Elderly couple fights for beloved beachside house after ‘nitpicker’ building notice
A distressed Mentone couple is facing a bill in the “hundreds of thousands” to bring their decades-old sunroom up to scratch after it was singled out by the council for possible demolition, in a case which could have widespread ramifications for property owners.
Inner South
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An elderly couple has been told they need to bring a vintage sunroom at the back of their beachside house up to modern fire safety standards or they will have to tear it down.
Kingston Council inspectors have deemed the room on the 61-year-old house a “danger to the life” of people inside because it doesn’t meet fire regulations, including not having materials that can withstand flames for an hour, introduced in 2006 — decades after it was built.
If Giovanni and Gina Adornato, both aged in their 80s, can’t provide a new fire safety certificate the council says they must “demolish and remove” the sunroom because it’s an addition to the original building.
But the couple’s daughter Josie Puglisi says the room was part of the old house her parents bought 40 years ago and is demanding to know why the old Edithvale home has been singled out and forced to comply with modern regulations.
She said no-one from the council had even inspected inside the sunroom.
“Council didn’t even contact me or ask how old the building was before … maybe they assumed it was recent because it is well-maintained,” she said.
But an independent surveyor engaged by the family in an effort to resolve the situation criticised the council and urged them to withdraw their notice.
“In my experience, councils do not actively pursue noncompliance of old buildings because the current regulations did not apply at the time of construction and can’t be applied retrospectively,” he wrote in an evaluation sent to the council in November.
“From a glance, it was obvious that the sunroom was built decades ago. The client has found original building plans which are dated in 1958.”
Ms Puglisi, 59, said the constant letters from Kingston Council has caused her parents “great grief and undue stress” and accused the council of harassing them.
“It would cost hundreds of thousands to obtain a building permit and start new works,” she said.
Ms Puglisi said they’d been receiving letters from the council since September but calls to organise a face-to-face meeting with Municipal Building Surveyor John Anagianis had gone unanswered.
The family suspects the notice was sparked by a planning application to complete a development next door.
She said she would continue to fight to keep the beloved family property unchanged.
“We have worked hard to make our house safe … elderly tenants recently moved in there and have made it their home,” Ms Puglisi said.
“My parents have lived and worked hard in Mentone, contributing to the community for 40 years.”
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Ms Puglisi warns the incident has the potential to “open a can of worms” for property owners across Melbourne whose homes did not align with modern building regulations.
“There’s thousands of other homes which would be similar … it’s clear this is nitpicking,” she said.
“Why should my parents have to change their property … if someone wants to develop next door, they should build around us.”
Kingston City Council said it had been in touch with the family and was waiting to hear back from them on dates for a meeting.