights and midnight at weekends.  Or you could get noise abatement orders from your district court.

Have a look at this post for more advice. And here is an extract from Section 138.

138   General power of Adjudicator to make orders to settle disputes or rectify complaints

(1)  An Adjudicator may make an order to settle a dispute or complaint about:

(a)  an exercise of, or a failure to exercise, a function conferred or imposed by or under this Act or the by-laws in relation to a strata scheme, or

(b)  the operation, administration or management of a strata scheme under this Act.

(2)  For the purposes of subsection (1), an owners corporation or building management committee is taken to have failed to exercise a function if:

(a)  it decides not to exercise the function, or

(b)  application is made to it to exercise the function and it fails for 2 months after the making of the application to exercise the function in accordance with the application or to inform the applicant that it has decided not to exercise the function in accordance with the application

@dracover said:
Is there a trigger point where I can comfortably say to NCAT look here the EC clearly isn’t doing their job?

As it says in sub-section 2(b), if they have refused to do anything or have just done nothing within two months of your request, then you can take them to NCAT.  Talking about taking action isn’t taking action – it’s just talking, which is what the two months is for.

What i’m planning on doing is sending an official request for the EC to issues a notice to comply. My assumption is they will continue to do nothing at which point i can act. But i’m not sure how long.

I don’t think you need to do that.  If you have a record of your first request for them to take action, that’s when the clock would have started ticking.  It’s not up to you to tell them what to do, apart from deal with the problem.

Also, is it possible to take action individually regarding the neighbour? E.g. can I go to NCAT about them rather than the EC?

If you decide to go it alone, you should first apply to fair trading or a Community Justice Centre for mediation. Mediation is an obligatory precursor to applications for adjudications at NCAT (although not with Notices to Comply).  You have to attend the mediation but your neighbours can’t be forced to attend. The decisions at mediation are not binding but you can’t proceed to NCAT without having at least tried. You would proceed to NCAT if the situation didn’t improve (i.e. there is a repeat of the breach withing two years).

If so in your experience/opinion which option is better i.e. 138 against EC or directly deal with the neighbour?

What is best is to tell the EC that you will take a 138 against them if they don’t pull their fingers out.  The main reason ECs don’t take action is to save themselves the trouble and expense.  If you point out they will have double the trouble and expense if they don’t do anything, they would be very stupid to refuse.

It’s always better to go into these issues with EC support, but if it is reluctant and half-hearted, and they undermine your case with weak arguments, you would be better going it alone.  However, if they have solid evidence, say, in the form of complaints from other owners, you want them on your side.

That’s why you should try to keep them onside but “reluctantly” inform them that you have the option of a 138 if they don’t make a decision before the two months are up.