 Thanks for joining us. My name is Stephanie Cook and I'm a Senior Community Education Officer at the RTA. Today we'll give you a brief overview of our dispute resolution service and then we'll focus on how parties can both prevent and resolve disputes. Before we start, I'd like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this country and their continuing connection with land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to all traditional owners and to elders past, present and emerging. Here at the RTA, we're here to help everyone involved in a tenancy. So that's property managers, owners, tenants and residents. Although most disputes occur at the end of a tenancy, we can ciliate both tenancy and bond disputes. So that means our dispute resolution service is available for problems during a tenancy, not just at the end. We emphasise that self-resolution is often the quickest and easiest option for all parties. However, if your self-resolution attempts aren't working, you can access our service. Dispute resolution requests can be lodged online via the RTA web services if you have all the contact details, including the email address for the tenants. Or you've got the option to lodge a paper form 16 if your tenants don't have an email address. Disputes lodged online are processed and effectively getting the queue a lot faster than by emailing the paper form to us. All conciliation is conducted over the phone, so we still offer conciliation once a tenant has left Australia and moved overseas, or if an interpreter is required on the call. And in 2022-23, the RTA conciliated over 22,000 disputes, so there can be a wait time of a few weeks for this service, depending on our case load. We encourage all parties to continue to communicate with each other while you're waiting for conciliation to start. And if you do manage to reach an agreement yourselves before the teleconference happens, please contact the RTA and we'll help you find last agreement in writing. Now, if parties cannot reach an agreement during our dispute resolution process, the matter may need to proceed to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, where they will decide on the matter for you. Our conciliators are impartial and do not take sides or make decisions, so they provide a safe environment for parties to have their say, and they assist with legislation, information and tenancy processes. It's an offence under Queensland Tenancy Law to record any part of the conciliation process. Also, anything said during the conciliation process is not admissible in a court of law, including QCAP. Some types of disputes that are not suitable for RTA conciliation, they include if a party is unable to be contacted or matters that fall outside of the RTA's jurisdiction, such as neighbourhood disputes, or where one party is seeking more money after the bond has been paid out, so the claim is greater than the bond. As it's a voluntary process, we cannot force parties to participate in the conciliation process. When we understand why disputes occur, this helps us to prevent or resolve disputes quicker. One quarter of disputes occur during a tenancy, for matters such as rent arrears, maintenance or damage issues, and entry to the property. Many disputes can be prevented or resolved by open communication. For example, making sure that all parties are aware of their rights and responsibilities, proactively share information throughout the tenancy, and communicate about the dispute if you have one. Avoid assuming that the other party has the same knowledge and understanding as you do, so be clear, respectful and check for understanding. Now, where there's a clash of personalities, honestly the best way forward is to involve another person if you can, maybe another tenant can be the spokesperson instead, or a property manager may involve their boss or a colleague. And remember, avoiding a matter will only escalate most situations, the longer it's not addressed, the harder it is to deal with. It's a good idea to start the tenancy by focusing on building and maintaining a relationship with the other party. Don't wait until the end of the tenancy to try and build rapport, start early. And our top tips for property managers and landlords are, if there's a delay in getting maintenance done, it's a good idea to keep tenants in the loop. A lot of the time disputes can be avoided if the tenant is kept up to date with what's happening. This can help avoid the situation escalating to breach notices being issued and relationship breaking down. So by getting in early and offering a rent reduction or some compensation, say until the parts arrive or the item is fixed, parties can limit extra costs instead of QCAT deciding for you. And remember, if a tenant issues you with a breach notice for repairs, please don't take it personally, it's just a formal way of them saying there's something wrong and it needs to be fixed. Now our top tips for tenants are, notifying your property manager or your landlord of maintenance issues, even if they seem minor. It is your responsibility as a tenant to report damage or maintenance needed. Remembering that reporting something small early on can stop it from getting worse and costing the owner more in the end. Ask more questions and listen. So by asking more questions and open questions, you can start to find out more information that may help you understand if there's an underlying issue and share your information and evidence with the other party and ask them to share theirs with you as well. This can help build trust and understanding. We often see the dispute gets to the conciliation stage and the relevant quotes and invoices have not yet been shared with the tenants or the tenants have not yet told the