Western Bulldogs legend Jose Romero dragged to court over Moonee Ponds development fail

Western Bulldogs star turned property developer Jose Romero promised one buyer he wouldn’t let him down and then allegedly delivered a development with a disconnected toilet.

Former Western Bulldogs star turned property developer Jose Romero is being sued for $280,000 to fix a building that allegedly has defects including a toilet unconnected to water mains.

In Victorian County Court proceedings, real estate agent Brad Teal says that in 2017 he agreed to pay $1.95m for the ground floor shops in a building developed by Romero’s company, EVR Group, in Melbourne suburb Moonee Ponds.

Romero turned to property development after playing more than 200 AFL games in the 1990s.

Mr Teal claims that during sales talks Romero promised that “you’ll get what you want here” and pledged: “I won’t let you down”.

Jose Romero playing for the Bulldogs.

However Romero’s use of a builder once described on national television as a “worm” left the building riddled with problems, Mr Teal alleges in court documents.

These are alleged to include the toilet as well as disabled access that doesn’t meet legal requirements, missing safety equipment, a defective drain and a faulty lift.

Mr Teal alleges that Romero should have known better than to hire Frank Nadinic and his son Andrew Nadinic to do the work, pointing to a long history of public controversy over the pair’s track records.

In court papers he cites a 2017 episode of A Current Affair in which Frank Nadinic was described as a “worm” and a “professional scumbag” by tradies who claimed he failed to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars for work he ordered on property developments.

Queensland’s building regulator also warned subcontractors to use caution when dealing with the “notorious” Mr Nadinic following an investigation in 2019.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission also banned Andrew Nadinic from the industry between 2016 and 2019 over his involvement with a failed builder.

In a statement of claim filed with the court, Mr Teal claims that EVR “did not undertake reasonable due diligence in selecting a competent building practitioner to undertake the building works” at the Moonee Ponds site.

Brad Teal is suing Mr Romero.

Ex AFL player Jose Romero now works in property. Picture: Supplied

He also claims that under the building contract with EVR, Romero was responsible for supervising work on the Moonee Ponds development but failed to get Mr Nadinic to fix problems despite being asked five times in writing between January and July 2020.

And he alleges that Mr Nadinic’s company, Merrion 6, lacked a building licence and refused to fix the problems in July 2020, “purporting to rely on the Covid pandemic”.

In a defence filed with the court, EVR denies the allegations and says that Frank and Andrew Nadinic were licenced by Victorian building authorities at the time of the Moonee Ponds project.

The Chilean-born Romero’s previous projects include a $15m hotel in Essendon and a proposal for a $70m apartment development in Warrnambool.

He has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Western Bulldogs legend Jose Romero dragged to court over Moonee Ponds development fail