Ms Janette Fogarty:

Under the new amendments introduced in 2015 a third party group, such as a neighbouring group or management company, can bring a claim on behalf of a third party that is directly and adversely affected. However, it is all based on evidence, so the third parties potentially would have to come before the PRTB and produce the evidence that there is anti-social behaviour. There are two types of remedy available. If one goes down the adjudication route, one is looking for damages, which is the only remedy that would be available there, but we have seen that mediation is an option in the case of third party applications because they can reach a resolution to the dispute themselves. Some parties feel damages are not an adequate remedy, so mediation has been seen as a successful route to go down.