Facilitated Settlement Conferences at the RTB: You Don't Have to Settle

If you've applied for dispute resolution at the Residential Tenancy Branch, your file may be scheduled for a facilitated settlement conference before it ever reaches a hearing. These can be a genuinely useful tool, but they're also where a lot of landlords and tenants quietly give away ground they didn't need to give.

Here's what they are, what the person running them can and can't do, and the one thing you need to remember if you walk into one.

What Is a Facilitated Settlement Conference?

When the RTB reviews applications for dispute resolution, it screens for files that look like good candidates for facilitation, typically disputes that appear to be misunderstandings or otherwise capable of being resolved by agreement. If your file is selected, your Notice of Proceeding package will say so, and attendance is mandatory.

The conference itself is run by a case facilitator (not an arbitrator) and is usually conducted by teleconference. The facilitator asks each party to share their side, and works to help the parties reach a fair agreement. If you reach one, that agreement gets captured in an enforceable order, the same practical effect as an order made after a hearing. If you don't reach agreement, the facilitator uses the session to help prepare both sides for the participatory hearing, and the file proceeds there instead. The governing rules are set out in Rule 12 of the RTB Rules of Procedure.

A Conference Is Not a Hearing

This is the distinction people get wrong.

A case facilitator is not an arbitrator. They are unlikely to review your evidence in any depth. Even if they do look at it, the most they can offer is a non-binding opinion on how they think you'd fare if the matter proceeded to a hearing. It isn't a ruling. It isn't even really a prediction. It's an opinion.

And critically: a case facilitator cannot force you to settle. They have no power to do it. The entire premise of facilitation is voluntary resolution.

One important exception to keep in mind: this protection applies to parties who actually show up. If you don't attend a scheduled conference, the facilitator can issue a final and binding decision without you, so disagreeing is your right, but skipping the conference is not the way to exercise it.

The Takeaway: Disagreement Is a Valid Answer

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from facilitation. It's a good program and it has its place. But the message you need to carry into the room is this:

If you fundamentally disagree with how something is being framed — whether by the facilitator or the other party — you do not have to settle.

You are entitled to take the matter to a hearing. An arbitrator will then decide whether they agree with you. If they do, you get it in writing, the RTB has 30 days to render a decision. If they don't, you'll find that out too, clearly and on the record.

And if you receive a decision you believe is wrong, that isn't necessarily the end of the road either. There may be a judicial review option. We can assist with all of it: facilitation, hearings, and judicial reviews.

But the advice I'd give before any of that: get legal advice before you entrench yourself in a position. Once you're dug in, it is very difficult to climb back out. A short conversation early is far cheaper than unwinding a bad agreement — or a missed argument — later.

Facing a facilitated settlement conference and not sure whether you should be settling? Talk to Bright Law first.

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