Landholders above the Suburban Rail Loop East tunnels will have to fork out for compensation advice after sneaky law change
Families are fuming after the revelation that landowners above the Suburban Rail Loop won’t get legal costs reimbursed if they seek compensation.
Victoria
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Households above the $34.5 billion Suburban Rail Loop East tunnels won’t be reimbursed for legal costs if they seek compensation for losing land, due to a sneaky law change.
Property owners above shallow sections of the 26km rail tunnel have been sent letters saying land has been acquired by the government, and that they may be able to submit a claim for compensation.
Only those whose homes are within 15 metres to the tunnel can seek cash, because the State Government recently tightened eligibility for underground acquisition payments – as revealed by the Herald Sun.
It can now be revealed that when it changed the law to create the 15-metre rule, it also removed the right of residents to claim back costs of legal and valuation advice when seeking compensation.
This means households may have to fork out tens of thousands of dollars before knowing if their compensation claim will be accepted.
Heatherton resident Robyn Rooney said the letter she was sent about her property — which is less than 10m above the tunnel — was “so confusing I would almost need a lawyer to tell me what it means”.
“I am not in a financial position to do that (pay for advice), I’m on my own and raised three daughters by myself,” she said.
“It’s very unfair because your home is your biggest asset and you work very hard. It’s very distressing.”
She said the law change was a “slap in the face” because for other tunnel projects people had been reimbursed legal costs.
This included dozens of residents who lived above the West Gate Tunnel, who in 2023 won a landmark case against the government for up to 10 per cent of the value of their property.
Slater and Gordon Lawyers senior associate, Adrian McMillan, said the law change was unfair.
“It is unfair to expect people, who have a legislated right to compensation because of the acquisition of their land, to have to stump up tens of thousands of dollars to make the claim in the first place and never see any of that money back,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Suburban Rail Loop Authority said the SRL tunnels would be on average 26 metres deep.
They confirmed landowners have to obtain their own valuation advice to help them submit a compensation claim, and that those costs won’t be returned even if they’re successful.
“Tunnelling underneath homes is not new — many tunnels have been built underneath homes here in Melbourne, interstate and around the world,” they said.
“The vast majority of properties that the SRL tunnels will pass beneath will not be impacted, with eligible landowners entitled to submit a claim for compensation.”
Originally published as Landholders above the Suburban Rail Loop East tunnels will have to fork out for compensation advice after sneaky law change
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