Page 27 - Solving Housing Disputes

housing relationship would be followed by open discussion,
negotiation and mediation or other ADR approach.

(f) Digital and data – the HDS would feature digital filing and case
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management systems, capable of feeding data relating to dispute
type to regulators to assist them to make targeted interventions where
problems are arising. Digital case files should be used, capable of
seamless transfer to the court/tribunal stage. The HDS process would
be available to the court, thus diminishing if not eliminating the risk
of information imbalance or gaps arising through inequality of arms.

(g) Non-adversarial – the process would be based on problem solving
and resolving a broader array of interests within the housing
relationship. In the HDS, there are no hearings or parties’ lawyers;
there are investigative interviews and ADR methods deployed but
nothing akin to an adjudicative hearing. The HDS will not feature
hearings with advocates taking positional approaches to a dispute.
Instead, there is to be a focus on the real problems, parties’ interests
and potential solutions that sustain future relations. Notwithstanding,
there would be an obvious need for independent legal advice outside
the process to be widely available and sufficiently remunerated for
participants in the HDS process.

2.22 We appreciate this is a bold proposal. We recommend the HDS be a staged
pilot (discussed in more detail below), assessed against robust evaluative
measures. Not all Working Party members support the proposal for a pilot of
the HDS concept. Their concerns are articulated in Annexure B of this report.
Tenant lawyers we spoke to expressed concern about equality of arms for
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vulnerable participants in the HDS. They were also concerned about the
sustainability of legal aid practices since many have become reliant on costs
orders in successful cases for funding. The biggest concern was that the HDS

57 For those lacking digital capacity, alternate methods of engagement – over the phone, through paper
correspondence and face-to-face – will be available.

58 See paras immediately below.

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