What are some tips for solving disputes?
What is the Disputes Tribunal?
What claims can the Tribunal hear and what won’t they hear?
What orders can the Tribunal make?
How do I make a claim?
Is there a fee to pay?
Can I extend the claim amount?
Can I apply for a re-hearing?
How do I file an appeal?
What happens if the order is not complied with?
What are some tips for solving disputes?
Try to:
- Stay cool - resolving issues may take some time and often it’s a good idea to sleep on it
- Listen to and understand what the other person is saying even if you disagree - show you have heard what they are saying
- State your point of view and what you want calmly
- Be specific and factual and be sure of your opinions and experience of the situation
- Invite co-operative solution finding – focus on ways to solve the problem to everyone’s satisfaction
- Take the other party’s perspective into account
- Compromise - sometimes the solution to a problem will not be what you had in mind to begin with
Try to avoid
- Preparing an attack, labelling, threatening, arguing every point
- Defensiveness, self-justifying
- Denying there is a problem or minimising someone’s concerns
What is the Disputes Tribunal?
The Disputes Tribunal provides a way to resolve a number of civil disputes that is quicker and less expensive and formal than the District or High Court. Hearings are private; there are no lawyers or judges, and members of the public and the media are not allowed into the hearing room. A trained referee hears your dispute, and can make a binding order that can be enforced by the courts. The Tribunal can deal with claims of up to $15,000 (or $20,000 if both sides agree).
What claims can the Tribunal hear and what won’t they hear?
The Tribunal can hear most claims where there is a dispute. However it can’t chase up cases where someone knows they should so something but refuses to. For example, you can’t go to the Tribunal to chase a debt that someone agrees they owe you. Some of the types of disputes heard by the Tribunal are:
- Disagreements with your flatmates
- Disagreements with your neighbours
- Whether work has been done properly
- Whether the goods you paid for were the goods you got
- Whether the amount charged for goods or for work done is much higher than the quote you were given
- Whether a trader is liable when your property goes missing while it’s in for repairs
- Whether advertising claims are false or misleading and you suffer loss or damage as a result
- If there has been a breach of the Hire Purchase or Credit Contracts Acts
You can’t use the Tribunal to settle disputes about:
- Rates, taxes, social welfare benefits or ACC payments
- Parenting or care of children
- Matrimonial property
- Wills
- Ownership of land
- The value of goodwill with a business that is bought or sold
- Trade secrets or other intellectual property such as copyright
The Community Law website has an easy guide to the Disputes Tribunal .
What orders can the Tribunal make?
The tribunal can make orders for:
- Payment for loss or damage
- Repair of, or parts for, faulty goods
- Repair of damage
- Changes to an agreement
- Cancellation of an agreement
- Refund of money or return of property
- The claim to be dismissed
How do I make a claim?
Contact your nearest District Court where the staff can help you and give you a claim form to fill out, or you can print one out from the Ministry of Justice website.
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Is there a fee to pay?
Yes, but as lawyers can’t attend the hearing you won’t have to pay a lawyer’s bill - unless you choose to get legal advice before the hearing.
You need to pay around:
- $35 if the total amount of the claim is less than $1000
- $60 if the total amount of the claim is between $1000 and $5000
- $120 if the total amount of the claim is between $5000 and the limit of $15,000
Can I extend the claim amount?
The usual limit of claims is $15,000. You can extend your claim up to $20,000 if you and the other party agree in writing.
Can I apply for a re-hearing?
You, or the other party, can apply for a rehearing within 28 days of the Tribunal’s order if
- you couldn’t get to the hearing and you have a good reason
- an important witness couldn’t get to the hearing
- you find out new facts about the dispute after the hearing is over
If you do apply for a re-hearing, you will have to provide reasons and evidence to support your application. The referee who first heard your case will deal with your application for a rehearing.
How do I file an appeal?
An appeal is a request to change the order (the outcome of the hearing). You can’t appeal a decision just because you didn’t like the decision made. You can appeal if you think the referee conducted your hearing in an unfair or unjust way. This needs to be filed at the Disputes Tribunal in the District Court within 28 days of the Tribunal making an order. A judge in the District Court decides whether or not there are grounds for an appeal.
What happens if the order is not complied with?
You can apply to the District Court to have it enforced. If the order was for the other party to pay you money, and they haven’t, contact the Collections Unit at your local District Court.