Gold Coast couple, Nick and Soula Hronis, are at risk of losing their home at Mermaid Waters, after being involved in one of Australia’s messiest body corporate wars.
According to A Current Affair, the couple decided to expand a small patio and balcony into a much larger one five years ago at their Malibu unit complex in Mermaid Waters.
Mr Hronis said they had received all the necessary authorisations for the construction from Gold Coast City Council, a building certifier and structural engineer.
Some of the claims are in dispute and after a prolonged and costly legal case, it was determined the balcony was illegally encroaching on common property.
In June 2021, a magistrate ordered the structure be removed and appointed an administrator to oversee that process.
The administrator provided a preliminary cost estimate of $16,000 for the works, which was paid by Mr Hronis within six weeks. Once a quote was obtained from a licensed builder, the cost of the works blew out to $100,000.
While there’s no suggestion the administrator did anything wrong, the bill has since ballooned to $267,000.
According to A Current Affair, over a period of 18 months, the administrator faced numerous setbacks and disagreements and was unable to remove the illegal balcony.
In early 2023, Mr Hronis dismantled it himself, but a new disagreement has arisen regarding whether the removal was completed without causing any structural damage to the building.
Throughout this whole process, the couple have employed five different attorneys and obtained a mortgage to pay their own legal fees, resulting in a total bill of $500,000 for the balcony.
This particular eight-unit block is one of the top three with the most body corporate disputes, among the 50,000 community title schemes in Queensland.
The chairperson of the Malibu Body Corporate has denied anything unfair or unjust has occurred.
Source: 9now
