Boarding house gives the blues

By Lia Bichel
NEIGHBOURS have banned together to get Casey Council to shut down a boarding house in their small Endeavour Hills court.
Seventy-one people signed a petition which was submitted to councillors last week by Mayor Shar Balmes.
“Residents are understandably upset,” Cr Balmes said.
“They feel their little court will be disrupted and the values of their houses downgraded.”
Brigitte Jackson, who has been living in Eddington Place for 27 years, said she was “flabbergasted” that the council allowed the boarding house to be operated without a permit.
“Apparently there is an obscure clause in the planning permit which allows any house to be transformed into a boarding house as long as there are no more than 10 bedrooms, has sufficient facilities and requirements such as fire alarms, fire exits and fire extinguishers,” Ms Jackson said.
“Anyone can convert a family home into a boarding house without consultation with neighbours.
“This can append anywhere in Casey.
“I was flabbergasted because you can’t do anything without getting a council permit – such as getting a tree off a property.”
Ms Jackson discovered the neighbouring house was a boarding house after she found the property advertised as a business opportunity on a real estate website.
Ms Jackson said she and her neighbours feared the house would not only devalue their own homes, but create safety and health problems. “The concern is that there is potential for a large number of people with a large number of cars which will need to be parked on the streets,” she said.
“We have already had issues with the garbage collection because the truck can’t turn because the cars are parked there.
“We have also had issues with cleaning because the street sweeper can’t get in.”
City of Casey Manager Planning Duncan Turner said the state government’s planning controls allow for a residential dwelling to be used for shared housing without a planning permit from the local council if it is an area zoned for housing, provides self-contained accommodation and has no more than 10 habitable rooms.
The owner of the house could not be contacted before the News went to print.