Mediation in a neighbour dispute
Mediation is a conversation run by someone neutral, who does not decide anything. It settles a great many neighbour disputes. How you reach one in New South Wales changed in 2025, and a lot of advice still online has not caught up.
General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.
Community Justice Centres no longer take neighbour disputes directly. The NSW Department of Communities and Justice states that from 1 July 2025, mediation through a CJC is no longer available for disputes other than those referred by NSW Courts or involving incorporated associations.
Free mediation does still exist for strata. NCAT states mediation is compulsory for most strata and community schemes disputes, and the NSW Government states Fair Trading’s mediation is free and can be applied for online.
For fences, the tribunal itself provides the settlement step: NCAT states that dividing fences matters are first listed for conciliation and hearing.
Do this first: work out which kind of dispute you have, because that decides which door is open to you.
What mediation actually is
A mediator is not a judge and not an adviser. They do not decide who is right, they do not give either of you legal advice, and they cannot make an order. What they do is run a structured conversation so that two people who have stopped listening to each other can hear what the other one actually wants.
That sounds modest and it is surprisingly effective, because most neighbour disputes are not really disagreements about law. They are disagreements about money, or about being taken seriously, or about something that happened three years ago and was never acknowledged. A tribunal cannot address any of that. A conversation sometimes can.
The other thing mediation offers is range. A tribunal can make only the orders it is empowered to make. In mediation you can agree to anything lawful the two of you are willing to agree to — a payment schedule, a different design, a time of day, a tree trimmed twice a year rather than removed. Outcomes of that kind are frequently what both people actually wanted.
Mediation is voluntary in its outcome even where attending is not. Nobody can be made to agree to something at a mediation. You can leave without an agreement, and that is not a failure.
What changed in 2025
For many years the standard advice for a neighbour dispute in New South Wales was to ring a Community Justice Centre and ask for free mediation. Anyone could do it, either side could ask, and it cost nothing.
That route has closed. The NSW Department of Communities and Justice states that from 1 July 2025, mediation through CJC is no longer available for disputes other than those referred by NSW Courts or involving incorporated associations. The service is described as providing mediation for matters referred by NSW Courts, where disputing parties are compelled to try mediation, and for disputes under the Associations Incorporated Act 2009 (NSW).
So a Community Justice Centre can still be part of your matter, but you do not get there by ringing them yourself about your fence. You get there because a court sends the matter to them.
This matters because a great deal of material about neighbour disputes, including material published before the change, still tells readers to contact a Community Justice Centre directly. If you have been given that advice, check the Department’s own page before you act on it.
This is a good illustration of why every page on this site names its sources. Where something here and an official page disagree, the official page is right, and we would rather be told.
What is still open to you
The closing of one door did not close all of them. What is available depends on the kind of dispute you have, which is the main reason to be clear about that first.
- Strata disputes. NCAT states that mediation is compulsory for most strata and community schemes disputes, that you apply for it through NSW Fair Trading, and that the mediation certificate has to be attached to your NCAT application unless you are exempt. The NSW Government states that Fair Trading's mediation is free and that you can apply online. This is the strongest free option left.
- Dividing fences. NCAT states that dividing fences matters are first listed for conciliation and hearing. The settlement conversation is built into the process rather than being something you arrange beforehand.
- Tree and hedge disputes. The Land and Environment Court states that it must be satisfied the parties have attempted to resolve the dispute before the matter is listed for final hearing, and that mediation is not compulsory but is an effective way to try.
- A private mediator. Available for any dispute, at a cost the two of you share. Worth considering where the amount in issue is substantial or where the relationship has to survive.
- The conversation itself. Unglamorous, free, and still the way most neighbour disputes in New South Wales end.
If a court or tribunal does refer your matter to a Community Justice Centre, that mediation is free. The Department describes the service as free mediation for disputes referred by NSW Courts and for incorporated associations.
What a mediation is like
If you are sent to one, or you arrange one privately, the shape is much the same. There is an opening where the mediator explains the process and the ground rules. Each person says, without interruption, what the problem is from their side. The mediator draws out what is actually in dispute, which is often not what either of you started with. Then the discussion turns to what could be done about it.
