Flood victims sell for ‘huge losses’ as local council called out

Homes are being sold for $250k less than previous values as community advocates call out a council’s “mongrel behaviour”.

A year on from the devastating floods that engulfed a Melbourne suburb just eight kilometres from the CBD, the chairwoman of a local residents’ group has accused the local council of “mongrel behaviour”.

Madeleine Serle, of the Maribyrnong Community Recovery Committee, told news.com.au the way the Maribyrnong City Council has managed the planning and rebuilding process is “absolutely disgraceful”.

Ms Serle claimed one uninsured family, who converted their garage into living quarters while awaiting council planning approval to raise their home, was served with a move-out notice at 5pm the night before the flood’s one-year anniversary.

The garage where they have been living with their two small children has been deemed a non-habitable space by the council.

“It is so disgraceful to add this pressure onto a family with small children,” she said.

“The idea that anyone would want to live in a garage with small children, unless they absolutely had to is absurd.”

Chair of the Maribyrnong Community Recovery Committee and local resident Madeleine Serle in her damaged home.

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Patrick Jess, acting CEO of Maribyrnong City Council told news.com.au: “The Building Act 1993 is clear that people are not able to live in a building not classified as a dwelling or otherwise habitable structure as it is may be dangerous and can pose a risk to life.

“As garages do not need to meet the same fire safety, electrical, and insulation standards as habitable structures, once Council became aware of a family potentially living in a situation the Act considers not safe for human occupation, Council was required to respond.”

“Council has been working with an impacted family to provide assistance following the flood including outlining works that need to be undertaken to make the structure safe for habitation.”

A woman sweeps mud from a property affected by the Maribyrnong floods. Picture: William West/AFP.

The floods, which affected more than 500 properties on October 14, 2022, shocked Melbourne.

Ms Serle, whose own property was affected by the floods, described the recovery process as “an exhausting nightmare”.

She said, one year on from the event, around half of the area’s flood affected residents – or around 750 people – have been unable to move back into their homes, and “the other 50 per cent are camping in unrestored homes”.

Uninhabitable, flood affected properties are being sold as redevelopment opportunities. Picture: realestate.com.au

Ms Serle said the one-year anniversary was a crunch point, with many residents facing the expiry of 12 months of insurer-paid temporary accommodation.

Some have been able to negotiate with their insurer for a longer stay in temporary accommodation, but others are facing having to pay both a mortgage on an uninhabitable property and rent.

“People are just facing up to the reality that they can’t move back in and are about to fall off the cliff,” she said.

As a result, the economic stress is causing some residents to “give up” and sell their properties at a loss. Properties that may previously have fetched $1 million are selling for $750,000.

“They’re just taking huge losses,” she said, adding that others also want to sell, but “they can’t necessarily afford it”.

Several properties with uninhabitable buildings are currently on the market, effectively being sold at land value and marketed for their development potential.

Rubbish littered the roadside after the flood clean up. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling.

Ms Serle also criticised the council for delays in planning decisions which are preventing people who want to raise their homes and floodproof lower levels from doing so.

However, Mr Jess said that “where planning permits relate to areas covered by an LSIO (Land Subject to Inundation Overlay), Council is required to refer the application to Melbourne Water as the Determining Referral Authority in the LSIO”.

“Council must apply all permit conditions required by Melbourne Water, and cannot process the application until advice from the authority has been received,” Mr Jess said.

“Council aims to process all planning permit applications from flood impacted properties within 10 business days upon receipt of advice from the relevant Floodplain Management Authority.

“Six planning permit applications have been received by Council from properties directly affected by the October 2022 Flood Event.”

The floods broke the banks of the Maribyrnong River and inundated hundreds of houses. Picture: Supplied

Ms Serle, in her late 50s, and husband Kieran, in his mid-60s, are among those “camping” in their own home, which she estimates is another 12 months away from being fixed.

She said the recovery process has been difficult for residents both with, and without, insurance.

For residents who were covered by insurance, she describes a long process of damage assessment, disagreements over repair valuations, the arrangement of independent valuations and negotiation over a final claim value.

Whether residents then have the repatriation work done by their insurer’s builders or take a cash settlement to do the work themselves, they face long wait times for builders and materials to be available.

“It’s just basically flat out miserable,” she said. “Eventually people just get exhausted and just want to get on with it.”

Aerial photos of flood waters enter homes and streets by the Maribyrnong River in the Flemington area. Picture: David Caird

The floods were the subject of a recent Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the inadequacy of warning systems, out-of-date flood mapping, and whether a controversial 2.4-metre-high flood wall around Flemington Racecourse pushed floodwater into neighbouring homes.

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