The Tribunal

The Act gives power to Adjudicators and the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal to make orders to settle disputes. This power relates to certain matters relating to the operation and management of a strata scheme. If the Tribunal does not have power to hear the dispute, then the dispute must be resolved in another court.

A summary of the process by which this works is as follows

• An owner makes an application for mediation to the Tribunal.
• A mediation process then occurs which is administered by NSW Fair Trading.
• If unsuccessful, an owner may then makes an application for an order to the Tribunal;
• On receipt, the application for an order is processed by the Registrar who must ensure that an attempt has been made at mediation (if appropriate).
• Depending on the nature of the order requested by the owner, the application will be dealt with by either an Adjudicator (seniority varies) or else by the Tribunal.
• The Tribunal has the power to require that a person pays pecuniary penalties for the contravention of an order made by an Adjudicator or the Tribunal or for a contravention of a notice served on the person by an owners corporation requiring the person to comply with a particular by-law that the person has previously contravened.
• An appeal may be made to the Tribunal against an order of an Adjudicator and an appeal may be made to the District Court against an order of the Tribunal.

The Act describes the types of orders that may be made and who may apply for them.