Croydon Park resident ordered to get rid of his ‘junkyard’ by September

An Adelaide man whose property has been strewn with junk for more than a decade has been ordered to remove an extensive list of items by September after his council took him to court.

Stavros Routoulas’ “junkyard” property at Liberton Avenue. Photo: Caleb Bond

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A Croydon Park man whose property has been strewn with old vehicles and scrap metal for more than a decade has finally been ordered by the Environment, Resources and Development Court to remove the “junk” from his property.

Stavros Routoulas will have to clear his Liberton Ave property by September 18 and stop using it as a “junkyard”.

Port Adelaide Enfield Council — which had been monitoring Mr Routoulas’ property since 2008 — successfully argued to the court that the use of the land had been changed from residential to that of a junkyard without development approval.

Mr Routoulas also has multiple unused cars on his property. Photo: Caleb Bond

The council had received complaints about the state of the land 12 years ago.

Judge Jack Costello gave Mr Routoulas an extensive list of items he had to throw away, including a 5.2m boat on a trailer, a 1974 Mercedes Benz, multiple barbecues and motorbikes and assorted scrap metal.

In his evidence, Mr Routoulas admitted that he did harbour some “junk” on his property but he would prefer to keep some of the items.

He submitted that he had been prevented from cleaning up his property by a series of events, including ill health and disputes with lawyers, doctors and the police.

He also claimed that he would have been able to clean his property without the need to go to court if the council had provided him with a trailer.

In his summary of the case, Judge Costello wrote that Mr Routoulas objected to having to clean his property by a council-imposed time limit because meeting those limits was, in some respects, “akin to a form of slavery”.

Judge Costello found there had been an “unlawful change in the use of the land” and allowed Mr Routoulas an extended period of time due to his “general poor state of health”.

Mr Routoulas has also been ordered to pay the council’s legal costs of $20,000.

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