The Government is proposing to raise the maximum limit for claims in the Disputes Tribunal. But we think the new limit will still be too low.
At present, the Tribunal can only hear claims up to $7500 – or $12,000 if all parties agree. The Disputes Tribunal Amendment Bill seeks to increase the claims’ limit to $15,000 or $20,000 with the parties’ consent.
An increase is long overdue. However, we believe the limit should be raised to $50,000 – making it consistent with the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal.
In our submission on the bill to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, we argued the $15,000 cap would continue to force actions into the District Court even though the Disputes Tribunal was a better place for them.
We believe increasing the limit to $50,000 will improve consumers’ ability to enforce their rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act.
More from consumer.org.nz
- Download a copy of our full submission here.
- Disputes Tribunals - our guide to how they work.
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