What Is Mediation in Queensland Real Estate? Definition and Agent Guide
A tenant disputes a bond deduction. A landlord claims unpaid rent exceeds the bond held. A retail tenant and landlord disagree over make-good obligations at lease end. Before any of these matters reaches a tribunal or court in Queensland, the parties must almost always attempt to resolve them through a structured, facilitated process — mediation. In Queensland real estate, mediation refers to a confidential dispute resolution process in which a trained, impartial conciliator assists parties in reaching a mutually acceptable agreement, without a third party imposing a decision. Depending on the tenancy type, this process is administered either by the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) for general residential tenancies, or by the Queensland Small Business Commissioner (QSBC) for retail and commercial leasing disputes.
How Mediation Works in Queensland Real Estate
The RTA Dispute Resolution Process for Residential Tenancies
The RTA administers the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 and supports tenants and property managers by offering free, confidential dispute resolution services to help parties resolve issues together. This service is the primary vehicle for mediation property dispute queensland agents encounter in day-to-day property management.
For disputes about matters occurring during a tenancy — such as rent increases, unfulfilled special terms, and maintenance and repairs — either party can lodge an online tenancy dispute resolution request via web services or submit a Dispute Resolution Request (Form 16). The RTA will confirm receipt of the request by email or letter before contacting the parties to discuss the details of the dispute. If the matter is suitable for conciliation, the RTA will then contact the other person to discuss the dispute and see if they are willing to negotiate.
If both parties are willing to participate in conciliation, the RTA will either host separate phone calls with each party for straightforward issues, or recommend a three-way teleconference for more complex issues. The teleconference model is standard for most contested matters. RTA conciliators are impartial and do not decide the outcome. It is up to both parties to come to a mutually agreeable decision during the confidential dispute resolution teleconference.
Confidentiality and What Cannot Be Used Later
A point many agents and landlords miss: the protection afforded to what is said during RTA conciliation is statutory, not merely administrative. What is said or presented during the teleconference is not shared outside the call — including in any further QCAT hearings. This is codified in the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008, which at section 413 addresses admissions made in the conciliation process and at section 409 provides that no record of the conciliation process is to be made or kept. Agents preparing their landlord clients for the RTA process should make this clear: conciliators cannot be called as witnesses if the matter escalates, and candid negotiation in the teleconference carries no risk of later being used against a party.
When Conciliation Is Not Suitable
The RTA will not conciliate where there are issues or factors likely to impact on a fair outcome, including where a claim exceeds $25,000 (which must be determined by a court with appropriate monetary jurisdiction, not QCAT), where an urgent application needs to proceed directly to QCAT without conciliation, or where the dispute involves a legal matter that needs to be determined by QCAT or a court. If the RTA determines the matter is not suitable, or if conciliation fails, the outcome is formalised in a specific document that agents and their clients must understand.
Non-urgent tenancy disputes must go through RTA dispute resolution first before being brought to QCAT. If the dispute cannot be resolved or is unsuitable for conciliation, the RTA will issue a Notice of Unresolved Dispute (NURD). If the applicant wishes to proceed to QCAT for a decision, a copy of the NURD must be attached to the Form 2 residential tenancy application.
The NURD and the 7-Day Bond Deadline
The NURD is a procedural gateway, not merely a piece of paperwork. If the matter is a bond dispute, the party wishing to proceed must apply to QCAT for a decision within 7 days of receiving the Notice of Unresolved Dispute, and must also notify the RTA in writing that the QCAT application has been lodged by the due date. Missing either step has a direct financial consequence: if the 7-day QCAT application or the written notification to the RTA is missed, the RTA will automatically release the bond money according to the refund form lodged by the other party. For property managers administering bond disputes on behalf of landlords, this deadline requires immediate action the moment the NURD is received.
Why Mediation Matters for Queensland Agents
A Mandatory Gateway, Not an Optional Step
The most important operational reality for Queensland agents is this: mediation through the RTA is not an optional preliminary step for most tenancy disputes — it is a legal precondition to tribunal access. Before applying to QCAT for a non-urgent residential tenancy hearing, a party must first apply to the RTA Dispute Resolution Service for conciliation (mediation). QCAT will not accept a non-urgent application unless the applicant attaches a Notice of Unresolved Dispute (NURD) from the RTA.
This has a direct bearing on how agents manage disputes on behalf of landlords. When a tenant contest arises — over bond, repairs, compensation claims, or breach notices — the path to enforcement runs through the RTA’s conciliation process, not around it. Agents who attempt to short-circuit this process, or who advise landlords to go straight to QCAT, will find their applications rejected at the point of lodgement.
