Alternative Residential Mediation Offers Alternative to Courts

Human Relations - August 14, 2007
Contact: Wanda Allen-Abraha, 727-2429

The city’s new Alternative Residential Mediation program offers tenants and landlords a new alternative, sanctioned by Forsyth County District Court, for settling disputes before they go to court.

The mediation program provides a simple mechanism to settle disputes that arise under the North Carolina Residential Agreement Act. Under an agreement with Chief Judge William Reingold of Forsyth County District Court, the court will refer landlord/tenant cases to Human Relations that it believes are ripe for mediation. Participation is voluntary, and the parties in the case retain the ability to go to court if mediation does not resolve the dispute. There is no cost. The agreement took effect with the start of the fiscal year on July 1.

The mediation program is patterned after a similar program developed in Charlotte. However, in North Carolina, this is the first formal partnership between a city government and the district court for a landlord/tenant residential mediation program. The program was two and a half years in the making and is the result of a collaboration between Human Relations, Forsyth District Court, the Legal Aid Society of Northwest North Carolina and the City Attorney.

For more information about the Alternative Residential Mediation program, call the Human Relations Department at 727-2429.

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