http://www.lsclawyers.com.au/elibrary/tribunal-book
It is a bit long-winded but if you scroll down to Case Study the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) – The Domestic Building List you will find the following:
On the question of whether the VCAT Domestic Building List has achieved its mandated aims of providing swift and cost effective dispute resolution, Mr Cotton a partner of Lovegrove Solicitors when speaking of the Domestic Building List of this tribunal said “this has not necessarily occurred” and he adds that this is possibly because the tribunal, somewhat ironically, in its determination to compel settlements of building disputes through ADR has been known to slow down the progress of dispute outcomes. This tends to occur says Mr Cotton when orders are made for multiple compulsory conferences and mediations. Well and good if a matter settles, but if it does not, the thwarted attempts to settle the case through ADR will escalate the cost of dispute resolution by a very significant factor and will add months to the length of proceedings.
And what sort of sum should people set aside for possible litigation? $10,000 - $50,000 - $80,000 - $100,000? One desirable outcome of requiring people to set aside such large sums for litigation with their builder is that building and renovation work in Victoria would come to a standstill. I'm all for that
Having said that I hope for Slab Heave recipient's sake that she does come out of this on top and soon.
Thanks for sharing the link and information.