Fairness prevails
07/08/2019
By Barry Sanders, Terrigal Waters Village
Good news stories seem to be few and far between in land lease communities so I think we should share positive outcomes and acknowledge those times when operators do the right thing. This is my good news story.
My wife Gaye and I have resided at Terrigal Waters Village since 2001. It was called Tingari Village when we first moved in. We purchased a home but we were not provided with a condition report for the site. We had been living there around 18 months when our house suddenly started coming apart at the seams because of severe subsidence within the site. Unbeknown to us the eastern side of our site sat on land that had been reclaimed in 1999 and the site contained large amounts of fill that began to compress and that is what caused the problems.
The management of Tingari Village attempted stop gap measures to arrest the subsidence on a few occasions but none of it worked.
In 2005 the park owner changed and so did the name, to Terrigal Home Park. The new owners encouraged the previous owner to continue to make restitution and fix the subsidence but they refused any further assistance. The new owners made some attempts to fix the problem but again, they were unsuccessful.
The next step was to get some expert advice and with the encouragement of the owners we located Urban Logic and Mainmark Uretek.
Both companies inspected the premises and provided quotes for work they deemed necessary to fix the site. Unfortunately negotiations with the owner regarding liability failed.
The interior of our home was becoming more severely damaged and we needed a resolution. So we decided to go to the Tribunal to get a ruling on who was liable for the cost of repairing the site and damage to our home.
After we had applied to the Tribunal the park changed hands again and the Marotta family entered as part owners and renamed the park Terrigal Waters Village. They joined the Tribunal proceedings and after a great deal of negotiation with the help of Central Coast Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service the new operator acceded to make restitution and the home was restored by the Under Pinner Urban Logic.
Fast forward to 2019 and we were back at square one. The fill on the front eastern section of the site has continued to break down causing more subsidence. We contacted the original Under Pinner who inspected the site again and explained the situation to all parties.
During talks with the operator of Terrigal Waters Village we acknowledged the initial problem was not caused by them, it was a previous owner who was responsible for putting the house on unstable ground. However, the problem had to be addressed and we did not believe we should have to bear the cost.
Fortunately for Gaye and I the Marotta family have agreed to cover the cost of repairs and for Urban Logic to undertake the appropriate action to remedy the problem. Hopefully this will be the last time, which I am assured by the Urban Logic will be the case.
Sometimes fairness prevails.