There may be private sessions, where the mediator talks to each of you separately. That is normal and it is where a lot of the progress happens, because people will say to a mediator what they will not say across a table.
It can take a couple of hours, and sometimes more than one session. Bring the documents, not the file: the quote, the photographs, the notice, the by-law. Bring a clear idea of what you actually need, as distinct from what you have been demanding.
The most useful preparation is to work out, before you go, what you would accept. People who arrive with only a position tend to leave without an agreement. People who arrive knowing their range tend to leave with one.
If you reach an agreement
Write it down before anyone leaves. An agreement remembered differently a fortnight later is worse than no agreement at all, because now there are two disputes.
Be specific about the things that cause trouble later: who does what, by when, who pays what and when, and what happens if the work is not done. They will fix the fence is not an agreement. The fence along the rear boundary will be replaced with the same material by the end of March, each owner paying half of the attached quote is.
Whether what you sign is legally binding depends on what it is and how it was made, and that is a question worth asking before you sign rather than after. If the amount involved is significant, or the agreement is meant to settle a matter for good, it is worth having it looked at.
Take an agreement away and read it before signing if you are unsure. A mediator cannot advise you about whether it is a good deal for you, because they are not acting for either of you.
What usually happens
Identify the kind of dispute
Fence, tree, strata, noise, boundary or access. This decides which mediation route is available, and they are not interchangeable.
Check the current position at the source
The routes changed in 2025. Read the Department’s Community Justice Centres page and the relevant tribunal’s own page rather than older material.
Use the free route if you have one
For strata, apply to NSW Fair Trading for mediation. For dividing fences, conciliation is part of the NCAT listing.
Prepare a range, not a position
Decide beforehand what you would accept, not only what you want. This is the single thing most likely to produce an agreement.
Record what is agreed
Specific, written, before anyone leaves the room. Who, what, by when, and what happens if it is not done.
Common questions
Can I still ring a Community Justice Centre about my neighbour?
Not for a neighbour dispute of your own. The Department of Communities and Justice states that from 1 July 2025, mediation through CJC is no longer available for disputes other than those referred by NSW Courts or involving incorporated associations. If a court refers your matter, a CJC mediation can still happen, and the Department describes that service as free.
Is mediation compulsory?
It depends on the dispute. NCAT states that mediation is compulsory for most strata and community schemes disputes, with exemptions set out in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. For tree disputes the Land and Environment Court states mediation is not compulsory but is an effective way to try to resolve the matter, while also stating that it must be satisfied the parties have attempted to resolve the dispute before final hearing.
Does mediation cost anything?
Fair Trading’s strata mediation is stated by the NSW Government to be free. A mediation a court refers to a Community Justice Centre is free. A private mediator charges, and the cost is usually shared. Tribunal conciliation happens as part of a listing you have already paid a filing fee for.
What if my neighbour refuses to come?
Where attendance is compulsory, refusing has consequences in the process that follows. Where it is not, you cannot make them, and the matter moves to whatever the formal route is for your kind of dispute. Keep a record of having asked, because the fact that you tried is relevant later.
Can I bring a lawyer?
That depends on the scheme the mediation is run under, and it is worth asking when the mediation is arranged. Even where a lawyer does not attend, getting advice beforehand about what you should be aiming for, and afterwards about what you are being asked to sign, is usually where the value is.
Is anything said at mediation able to be used later?
Mediation is generally conducted on a confidential basis, and there are rules about what can be said afterwards, but the detail depends on the scheme it is run under. Ask at the outset what the confidentiality arrangements are, rather than assuming.
My neighbour agreed and has not done it.
What you can do depends on what the agreement was and how it was made. Some agreements can be enforced directly and others are evidence of what was settled rather than something a court will order performance of. Bring the written agreement and get advice on which kind you have.
Related
Before the mediation
The useful preparation is knowing what you would accept and what a tribunal could realistically order if you did not settle. Those two things together tell you whether an offer on the table is a good one.