By Tim McKibbin, REINSW CEO
A landlord recently had to cough up thousands to have their case heard in the Local Court. This is because the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) cannot hear cases where one or both parties live in another state.
Landlords and tenants requiring dispute resolution must manoeuvre through the processes of the Local Court, which in comparison to NCAT are complex and expensive. Accordingly, many elect not to pursue their legal rights.
The inability for NCAT to hear and determine matters where a party(s) lives interstate could be remedied easily. The jurisdictional deficiency of NCAT is not shared by other states. All that is required is to “cut and paste” a section in the Queensland legislation for QCAT. The decision of the NSW Government to ignore this issue is completely unacceptable.