Darryl Leigh v Careylee Partridge

The Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) received a dispute-resolution application dated 15 August 2023 brought by Darryl Leigh against Careylee Partridge. The matter was to be adjudicated under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019. Before the matter was finally determined, the applicant requested, by correspondence dated 29 January 2024, that the application concerning maintenance and repair issues be provisionally withdrawn. The adjudicator recorded this request and dealt with the matter on that basis.

• Whether the CSOS adjudicator should determine the dispute on the merits after the applicant requested a provisional withdrawal.
• What procedural order should be made in light of the applicant's withdrawal request, namely whether the matter should be removed from the adjudication roll and the file closed.

The matter was removed from the roll and the file was closed.

Where, before a merits determination, the applicant requests withdrawal of the dispute, the CSOS adjudicator may make a procedural order removing the matter from the roll and closing the file rather than deciding the dispute substantively.

No substantive obiter dicta appear from the text. The order is brief and purely procedural, containing no broader non-binding observations.

The order illustrates the procedural approach of the Community Schemes Ombud Service when an applicant seeks to withdraw a dispute before adjudication on the merits. It is not a substantive ruling on community-scheme rights or obligations, but it shows that the adjudicator may dispose of the matter procedurally by removing it from the roll and closing the file.