The Scope of Non-Urgent Disputes Is Broad
Non-urgent matters include bond disputes, disputes about notices, applications for orders regarding a breach of agreement, claims for compensation, and applications for rent decreases. This covers the vast majority of disputes a property manager encounters in regular practice. It includes, since the 2024 legislative changes, disputes about minimum housing standards, rent increases sought by a managing agent within a 12-month period due to financial hardship (commenced 6 June 2024), minimum housing standards (commenced 1 September 2024 for all tenancies), and applications to attach fixtures or make structural changes (commenced 1 May 2025).
Urgent disputes — those that bypass the RTA conciliation requirement entirely — are defined more narrowly. Urgent tribunal applications are defined in section 415 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008. Urgent applications include applications for termination orders, urgent or emergency repair issues, disputes over abandonment or goods left on premises, or tenant applications to dispute tenancy database listings. The term “urgent” does not mean the application will be fast-tracked — it means only that it does not have to go through the RTA’s dispute resolution service.
The Commercial and Retail Dimension
Mediation in Queensland real estate is not limited to residential tenancies. For agents managing commercial or retail premises, a separate but equally important framework applies. The Queensland Small Business Commissioner (QSBC) provides help resolving disagreements over commercial leasing matters, including a mediation service for leasing disputes, under the Small Business Commissioner Act 2022 and the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994.
To commence a retail shop lease dispute at QCAT, a party must first go through a mediation process with the QSBC. Like the RTA process in residential tenancies, this is mandatory pre-litigation conduct. The mediation fee is set in the Small Business Commissioner Regulation 2022 and Retail Shop Leases Regulation 2016 and is shared equally by the parties to the dispute. Unlike the RTA’s free residential service, this is a fee-based process — agents advising commercial clients should factor this into dispute management expectations from the outset.
Legal Framework and Agent Obligations in Mediation Disputes
The Statutory Architecture
Queensland’s dispute resolution hierarchy for residential tenancies is built on a clear legislative structure. The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 — which is administered by the RTA as the Queensland Government statutory body and sets the rules for renting in Queensland — dedicates an entire chapter to the dispute resolution and tribunal application framework. The Act addresses the conciliation process (s 398), matters not suitable for conciliation (s 399), the making of dispute resolution requests (s 402), conciliation agreements (s 408), conciliator secrecy obligations (s 411), and the meaning of urgent applications (s 415).
Section 416 of the Act deals directly with the requirement for a dispute resolution request before applying to the tribunal — the provision that makes RTA conciliation a mandatory precondition for non-urgent matters. If there is a conciliation agreement in force about the residential tenancy agreement, the terms of that conciliation agreement are taken to be included as terms of the residential tenancy agreement itself. This has significant practical implications: a successfully mediated outcome is not merely a gentleman’s agreement. It becomes a binding contractual term of the tenancy, enforceable as such.
Providing False Information Is an Offence
Agents and parties should be aware that the RTA dispute resolution process is not informal in the sense of being consequence-free. It is an offence for a person to knowingly give the RTA documents that contain false or misleading information. This applies to all forms of written communication to the RTA and to anyone who provides information to the RTA — not just tenants and property managers. An agent submitting documentation in support of a landlord’s bond claim must ensure that documentation is accurate. Failure to comply with the evidence-provision requirements is a breach of the Act, with a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units.
How Commercial Mediation Differs from Residential
For agents working in commercial or retail leasing, the procedural architecture differs materially from the residential model. Under the Small Business Commissioner Act 2022, both parties must agree to participate for the mediation to go ahead. Under the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994, the mediation will proceed unless the applicant withdraws or the application is otherwise excluded by law.
Anything said in the QSBC mediation conference cannot be used as evidence in a tribunal or court. Confidentiality is therefore a feature of both frameworks, though the structural rules for proceeding differ. The QSBC mediator must refer the case to QCAT if, after participating in the dispute resolution process, the dispute is within QCAT’s power to hear and the parties cannot reach a solution at mediation. Unlike the residential model — where the aggrieved party receives a NURD and must independently lodge with QCAT — in retail shop lease matters, the mediator handles the referral.
In deciding retail shop lease disputes, QCAT has a monetary limit of $750,000. By contrast, in deciding residential tenancy disputes, QCAT has a monetary limit of $25,000 (excluding interest). If a claim amount exceeds $25,000, the party can apply to have the dispute determined through the relevant court. These jurisdictional thresholds matter when agents are advising clients on where a dispute is ultimately headed and how much it is worth pursuing.
