Methods of Dispute Resolution

Ordinary people think that this dispute procedure should be favoured because it is cheapest - because they can do it themselves. They are wrong. Successful negotiation quite possibly requires more training and experience than any of the following methods. It is highly skilled work, and as a home-owner of reasonable intelligence you ought realise that you are too close to the dispute to be an effective negotiator.

In New South Wales, the Department of Commerce, Office of Fair Trading, can arrange for an inspection and assessment of residential building defects by experienced building appraisers. In some situations, an application cannot be made to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal unless a report from the Building Investigations Branch has first been obtained

Mediation
A mediation is a meeting between the parties and their representatives and, usually, their respective experts, to resolve the dispute by agreement. Generally, information obtained as the mediation cannot be given in evidence, unless the same information can be sourced independently. There are many hints and tips which can be given as to the conduct of a mediation. One

of the most important is to ensure that any agreement reached at a mediation is reduced to writing and signed by all of the parties, at the conclusion of the mediation, - before the parties depart to take up their lives again. A second suggestion is to ensure that the parties agree before the mediation to share the costs of obtaining a professional mediator.