Adjudication & Tribunal

When is an Adjudication and Tribunal Neccesary?

When other dispute resolution methods are not appropriate, and depending on the nature of the dispute, it may be necessary to lodge an adjudication application with the Commissioner’s Office or an application in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) (or NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for New South Wales matters).

An adjudicator has wide powers to investigate a matter and will usually make a determination based on the submissions prepared by the parties to the dispute. This is why adjudication applications must be thoroughly prepared and persuasively presented as they are the vehicle for making your case.

In some circumstances, orders made by an adjudicator or tribunal member are able to be enforced and appealed through the courts, with large monetary penalties able to be imposed.

Our experience includes:

• making and defending adjudication applications on a range of issues including committee and body corporate decisions (including issues of reasonableness), body corporate meetings, body corporate records, validity of motions, improvements, nuisance, pet applications, utility infrastructure, appointment of administrators, by-law contraventions, gaining access to a lot, and maintenance of lots and common property;
• making and defending applications to QCAT regarding caretaking agreements, remuneration reviews and appeals from decisions of adjudicators and making or defending applications for ‘complex disputes’;
• making and defending applications to NCAT;
• enforcing orders through the Magistrates Court, including pursuing monetary fines.

At Small Myers Hughes, we have a high rate of success through the adjudication and tribunal dispute resolution methods and will tailor our approach to ensure your desired outcomes are achieved as efficiently as possible.