Deciding your claim

We investigate and make decisions about simple or straightforward claims, including marketeering claims.

We refer more complex claims to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). QCAT is an independent body with the power to make legally binding decisions.

We review each claim on its own merits.

To give your claim the best chance of success make sure you include clear, specific information about what happened and how you suffered a loss, including any evidence of the event and your loss.

Find out how to make a claim.

Invalid claims

If your claim doesn’t meet the requirements of the claim fund, we’ll consider it invalid.

Agent or dealer’s settlement period

Once we receive your claim form we’ll notify the agent or dealer and give them a chance to respond. They have 14 days to tell us their version of events.

The agent or dealer also has 28 days to settle the claim directly with you. During that time they can try to contact you directly to negotiate a settlement.

If you accept a settlement, you and the agent or dealer must notify us.

If you don’t settle your claim during the settlement period, you must ask us in writing within 30 days of the end of the settlement period to continue with your claim, otherwise we might not be able to continue investigating.

Investigating a claim

Not every claim requires investigation but if we do investigate we’ll:

assign an inspector to gather evidence
send a copy of the completed inspector’s report to you, the agent or dealer and any other parties.

You then have 14 days to respond to the report with more evidence or documents. We’ll send any responses to all parties, who then have another 14 days to respond.

How we decide a claim

We decide simple claims without a hearing by considering:

evidence about whether the alleged event happened
evidence of the financial loss suffered as a direct result of the event
which person or company is liable for the loss
whether you contributed to the loss in any way, which may affect the final payment.

We consider the most likely scenario—or the ‘balance of probabilities’—when deciding.

How we tell you about our decision

We’ll send all parties a copy of the decision. The decision notice:

will be signed and dated
may outline our reasons for the decision, or explain how to ask for written reasons if we didn’t provide them.

The decision is legally binding unless you, the agent or dealer apply to QCAT for a review. You must do this within 28 days of receiving our decision. After this time, our decision is final.

How QCAT decides a complex claim

We refer complex claims to QCAT. We give QCAT your claim form and our inspector’s report, if applicable.

QCAT will hold a formal hearing, though they’re far less formal than a Court.

QCAT encourages you to represent yourself at the hearing but might let you appoint a lawyer in a more complex case. We can’t represent you.

They will invite the agent or dealer to take part in the hearing. If they don’t attend, QCAT can decide in their absence.

How QCAT tells you about their decision

Once QCAT has decided, they’ll send you and the agent/dealer a notice explaining their decision.

QCAT may order you or the agent/dealer to pay costs. This means you might have to refund the agent or dealer any money they spent on defending your claim.

A QCAT decision about who pays costs can be based on:

whether your claim was strong or weak
how you or the agent/dealer behaved during the hearing
whether the claim was complex
anything else QCAT considers relevant.

The decision is legally binding unless you or the agent/dealer decide to appeal QCAT’s decision.

You must appeal a QCAT decision within 28 days of the hearing. After this time has passed, QCAT’s decision is final.

Paying your claim

We won’t pay your claim before the 28-day review or appeal period ends.

If a decision is made in your favour—either by us, QCAT or on appeal—we can pay you from the claim fund.

We will usually pay within 21 days of the claim being finalised.

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