A couple who say they had to jump through so many regulatory hoops to put a second storey on their home in Sydney’s east are fuming that their neighbours have been able to bypass council with their even bigger build.
Scott and Debbie told A Current Affair on Monday that they’ve been losing sleep over the construction which they say will cost them their privacy and is creating damage to their own home.
When the couple renovated their property in 2011, Scott and Debbie had to seek council approval which they say compelled them to make a number of changes to their original plans in order to comply.
One of those changes was to remove a planned balcony off the back of their second storey extension to avoid “looking down into other people’s backyards,” Scott told the program.
Now their neighbours have started building a second storey on their property with their new extension going significantly further than Scott and Debbie’s and raising privacy concerns.
“They’ve extended all the way to the end of our pergola so that’s basically two extra rooms [one upstairs, one downstairs] that they’ve added [to the] floorspace ratio,” Scott said.
Meanwhile Debbie recounted an incident where she was in her upstairs bedroom, “looking at fluoro-vested men hanging over the scaffold and looking into me in my bed.”
The neighbours were able to avoid going through the regular council approval process by lodging a Complying Development Certificate (CDC) that was approved by a private certifier.
This process is designed to cut red tape and allow for faster development by bypassing the council almost entirely if the proposed development is straightforward and meets certain requirements.
However, Scott and Debbie have since gone to council after they ran into problems since construction began next door.
They say they’ve noticed cracks appearing on the wall closest to their neighbour, as well as some water damage after rain, issues which their neighbours have verbally agreed to fix.
The properties are separated at the back by a tiny gap which Scott says will eventually have a box gutter installed for rainfall. However, the area does have flood considerations attached to it which, along with the neighbours’ decision to concrete their backyard, has caused the couple concern.
The home, which originally had three bedrooms and one bathroom, was sold for over $3 million at the end of last year.
A spokesperson from Waverly Council told news.com.au in a statement: “The development is pursuant to a Complying Development Certificate.
“Under the New South Wales Government’s planning framework, private certifiers are responsible for determining whether a development satisfies development standards.
“They must also undertake mandatory inspections throughout construction and address any non-compliance with approved plans or legislative requirements.
“Council has formally written to [the certifier] requesting the matters raised be urgently reviewed and responded to directly.
“[The certifier has] confirmed it will review the concerns, contact Mr Walker directly and advise Council once a response has been provided.”
The building commission told A Current Affair that the certifier had faced disciplinary action in the past but would not confirm whether it’s investigating the certifier.
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