property owner how much rent reduction they're asking for. The majority of the time we see the dispute is resolved a lot faster once the information is sent to the other party. And a lot of the time difficult conversations are best met head on instead of hoping the issue will go away. There may be a reason the tenant is having trouble paying the rent or the water bills. Also consider the option of a payment plan instead of a notice to leave. For property managers or owners, look at your end of 10C process as most disputes around ending a tenancy. So could more information be provided to tenants earlier to help them better prepare for vacating so that you're able to relet the property quicker and with less disputes. Can you discuss the bond refund process more at hand over of the property? Please note that if you do reach an agreement, any agreement should be in writing and include all terms and conditions. And for tenants, it's a good idea to check in with your property manager or owner in the days after you've moved out. Are there any issues? Is there more cleaning needed? Is it possible to go back and fix any minor problems? You may have issues during your tenancy, so some specific tips to help avoid tenancy disputes include giving feedback either at or after routine inspections, providing positive feedback will strengthen your relationship and constructive feedback can remind a tenant of their obligations and help address any cleaning or damage issues to prevent future problems. As a property manager, are you reminding the owner to pass on their water bills? As a tenant, are you asking your property manager or owner for the latest bills if you realize it's been a while since receiving the last one? Communicate in a way that will work with the other person, so consider their age, culture and any language barriers. Someone may be a first-time tenant and not understand the rules or terminology, or maybe your landlord is from overseas and English is a second language. Being aware of cultural barriers can help parties determine the best way forward. Our website has a vacating checklist and also webinar and podcast for tenants vacating a rental property. Property managers can consider using this in your resources to help tenants understand the process. The quickest and easiest way for the RTA to refund the bond is an agreement between the parties. Some more tips to avoid bond refund disputes at the end of tenancy include completing the exit condition report together if possible. You can discuss any issues at the time with the tenant and they will also have the opportunity to address the issues on the spot. Discuss any issues regarding the vacate with the other party before you're making a claim on the bond. For example, to avoid the whole bond refund being held up over a $60 outstanding water bill, both parties may be able to sign a refund form to cover the water costs and no dispute is needed. Property managers, if you need to make a claim against the bond, provide information about the claim reasons and amounts to the RTA and copy the tenants into the email as well. Do you have evidence to support your claim? It's a good idea to resend the entry condition report and photos from the start to show that you've got some evidence. And consider what it is that the other party wants. Is there something that can be agreed to as a start? Can parties consider negotiating? Is there a way for you to meet in the middle and compromise? Now we know that most managing parties do the right thing and only claim what they're entitled to. Any claims beyond this point may be an offence under section 514, providing false and misleading documents to the RTA. If a portion of the bond is not in dispute, a request for a partial refund can be submitted to the RTA, as this does show goodwill. So if you're a tenant, you may agree to release $80 early for an outstanding water bill that you may agree with. Using our online web services is the fastest way to lodge an initial bond refund request or a dispute. Remember that you're not able to email the initial refund form to the RTA, only subsequent refund forms. However, after a claim has been made on the bond and there is a dispute in play, parties can email a refund form to the dispute team. To release some or all of the bond money, even if all parties haven't signed the form. Please contact the conciliator or the RTA contact centre if you would like to release some bond money to the other party once the dispute is in play. And if it is suitable, we can book a teleconference where both parties discuss the dispute with one of our impartial conciliators there to guide the conversation in a safe and respectful space. So how can you be prepared for the teleconference? As a property manager, discuss key points with the owner beforehand, check you have a level of evidence required. What costs are involved if the matter proceeds to QCAT and tenants, if an agreement is reached in the teleconference, all tenants need to agree. On the day, be in a quiet place with pen and paper, have documents and a breakdown of costs ready to discuss. And for property managers, it's a good idea to have the owner on standby so you can contact them if you need further direction during the call. Our conciliation process is a free way for you to have your say and shape an agreeable outcome. If parties cannot reach an agreement during our dispute resolution process, the matter may need to proceed to QCAT where you will not have a say in the outcome and this is decided by a QCAT adjudicator. Please reach out to us through our contact centre if you need help with your specific circumstances. We have free access to interpreters if required. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our webinar.