4.4 Consumer protection

Legal aid is available for certain types of consumer protection matters for consumers including:

• tenancy matters (for tenants only),
• credit matters (including mortgages and guarantees),
• matters relating to unconscionable contracts and unfair contract terms,
• matters relating to the purchase of goods and services,
• matters relating to insurance contracts and superannuation, and
• matters involving a claim or cause of action against a person retained to advise and/or represent a client for the purpose of a consumer transaction.

This policy does not apply to professional negligence matters. 

Legal aid is available to consumers for court or tribunal proceedings.

To be eligible for legal aid the applicant must satisfy:

• the Means Test,
• the Merit Test, and
• Legal Aid NSW must also be satisfied that one of the following circumstances applies:
  • the applicant has already participated in internal dispute resolution (IDR) and external dispute resolution (EDR) and the parties have not resolved the dispute, or
  • participation in IDR and EDR is unavailable, impractical or not appropriate in the circumstances, or
  • providing legal representation to the applicant for court proceedings would advance the public interest (for example, because there is a significant point of law to be determined).

Where the matter is eligible for the small claims procedure set out at s199 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), the following additional requirement must be fulfilled:

• legal aid will only be granted where it is appropriate in the particular circumstances of the matter that the applicant has legal representation, taking into account:
  • the subjective circumstances of the applicant;
  • the complexity of the matter; and
  • any other relevant factor.