By Dr Fahimeh Abedi, Senior Researcher
Can AI help solve land disputes? If we can make justice more accessible, faster, and fairer through AI and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), why not?
Land is livelihood, but land is also the site of conflict.
Land and property disputes can sound technical. We’re talking fencing, boundaries, co-ownership, and tenancy. But for those involved, the issues are deeply personal. They affect livelihoods, families, and homes. And too often, the pathway to resolution is slow, costly, and inaccessible.
AI-enhanced online dispute resolution
ODR is a promising alternative, particularly for small-value, low-complexity disputes. AI can analyse large volumes of data, predict outcomes, and offer insights that help in dispute resolution. The global adoption of ODR platforms shows its potential to improve access to justice. Meanwhile AI technologies can refine and make these systems more efficient.
This framework introduces a five-part online dispute resolution (ODR) system that has potential to be integrated with dispute resolution services, such as a tribunal, to resolve land and property disputes efficiently.
Here's how it’s structured:
1. Pre-Resolution Tools: use AI- platforms to help parties understand their rights. These tools can resolve disputes early. They do this through dispute categorisation, predictive analysis, and interactive legal assistance before formal proceedings.
2. Online Claim Initiation: streamlines claim filing with AI auto-fill using cadastral data, which is data relating to land and property ownership. It also includes automated eligibility checks, and secure communication protocols. This reduces errors and keeps the process valid.
3. AI-Enhanced Negotiation and Mediation: offers three pathways:
- Solely AI mediation
- AI-augmented human mediation (supports human mediation with potential settlements)
- Traditional human mediation—with AI providing resolution proposals, scheduling, and legally binding documents.
4. Adjudication: supports decision-makers such as tribunal members, with AI-powered evidence analysis, identification of relevant laws, and monitoring procedural fairness, while humans retain final decision-making authority.
5. Order Enforcement: uses AI to monitor obligations. It sends automated reminders and calculates penalties based on the type and severity of non-compliance. It also generates electronic orders with built-in guidance.
The system includes continuous improvement. It gathers feedback through user surveys, regular performance reviews, stakeholder training, and public awareness campaigns. All this happens while operating within Victoria's existing legal framework and uses models like British Columbia's ODR system.
Limitations of AI in online dispute resolution
The AI-enabled ODR framework enhances efficiency and access to justice for high-volume, low-risk land disputes (like dividing fences and minor co-ownership matters). However ethical, legal and governance considerations remain.
For more complex cases involving Indigenous or customary land tenure, where oral histories and community norms cannot be captured through data-driven models, there is a need for further development and research.
Victoria can set a precedent for other states by using such a comprehensive ODR framework tailored to land and property disputes.
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