Owners of old chapel at Frankston Ambassador complex fined for illegal rooming house
It’s the once-popular Frankston wedding venue that became a neglected cesspit of drugs and crime. Now, shonky landlords have been busted turning its old chapel into an illegal house with tiny makeshift rooms rented out for $170 a week. SEE PICTURES
South East
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The old chapel at Frankston’s troubled Ambassador complex was divided into nine small makeshift bedrooms and rented out for about $170 a week, a court has heard.
The owners – The Chapel 325 Nepean Pty Ltd – have been fined $100,000 for the illegal subdivide at the notorious site.
The shoebox rooms, with a communal “reception” area and shared bathrooms, were found hidden on the second level of the former hotel’s old chapel, a once-picturesque venue for lavish weddings in the 1980s.
Two more rooms were also uncovered on the chapel’s ground floor.
Photos, obtained exclusively by Leader, show the upper-floor 3x6m sleeping spaces with ornate stained-glass windows had mattresses squished inside.
It is believed the rooms — which each had a lock and came off a main hallway — were being rented out on Gumtree for about $170 per week.
Frankston City Council officers caught tradesmen red-handed completing the shoddy works without a permit in April 2017.
Workers were instructed to stop and despite the owners submitting for a planning permit shortly after, the approval process was not completed.
In late 2018, complaints of anti-social behaviour led officers back to the infamous 110-unit development, where it was discovered the chapel space was being used as a rooming house.
Residents were instructed to evacuate the dangerous building — which had no working smoke alarms — with council providing crisis accommodation for some who had nowhere to go.
It’s been alleged while facing an order to demolish the rooms last year, representatives of The Chapel 325 Nepean Pty Ltd made online threats to a building inspector.
Frankston Magistrate Julian Bartlett fined and convicted the company for failing to comply with a building order.
Frankston Mayor Sandra Mayer said the decision stood as a warning to anyone considering illegal building works to think twice.
“The near-record $100,000 fine sends a clear message to anyone considering undertaking illegal building works that they too could face hefty fines if caught and prosecuted,” she said.
“Council is extremely pleased with the outcomes in this case, which was only made possible by the hard work and dedication of Council’s enforcement officers who are committed to ensuring our community is safe.”
Companies can face a fine of more than $400,000 for undertaking works without building permits in Frankston, with an $80,000 sting for individuals.
Late last year, Leader revealed how the once-exclusive hotel had become a cesspit for drug use and a hotspot for criminals fresh out of jail.
In 2017, owners of the apartments dubbed the building as the most dangerous address in Australia.
And in 2018, one ice-fuelled resident was jailed for stabbing his neighbour in the back over a $27 drug money dispute.
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The neglected Nepean Highway property’s wedding chapel had been abandoned, and formerly luxurious hotel rooms turned into short-stay rentals — plagued with smashed windows, junk piles, graffiti and shattered beer bottles.