Berkeley Patterson Lakes: Supreme Court bid for ex-residents of failed retirement village

A push is on to reclaim money for residents of a former Patterson Lakes retirement village, which was run by a man previously convicted of dishonesty offences.

Berkeley Living Retirement Village shut down in 2017 and has now become an "eyesore" as residents dub the plot of land a "cesspool" of crime. Picture: Alice Barker.

A State Government-backed Supreme Court bid is in the works to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars for ex-residents of a failed retirement village which turned into a “crime cesspool”.

Consumer Affairs Victoria has appointed legal firm Holding Redlich to take action on behalf of former residents of the Berkeley Living Retirement Village in Patterson Lakes.

Authorities closed the village in 2017 amid safety concerns for residents, families being allegedly owed massive sums of money and staff not being paid.

A public notice from Consumer Affairs Victoria, published on December 14, states the department is considering an application “made on behalf of former residents who have not had refunded to them their refundable in-going contributions.”

Families claimed to Leader in 2017 they were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars over leases they purchased at the 39-lot village prior to its closure.

Berkeley Living retirement village, Patterson Lakes, shut down after a bitter financial dispute has been dubbed a “ghetto” and “cesspool for crime” by neighbours. File picture.

The trashed former Berkeley Living retirement village in Patterson Lakes. File picture.

“It will seek various court orders to enforce a charge securing the repayment to affected former residents (or their estates), of in-going contributions paid by them to the former manager(s) of Berkeley Living, some or all of which remain refundable; and to determine the entitlements of the affected former residents to payments for those refundable in-going contributions,” the notice read.

CAV previously took court action against the village’s former operator, convicted criminal Stephen Snowden, whose company was in charge prior to the closure.

He was fined a total of $41,000 in a Frankston Magistrates Court hearing in February 2020, after he was found guilty of breaching the Retirement Villages Act

A magistrate found Snowden had being involved in the management of the village while he was insolvent, and, less than five years after he had been previously convicted for other matters.

Locals likened the site to a ‘crime cesspool’ in 2019, when Leader discovered the abandoned village was filled with discarded needles, broken glass, a rusted-out and partly burnt abandoned car, and graffiti-covered walls.

Two suspicious fires were also recorded over one weekend at the site in May 2020, with neighbours saying the site was rife with squatters and fearing for their safety.

Kingston Council called on CAV to purchase the site in June this year to ensure it didn’t remain abandoned for years to come, and as it had as attracted “ongoing graffiti, vandalism and other concerning safety issues.”

Affected former residents of the village have been urged to “urgently” contact Holding Redlich if they wish to be represented in the court action.