DEATH GLARE
$30K FIGHT BECAUSE ROOF IS TOO BRIGHT
A GOLD Coast woman says she is $40,000 out of pocket and furious with council after a 32-month dispute with neighbours about sunlight reflecting off her roof.
Kelly Hunter and her husband Troy were first alerted to the sunlight “nuisance” by Gold Coast City Council dishing out a direction notice to fix it in mid-2015.
The neighbours, retired couple Heather and John Day, say the reflection was extreme during four hours in the afternoon from April to October.
Despite the Hunters telling council the Colorbond grey roof on their Parkwood home would fade within two years, this was deemed unacceptable.
Since then, the Hunters have repainted it different colours twice without success and planted a shrub line barrier which didn’t grow fast enough to comply.
They then opted for a $2000 three-metre high bamboo fence which they moved after a complaint it blocked
the neighbours’ view, requiring five big pots at $180 a pop.
All the while, Mrs Hunter kept a senior council officer abreast of their efforts – but not once did he ever say how they could actually comply.
With the problem not resolved a year on by April 2016, the council officer wrote to the Hunters, saying: “You are reminded it is your responsibility to comply with the direction notice to prevent the environmental nuisance and council is not responsible for providing a solution”.
At her wits end, Mrs Hunter asked if some sort of screen would comply and where should she put it.
“We have done everything you have asked of us, we have rung around to different roofing companies, we have planted trees.”
She even suggested they pay for blinds for the neighbours.
Eventually, council slapped the Hunters with an $1800 fine for failing to comply and they were headed to Southport Magistrates Court to fight it.
But then the Hunters’ lawyers warned they could face a criminal charge of environmental nuisance, possibly affecting Troy’s visa given he is American and not a citizen.
They agreed to settle in December last year.
The terms of the settlement are confidential – but Mrs Hunter (pictured right) is speaking out about other aspects of the fiasco as a warning to ratepayers.
“We had building approval, stamped plans, council approved our colour scheme from the start.
“I just want other people to know this can happen – it doesn’t matter if you have building approval. All that goes out the window if your neighbour complains,” she said. “We have always paid rates and I feel the Gold Coast City Council have really let us down.” Mrs Hunter said when the council officer delivered the $1800 fine she told him short of ripping the roof off there was nothing more she could have done.
A council spokesman said: “We do not comment on matters that are before the courts, or have been settled”.
The Days said they wrote to council predicting the problem given the slope of the roof before it went up years ago.
“My husband was a roofing contractor, we could see what was going to happen,” Mrs Day said.
“(But) we don’t think council has dragged it out, we felt the Hunters did. “We felt the problem was really bad otherwise we wouldn’t have gone through with it. “The sun shines on that roof and it’s like a mirror shining in our house.
“We have photos in the kitchen with sunglasses and hats on – I’m not joking.
“We are not unreasonable people, we are retired,” Mrs Day said.