Perth Voice Interactive

A RAMMY over a swimming pool has gone off the deep end, with a resident and Stirling council bringing in the lawyers.

The council wants Ajdin Dzemailoski to cough up $200,000 to buy a supposed laneway next to his Wiluna Street property, or demolish eaves and a pool illegally built on it.

Trouble is, Mr Dzemailoski bought the house in the 1990s—30 years after the pool was built—and was completely unaware a disused public laneway ran through his back garden (“Call for calm over council’s $200k pool fix demand,” Voice, February 26, 2015).

In February, Mt Lawley Liberal MP Michael Sutherland called on the council to apply common sense, but those efforts were in vain.

The council is offering no compromise.

“Mr Dzemailoski has to pay for legal advice in a matter that common-sense and a sympathetic attitude would have resolved,” Mr Sutherland says.

“As we all know, going to court is expensive and stressful, and should be the option of last resort.

“He did not do anything wrong yet is being pursued by the council as if he was responsible for the error in the boundary alignment.

“Council’s approach to this matter has been disappointing: its officials are there to serve the public.”

Mr Sutherland, a solicitor in a former life, believes Mr Dzemailoski should be able to argue ownership of the disused laneway through adverse possession.

Stirling mayor Giovanni Italiano has told Mr Sutherland the matter is out of his hands.

“This is an administrative matter and one that neither I nor fellow councillors can intervene [in],” he claimed.

“This matter has been ongoing since 2007 with little action being taken by Mr Dzemailoski.

“The city is now moving to deal with this matter through the legal process.”

Mr Dzemailoski says he recently divorced and is keen to make a fresh start, but says he’s unable to sell till the matter’s resolved.

He claims the council’s actions contributed to his recent heart attack.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK