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Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) deals with disputes about:

• purchase and supply of goods
• credit *
• discrimination
• domestic building works
• guardianship and administration
• disability services, health and privacy, mental health
• legal profession services
• owners corporations (body corporate)
• residential tenancies
• retail tenancies.

VCAT also deals with disputes between people and government in areas such as:

• land valuation
• licences to carry on businesses (including travel agents, motor car traders and others)
• planning and environment
• State taxation
• many other government decisions (such as Transport Accident Commission decisions and freedom of information issues).

* On 1 July 2010, responsibility for the regulation of consumer credit passed from VCAT and the Consumer Credit (Victoria) Code to the Commonwealth. From that date, no further credit proceedings can be commenced in VCAT. Cases on foot in the Credit List of VCAT on 30 June 2010 will continue. For further details see the Other Disputes > Credit Contracts page on the VCAT website (see web link to the right of this page.

 

VCAT has three divisions: Civil, Administrative and Human Rights. Each division handles a different set of disputes, which are grouped into lists (such as Residential Tenancies List, Planning and Environment List and Guardianship List).

Although each list is governed by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998, processes can vary between lists, as individual cases are different. One case may take 15 minutes to resolve, while others may take a day or even several weeks.

Further information

See the VCAT website under Web Links on the right for more comprehensive information about VCAT, including dispute resolution, application process, fee, forms and guidelines.

Legislation

VCAT was established by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998. Visit the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website, then click on ‘Victorian Law Today’ to access the legislation and the related disclaimer statement.