Merri-Bek Council slaps residents with hundreds in pet fines, including those with dead animals

Residents in Melbourne’s north, including those whose animals have died, are fighting “disgracefully unfair” pet rego fines from their local council.

Residents in Melbourne’s inner north, including those whose animals have died, are fighting “disgracefully unfair” pet rego fines from their local council.

Residents say Merri-Bek Council (formerly Moreland Council) has issued hundreds of dollars in fines for late pet registration fees, including to pet owners whose animals are dead, without any prior warning.

The pet owners claim that they have been unjustly fined, receiving no invoice or reminder that the money was due and no mercy from the council.

They say the council has been doling out $370 fines since the middle of last year, a cost more than six times the pet registration fee.

But the council has hit back and said it sent out a renewal notice to all registered pet owners, along with a reminder notice to those who missed the deadline, before handing out fines.

Linda Kowalyszyn received a fine for not paying the registration fee for her dog that died two years ago and had to battle for a review.

“They couldn’t retract the fine so I spent two weeks communicating between the council and Fines Victoria to explain why I wasn’t paying,” she said.

According to Jane Corinna, the resident who has been gathering information to fight the council, Ms Kowalyszyn’s story is one of many.

“A lot of folks had great reasons (for not paying), for example, being in hospital, having deathly-ill relatives, moving house and registering at the new location,” Ms Corinna said.

“When they’ve said this to the council, they’ve been asked to supply all sorts of evidence … and then the reviews have been rejected anyway, it’s disgracefully unfair.”

Resident Karen McDonald witnessed this first hand, after she received a fine due to being unable to pay the registration fee while in hospital.

“I broke my leg, I was in hospital and missed my registration … I was fined $370 in addition to the registration, I appealed, provided hospital records, (the council) wouldn’t accept it.”

Another resident, Grace O‘Malley, was fined twice for the same pet after she moved house, but never heard back after she applied for a review.

“I moved house and notified the council … They then duplicated my registration so I had two identical animals “registered” and then got an out of the blue $370 fine for both, I only have one animal,” Ms O’Malley said.

“I re-registered my pet over the phone and they continued to fine me but I’ve literally just ignored it.”

Brunswick resident Robert Lechte criticised the council for lacking an adequate reminder process after he also received a fine “out of the blue”, with council claiming they sent him a reminder letter that never came.

“A lot of people are really struggling out there, with the cost of living crisis at the moment, there‘s people in really stressful situations dealing with sick relatives and domestic violence … it seems absolutely reasonable to forget about one bill,” Mr Lechte said.

Brunswick resident Robert Lechte received a fine without warning, but didn’t have the means to appeal the fine in court. (Picture: Supplied)

“I don‘t think people deserve it, it’s totally unfair … it seems either to come out of incompetence on the part of the council, or worse, are they doing this deliberately to just collect a bunch of fines?”

“You‘ve got to pay otherwise, you’ve got to go to court and I don’t have enough time or money … So unfortunately, I just copped the fine and paid it.”

But Merri-bek Mayor Angelica Panopoulos said the council sent out a renewal notice to all registered pet owners along with a reminder notice to those who missed the deadline.

“We held off on issuing infringement notices until (last) July, allowing an extension to pay with no infringement,” she said.

“We also reminded our community of the deadline through our social media pages, newsletter, public signage and through conversations with pet owners in parks.”