‘Rats, filth but we can’t get this eyesore cleaned up’

AN Adelaide council is fed up. For 10 years it has been trying to get the owners of an “unsightly” property to clean up the eyesore but it can’t get a court to back it.

A DILAPIDATED house in Broadview has sparked a renewed push to change state legislation to force property owners to tidy up unsightly yards.

Enfield ward councillor Carol Martin said the council had been trying to get a house in Beaven Ave, Broadview, cleaned up for more than 10 years.

She said investigations found there was nothing the council could legally do because of ambiguous wording in the Local Government Act.

Cr Martin said what was unsightly to one person may not be unsightly to another and wording in the act, such as “is unsightly and detracts significantly from the amenity of the locality”, hindered councils in court.

She said the Broadview house had attracted rats to neighbours’ yards, describing the filthy state of the property as “really appalling”.

The property owner was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, Klemzig ward councillor Tony Barca said a large parcel of former Housing SA land opposite the Windsor Gardens caravan park had become an “eyesore” and a dumping ground since becoming vacant in 2011.

Not-for-profit aged care organisation ACH Group bought the land last year and was discussing development plans.

Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor Gary Johanson said the State Government needed to strengthen laws to give councils greater powers to make residents living in squalor or in dangerous properties clean-up their act.

“We have been bringing this up for some years now,” Mr Johanson said.

“It’s what people describe as potentially dangerous but we can’t force any clean-up.

“This is something that all councils need to band together and push for because there is a need to be able to do a forced clean-up for some sites.

“At the end of the day people have the right to enjoy their own properties but then you have others who create problems on their own site — why inflict that onto neighbours?”

He said a similar property in North Haven was also causing concern.

“It cost the council about $20,000 to $30,000 to take it to court,” he said.

“The legislation really let us down because we lost the case.”

Port Adelaide Enfield environmental health manager Rebekah Schubert said the Broadview property was “currently not declared as unsightly” because the owner had cut the lawn and stacked wood neatly.

A council report said even though the rear yard was still congested, it was “enclosed by a solid

boundary fence and there was considered insufficient grounds to take further enforcement action”.

Local Government Minister Geoff Brock said it was a “complex problem” to balance powers between councils and residents.

“The government is consulting on, and considering, a number of changes to the Act as part of preparing a Bill for introduction by the middle of this year,” Mr Brock said.

“I’m happy for this issue to be canvassed as part of any subsequent changes to the Act.”