I've got to hand it to the Builder - he's really good at dragging things out - like the house build (still not finished after 12 months), mediation (what an epic fail that was), and now Tribunal.
We received notice from NCAT (formally CTTT) that he was was "not available on the allocated hearing date". Unfortunately he did not send us a copy of this notice, as required, therefore we cannot be sure if he had a legitimate reason, or is just trying to put us off in hope that we'll drop the entire case. Call me cynical, but I'm going with the latter.
My husband inquired with NCAT as to how many times the Builder can keep putting off the hearing date until it has to go ahead. The answer was "indefinitely" - as long as the judge sees the reasoning as valid. WTF?
NCAT told us the best thing to do is write an email to the judge explaining our concerns, and that this be taken into consideration should the next date be 'unsuitable' for the Builder. We received written response concerning our email, along with confirmation that it has been put on file, and a copy sent to the Builder.
Our new Tribunal date is mid February - another month of waiting. Fingers crossed it actually goes ahead.