What Agents Are Actually Required to Do
A property manager acting for a landlord in a tenancy dispute is not a passive bystander in the RTA process. The Act imposes obligations throughout. When a bond is disputed, rental bonds require supporting evidence to be provided to the tenant or resident when a property manager or owner claims or disputes a bond refund request. This must be done within 14 days of the bond claim or dispute. Not providing supporting evidence to a tenant or resident when a claim or dispute is made against a bond is an offence.
Before a teleconference, parties are expected to: block time in their calendar to avoid conflicts; familiarise themselves with their legal rights and responsibilities under Queensland’s tenancy laws; review the tenancy agreement including any special terms; think about what the issue is, what they want to happen, and where they are willing to negotiate; and collate relevant documentation such as emails, repair quotes, photos, rent ledgers, and receipts to support their position. An agent preparing a landlord for a conciliation teleconference should treat this preparation work as a professional obligation, not a courtesy suggestion.
What Queensland Agents Need to Know About Mediation
Know the Pathway Before the Dispute Arrives
The agents who navigate mediation most effectively are those who have already explained the process to their clients before any dispute arises. At the start of each tenancy, experienced property managers set client expectations: that bond disputes and maintenance complaints almost always require RTA conciliation before any tribunal involvement; that the conciliation process is free and relatively quick; and that documentation quality at that stage is decisive.
Condition reports, entry reports, maintenance request records, repair quotes, rent ledgers, and written communications are all evidence in a mediation teleconference. Both parties share their perspective on the dispute and are each given an opportunity to share their version of events, referencing any documentation they have to substantiate their position. An agent with clean, consistent records occupies a fundamentally stronger position than one relying on verbal accounts.
Do Not Ignore the Teleconference
The RTA will make all reasonable attempts to contact each party during the allocated teleconference time. If a party does not answer, the RTA will assume they do not wish to participate in the process, will notify the other person, and will issue a Notice of Unresolved Dispute. This is a critical operational point for property management teams. A NURD issued because an agent or landlord failed to answer the RTA’s call is not a neutral outcome — it places the other party in a position to immediately escalate to QCAT, potentially on terms unfavourable to the landlord.
Build RTA teleconference appointments into the agency calendar. Ensure the person attending on behalf of the landlord has authority to make decisions, is familiar with the file, and has reviewed the documentation before the call.
Self-Resolution Remains Available Throughout
The formal mediation pathway does not foreclose informal resolution at any stage. Self-resolution can be practised at any time, even if a party has already applied for RTA dispute resolution. In practice, many disputes settle between the lodgement of Form 16 and the scheduled teleconference, once both parties see the issues written down. Agents should continue attempting direct resolution with the tenant or their representative throughout the RTA process — a negotiated settlement reached before the teleconference saves everyone time and, in the property management context, preserves the landlord’s relationship with a tenant who may still be in occupation.
The QSBC Pathway for Commercial Agents
Commercial property managers and those who act for landlords in retail centres need to be fluent in the QSBC mediation process, which operates separately from the RTA. Disputes over early exits from commercial leases accounted for 15% of mediations facilitated by the QSBC during the 2024–25 financial year. Outgoings featured in 22% of mediations held by the QSBC in the 2024–25 financial year, emerging as a significant issue. These figures give a practical sense of where commercial disputes concentrate — lease exits and outgoings allocation are the disputes agents need to prepare for.
Before organising a formal mediation, the QSBC will reach out to both parties to discuss the matter and offer informal, free dispute assistance. This pre-mediation assistance stage is worth using — many commercial disputes resolve at this level without the parties incurring even the shared mediation fee.
What This Means for Queensland Agents
Mediation in Queensland real estate is not a bureaucratic preliminary. For residential tenancies, it is a statutory precondition to tribunal access under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 — and the quality of an agent’s preparation and documentation during that process often determines whether a client wins or loses the underlying dispute. For retail and commercial tenancies, the QSBC mediation framework under the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 and Small Business Commissioner Act 2022 plays the same gatekeeping role, with its own fees, timelines, and referral mechanics.
The practical obligations on agents are real and specific: lodge Form 16 promptly for residential disputes, produce bond evidence within 14 days, attend scheduled teleconferences, and never submit false or misleading documentation. For bond disputes in particular, the 7-day window to lodge with QCAT following a NURD is non-negotiable — missing it results in automatic bond release in favour of the other party.
An agent who understands the mediation framework thoroughly — its mandatory character, its confidentiality protections, its evidentiary expectations, and its jurisdictional limits — is in a position to manage disputes efficiently, protect their landlord clients’ interests, and avoid the procedural errors that convert winnable disputes into unrecoverable losses.