Short answer
NCAT is the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal — the body that resolves strata disputes and can make binding orders when owners, committees or managers can’t sort things out themselves. It handles matters like by-law disputes, repairs, unpaid levies and dysfunctional schemes.
What NCAT can do
Make orders the parties must follow — for example, ordering a repair, resolving a by-law dispute, settling a levy issue, or in serious cases appointing a compulsory strata manager.
Try mediation first
For many disputes, mediation through NSW Fair Trading is a step you’re expected to try before applying to NCAT. It’s cheaper and faster, and often resolves things without a hearing (see the NCAT process).
Staying out of NCAT
Most strata disputes that end up at NCAT started small — a repair ignored, a decision poorly recorded, levies left unaddressed. A self-managed scheme that keeps clean records and handles obligations on time with a system such as Straita gives itself the paper trail and the follow-through that stops disputes escalating in the first place.
Primary sources
- NCAT — NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal — strata and community schemes applications.
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — dispute resolution and Tribunal orders.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — strata mediation and disputes.