Short answer
To take a strata dispute to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), you lodge an application setting out the problem and the orders you want. For most disputes you’re expected to try NSW Fair Trading mediation first. NCAT then hears the matter and can make binding orders the parties must follow.
The escalation path
NSW strata disputes follow a well-established order, and skipping steps can get an application knocked back:
- Raise it internally first. Put the issue to your strata committee or strata manager in writing, and where the decision belongs to the owners, to a general meeting.
- NSW Fair Trading mediation. If that doesn’t resolve it, Fair Trading offers a free mediation service. For many strata matters, attempting mediation is expected — and sometimes required — before you can apply to the Tribunal.
- NCAT. If mediation fails or isn’t suitable, you apply to the Tribunal, which can make binding orders.
How you apply
You lodge an application with NCAT describing the dispute and the specific orders you’re seeking — for example, an order to carry out a repair, resolve a by-law dispute, or settle a levy issue. There’s an application fee, and you’ll usually need to show you attempted mediation. The Tribunal is designed to be more accessible than a court, but preparing your evidence — records, correspondence, meeting minutes — still matters.
What NCAT can order
The Tribunal deals with strata matters across the board: by-laws, repairs, levies, decisions, and dysfunctional schemes. It can make orders the parties must follow, and in serious cases can appoint a compulsory strata manager. Its dispute-resolution powers sit in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.
Staying out of the Tribunal
Most disputes that reach NCAT started small — a repair ignored, a decision poorly recorded, levies left unaddressed. A self-managed scheme that runs on Straita keeps clean records and handles its obligations on time, which gives it the paper trail and the follow-through that stop disputes escalating to a hearing in the first place.
Primary sources
- NCAT — NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal — strata and community schemes applications and forms.
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — dispute resolution and Tribunal orders.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — mediation and dispute resolution.