Couple’s seven-year battle to build Caulfield North dream home beset with problems

A WHEELCHAIR-bound woman’s seven-year battle to get her dream home built has seen it turn into an unliveable house of horrors wrecked by a string of mistakes.

A distressed Lana Zaitsen in her unliveable home. Picture: Chris Eastman

A WHEELCHAIR-bound woman trying to build her dream home has found herself plunged into a building and bureaucratic nightmare.

Seven years, three builders and countless reports later, Lana Zaitsen and her husband Boris still don’t have a house to call home. The distressed couple say their dream home in Caulfield North’s Cromwell St is now an unliveable house of horrors, wrecked by a string of mistakes and unfinished work.

Audit reports seen by the Leader found serious defects, particularly with the basement retaining walls.

Mrs Zaitsen said she had spent countless hours contacting politicians, Consumer Affairs and the Victorian Building Authority, but all to no avail.

“The system failed us,” Mrs Zaitsen said. “I want them to meet with me and give me a resolution for this building disaster. I’ve done everything required of me. We’ve just been pushed from person to person.”

The 56-year-old, whose liver is failing and is unable to work, said their lives were in limbo.

“I (won’t) even have the dignity to die in my own home,” Mrs Zaitsen said. “This disaster has physically killed me.”

Now renting in Carnegie, Mrs Zaitsen said the initial $1.2 million two-storey duplex had cost more than $5 million. “We’re trying very, very hard not to go bankrupt,” she said.

VBA spokesman John Rees confirmed that since 2011, there had been multiple matters investigated by the VBA and its predecessor (the Building Commission), which were then referred to the Building Professionals Board (BPB) and then appealed to VCAT.

“This includes an appeal by a practitioner to VCAT as they were aggrieved by the BPB’s disciplinary decision,” Mr Rees said.

“In addition, four building practitioners have already been disciplined by the BPB in relation to 30 Cromwell St. Currently, the VBA is investigating other building practitioners who were engaged to complete work at 30 Cromwell St. There are also three related VCAT proceedings.”

Glen Eira Council said the matter did not fall within its jurisdiction.

Supporter Fiona O’Hehir, who has been involved in a building bungle at her Donvale home, said Mrs Zaitsen was not alone and she had met residents embroiled in many other building-related disputes.

Some had suffered serious health consequences believed linked to the stress, she said.

Ms O’Hehir has started a Facebook support group called “Safe as Houses?” for those struggling.