Marion Council considering legal action over alleged illegal demolition of Park Holme house

Yali Wu says she had no warning before a “monster machine” smashed down the house next door, damaging her home – and sparking disputes over whether it was actually approved.

A family is “living in fear” claiming their southern suburbs home was damaged during the alleged illegal demolition of a neighbouring house.

Park Holme resident Yali Wu said she was shocked when she returned home on November 9 to discover an excavator tearing down her neighbour’s house, which shared a party wall with her Weroona St house.

“I had dropped my daughter off at school, went and had a coffee and came home and half of the (neighbour’s) house was gone,” she said. “They did the demolishing without any notification, discussion or agreement and unsurprisingly damaged my home.

“We have been living in fear since it happened.

“At midnight in the windy weather, my wobbly (garden) wall was making noise. My daughter asked me ‘Mum, will that monster machine smash our house as well?’.”

Yali Wu says her family has been “living in fear” since a neighbouring house was demolished without approval and without her knowledge. Picture: Renato Castello

Builders tore down a house that shared a party wall with Yali Wu's Park Holme house without notifying her family and without getting planning approval. Picture: Yali Wu

Ms Wu claims the demolition of the neighbour's Bowaka St house had caused internal cracking to her property, dislodged bricks from a wall on her eastern boundary and exposed her house to rain and water damage.

She was expecting an engineer’s report, through her insurer RAA, to determine if any structural damage had happened due to the demolition activity.

Adelaide Building Consulting managing director Timothy Rogers said a letter was put in Ms Wu’s letterbox advising her family that work was going to happen on the property boundary.

He was unable to clarify to The Advertiser if the letter stipulated the house was going to be demolished.

Mr Rogers said an offer had been made to repair some external damage to Ms Wu’s house.

Marion Council Mayor Kris Hanna said where properties share a wall there was “no doubt whatsoever” that demolition approval was required.

“But that did not happen (in this case), this was an unapproved demolition, no application had been lodged,” he said.

“When the council became aware they issued a stop-work order and as far as I am aware that has been complied with.”

The Bowaka St house before it was demolished. Picture: Google street view

He said the council had sought legal advice to determine the potential for enforcement action against those responsible, which he said could be the property owner or the demolition company.

But Mr Rogers said council staff had told him it would not be pursuing any enforcement action.

He disputed whether demolition approval was required for semi-detached properties. He said the planning and design code only required approval for demolition of historic properties or partial removal of a building.

“We have correspondence (from council) to say they would not be charging any fines and, that it’s (the code) a grey area and we are not entirely at fault for what was done,” he said. “It is not like we have deliberately done something wrong.”

He said a private certifier had since granted building approval for the demolition.

“It was easier to pay $500 to get the council off our back then go to a big legal battle,” he said.

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