Landlords of Canterbury’s Maling Rd shopping strip slammed for allowing shops to fall into disrepair
Traders in a historic retail strip in Melbourne’s inner east have called out penny pinching landlords for not investing in their shops, some of which are more than 100 years old and falling to pieces. SEE THE PHOTOS.
Inner East
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Maling Rd’s historic shop fronts are falling into disrepair, with traders calling on landlords to fix the area’s heritage facades.
Some buildings in the leafy shopping precinct date back to the early 1900s and the area is subject to a heritage overlay by Boroondara Council and listed on the Heritage Council of Victoria’s heritage database.
Trader Becky Horwood, owner of Reflections jewellery, said she’d worked in the retail strip for 17 years and was saddened by the dilapidated state of some of the shops.
Landlords fixed leaks and issues inside the buildings but she said the shop fronts were left largely untouched, with rusted roofs and chipped tiles ruining look of the strip.
“In terms of the facade I don’t think the landlords can be forced to do anything,” she said.
Tenant Chris Henry of the Good Food Collective said he and his business partner Nev Juric spent $3000 from their own pockets making repairs to the cafe they leased.
Gorman Commercial senior property manager Larry Finis, who liaises between traders and landlords of some of the buildings, said landlords were “open to any suggestions to improve their properties”.
He said landlords were obligated to fix structural faults but cosmetic fixes, such as repainting the building’s facade, was not a requirement.
“In these older buildings you can always spend money, there’s always something to do … the properties all seem to present well to me,” Mr Finis said.
But Loreen Chambers, who owns a Maling Rd shop leased to Suzi-Que Lingerie, said landlords should do more to revitalise the strip rather than patch leaks and plug holes.
“I think it’s only a couple of people who own a whole bunch of shops. They do not maintain them at all, they don’t care about it, they just get income from the rentals,” Mrs Chambers said.
“It’s a disgrace when we make such an effort with our shop … it’s not until you start looking around you see how shabby it is.”
Peter Barclay, owner of the toyshop and Alleycat Cafe in Maling Rd, said his landlord invested in taking care of his stores and his businesses were doing well.
Boroondara spokesman Daniel Freer said the council couldn’t compel landlords to undertake repairs unless the building was structurally unsound.
The council invested in new paving for Theatre Place on Maling Rd as well as installing heritage style seating and new garden beds, he said, and further improvements were planned.
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Maling Rd Business Association president Athena Katopodis said people loved to visit the area and she hoped the council’s investment would help stimulate retail.
“Maling Rd has always been a unique place to shop in and visit … we need to preserve our beautiful strip to continue to provide all of these things,” she said.