Golden Valley family ordered to leave their home

By Sharon Webb

A MAGISTRATE has given a Golden Valley woman 90 days to vacate her home. In September 2017 Meander Valley Council served a building order on Anita Jayne Kennedy to move out of her Bogan Road house because it had no occupancy permit. But Ms Kennedy and her four children have continued to live there. Magistrate Ken Stanton said Ms Kennedy had not taken the necessary steps to remedy the situation with the council and he was not satisfied the house was fit for occupation. ‘You have an email from a local person who seems to be a builder who has said the house is structurally sound but I find this email inadequate,’ he said. ‘You have said you want your children to grow up in this house and that your family will be made homeless by the order to vacate the property.’ Ms Kennedy pleaded guilty to breaching the building order. Initially the magistrate gave Ms Kennedy 28 days to vacate the house unless the council granted a temporary or permanent occupancy permit, requiring her to pay court costs of $68.04.

But Ms Kennedy said she needed longer to find another place for her family to live, to which Mr Stanton and Meander Valley Council were sympathetic. Ms Kennedy jointly owns the house with her estranged partner, Justin Tatnell, who also built it. In a previous court hearing she said the council’s permit documents needed to be signed by both owners and Mr Tatnell refused to sign them.