Playing to win: strategies to obtain costs orders from NCAT in strata disputes

Playing to win: strategies to obtain costs orders from NCAT in strata disputes

When: Wednesday 25th March 2026

Time: 8:30-9:30 AM

Program Link: UNSW Edge Property Law Intensive

Playing to win: strategies to obtain costs orders from NCAT in strata disputes, including where the matter settles in principle but the parties cannot agree where costs ought fall Cases often settle before a final hearing — at least in principle, but subject to costs. Sometimes intervening events make the merits moot, for example the destruction of the subject matter of the litigation. Sometimes a party capitulates.

In those circumstances the question arises: should costs lie where they fall, or should one party pay the costs of the other? Those issues can also arise in NCAT strata disputes. The courts have developed principles addressing what ought happen with costs when proceedings end in that way.

All this must be seen in the context of s 60 of the NCAT Act, which provides that costs are only awarded if there are “special circumstances”. NCAT also has criteria governing whether costs can be determined on the papers. This session examines those principles through the lens of a recent strata dispute in which the presenter successfully obtained a costs order in NCAT based on those principles.

For some of Sydney’s other CPD seminars including on easements, please see Seminar History.